Contrasting Acclaimed Leadership Variants of Three Iconoclastic Chinese Companies

Mounting evidence suggests that the leadership of Chinese companies does not seem to follow conventional western leadership theories and practice, as these companies increasingly out-compete western competitors. This symposium contrasts the leadership of three iconoclastic Chinese companies: Haier, Huawei, and Fotile. The three papers share longitudinal qualitative historical analyses from founding to the end of 2015. The research methods are unique in that, for all three cases, the researchers independently deconstructed literally hundreds of speeches and letters to employees made by the founding CEOs. In addition, the case researchers interviewed key informants in each company. The analyses contrast the indigenous philosophical foundations underlying the management and organization preferences of each CEO – extreme belief in Daoism, Confucianism, and pragmatic incrementalism – and their expressions in organizations and management practices. Each company represents a unique approach to achieving organic adaptivity, flexibility, and innovation. All three companies offer lessons for western companies facing Chinese competitors. Each paper concludes with a discussion of succession planning challenges that each company faces, as their founding CEOs contemplate retirement. The symposium concludes with commentaries by two discussants, Professor Chen Jin (Tsinghua University) and Professor Yijun Xing (Bejing Jiao Tong University), who will direct attention to the need for a ""moral inquiry"" in leadership, East and West, and the of the role of the philosophical orientation/expression of the leader, in general, in management thinking and practice."