In this exclusive interview, Simone Cicero and Pim de Morree explore Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin’s perspective on the Rendanhei, the transformative management, and the organizational model pioneered by Haier and now increasingly experimented by other companies worldwide.

Following a philosophy of zero-distance to customers and a deep insight on how to design win-win scalable agreements that involve all parts of a business process, from employees, companies, and users, a few years ago, Haier began a massive transformation.

This transformation led to its current form where the group has swarmed into a plethora of Micro-Enterprises, Ecosystem Micro-Communities of collaborating enterprises, and Shared Service and Industry Platforms, de facto reinventing the role and shape of incumbents in the age of platforms and ecosystems.

These are some of the topics touched by the interview:

1. The application of Rendanheyi beyond China
2. The role of the Rendanheyi model in COVID-19 epidemic
3. The Internet of things (IoT) model transformation
4. The roles of (top) leaders and employees under the Internet of things (IoT)
model
5. Future development of the Rendanheyi beyond the Ecosystem Micro-community and what is Haier’s ultimate purpose?
6. How’s Haier’s focus on user needs is shifting from merely providing convenience and personalized services for a single user to achieving more systematic outcomes, such as reducing inequality, climate neutrality, and mitigating environmental resource degradation?