Haier's purpose

摘要

Anew name has found its way on to the billboards that decorate the world's most expensive cities. Alongside Toshiba and General Electric, the neon lights in downtown Tokyo and Milan now flash: Haier. On the face of it, China's leading maker of fridges, washing machines and air-conditioners looks like a global success. Haier has factories and offices in more than 100 countries, a $15m American headquarters in mid-town Manhattan and a cult following among American college students who chill their beer in its mini-fridges, sold at Wal-Mart. And Haier is gearing up to become even more global. This week it emerged that the firm will soon inject core mainland assets into a small listed firm in Hong Kong to give it a paper currency for overseas acquisitions.