"Crossing the Pacific": Huawei's identity problem



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The ultimate battle for Triangle Hill, he said, is to surpass his American rivals. His 2012 annual letter ends with the phrase "With great aspirations and esprit de corps, we walk across the Pacific Ocean", referring to the words of a famous song about the army Chinese crossing the Yalu River to fight the Americans and South Koreans. .

He told CNBC that he liked to use military terms because they were easy to understand. "When I can not find a better term to easily describe the operation of a company, I use military terms," ​​he said.

Huawei's hard-core business – known as "Wolf culture" to foreigners and employees and "ambitious culture" to executives – can find its roots in the party. When Huawei was attacked a decade ago, after employee suicides made headlines in China, Mr. Ren said, according to the book, "What's wrong? not going in the effort? We learned this from the Communist Party. We will strive to achieve communism until the end of our lives. "

Even Ren's ruler status resembles that of Deng Xiaoping, the former top ruler of China, who launched China's reform and opening period in the late 1970s. Deng abandoned his titles in his later years – although he remains president of the China Bridges Association – but he held the ultimate authority in decision-making in China until his death in 1997.

Although Mr. Ren is Huawei's chief executive, he stated that he had no decision-making power except to veto the proposals and to dismiss the executive officers. Huawei's secretary, Jiang Xisheng, told reporters last week that Mr. Ren had a limited veto.

But within Huawei, he is clearly the supreme leader.

"One can not use his veto and power of dismissal too often. Once or twice a year would be enough, "he said in the book. "Nuclear deterrence only works when the bomb remains unexploded."

Huawei's commitment to staying open will probably not be enough to convince those who are put off by his culture. To win the trust of the West, Huawei may have to change DNA.

The same goes for China. When value systems are incompatible and both parties see themselves as existential threats, it will be difficult to find solutions.

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