Huawei on PR, Spending Blitzes to Shore Up Global Prospects 华为砸钱大打公关战打造国际形象

By newsdoug on May 24, 2011

Huawei on PR offensive Telecoms equipment superstar Huawei Technologies appears to be on a major PR and spending blitz to shore up its flagging prospects in Western markets where some question its ties to Beijing. My sources tell me the company has hired a headhunter to find a new top PR manager, undoubtedly to craft a global strategy to convince the world it’s not a wolf in sheep’s clothing waiting to pounce on unsuspecting Western telcos. In a similar vein, Chinese media are reporting the company has just set up an advisory board specifically for the UK market (Chinese article), a move that sounds strikingly similar to its establishment of a board in Australia last month. (previous post) Clearly the establishment of these boards, which is being carefully leaked to the Chinese media, is designed to convince Western governments that Huawei is letting locally-based employees, many of them local citizens, take charge of sales in their markets without interference or direction from headquarters. It’s an interesting strategy that could well work given enough time and resources. Meantime, Chinese media are also reporting that Huawei is raising a massive $1.5 billion in funds. (English article) There’s no mention of what the fund-raising is for, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some major announcements in the months ahead of new Huawei plans to build production facilities in Europe and North America, similar to what it previously did in India, to convince local governments it’s purely a business and not an arm of Beijing.

Bottom line: Huawei is stepping up its ongoing PR blitz to convince the West it’s a business and not an agent of Beijing, an interesting strategy that could work given enough time and resources.

电信设备商领域超级巨星–华为技术[HWT.UL]似乎要展开一场耗资巨大的公关战，以改善公司在西方市场黯淡的发展前景，打消西方对於华为与中国政府关系的疑心。有消息人士告诉我，华为聘请猎头为其寻找新的公关最高主管，无疑是为了说服全球，华为并非是一头披着狼皮的羊，等着扑向毫无戒备的西方电信公司。出於同一目的，据中国媒体报导，华为刚刚成立一个专门面向英国市场的顾问组，与上月起在澳大利亚成立顾问组做法雷同。华为通过精心透露给媒体上述消息，是为了说服西方政府，华为是在当地员工（很多是当地人）负责当地的市场销售，总部不会插手或指导。这是一个很有意思的战略，如果给予充分的时间与资源，可能收效甚好。同时，中国媒体还报导，华为正通过基金大规模募资15亿美元，虽然没有提及基金用途，但是未来几个月如果华为宣布欧洲北美建造生产企业，我不会感到意外。之前华为在印度也有类似做法，目的就是说服当地政府，华为只做生意，不是中国政府的工具。

一句话：华为正在加码公关，说服西方国家他们只是一家企业，并非政府特工，给予足够的时间与资源，这个战略应能收得成效。