Huawei, Lenovo Look to Foreign Advisors in Westward Drive
There’s a couple of interesting new hires out there from Chinese tech firms Huawei and Lenovo (HKEx: 992), which are both clearly aimed at boosting their global operations. Whether either will succeed is a different matter, though both look like good ideas to me at first glance. First Huawei, which has hired IBM (NYSE: IBM) as a brand strategy consultant for its push into tablet PCs, smartphones and cloud computing. (English article) Like its smaller rival ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), Huawei wants to expand into theses 3 new areas as its growth slows in its core business of making telecoms networking equipment. IBM has a strong record as a brand builder, retaining its image as a premier tech name even after selling its flagship PC business in 2005. Huawei is now in a similar situation to IBM, wanting to transition from a brand known mostly to industry people to a more mainstream consumer name. I’m sure it’s paying IBM big bucks to help in this transition, and that money should be well spent if it can make good cellphones and tablet PCs, which still remains to be seen. As to Lenovo, the company has hired a new advisor in the form of Gianfranco Lanci, who many will remember as the man behind Acer’s (Taipei: 2353) recent rise to become the world’s second biggest PC seller. (Chinese article) Lanci, who correctly predicted the move to laptop computing from traditional desktops, abruptly left Acer earlier this year (previous post) as it became clear the company was running into trouble from relying too heavily on cheap computers and failing to lead in new categories like smartphones and tablet PCs. Still, I like Lanci for his previous foresight and savvy marketing, and think he could be a strong advisor for Lenovo in his home base of Europe. If this relationship works out well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lanci eventually join Lenovo in an executive position, perhaps even C-level.
Bottom line: The hiring of top western names by Huawei and Lenovo look like smart moves by both companies for their drives into Western markets.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Huawei, ZTE Ratchet Up Western PR Offensives 华为和中兴加紧西方公关战
◙ Acer Takes a Hit With Lanci Leaving 宏基痛失兰奇
◙ ZTE Gambles With Smartphone Share Grab 中兴通讯押注智能手机业务
