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implied by the title of our book: Corporate Culture: The Ultimate Strategic
Asset1.

HUAWEI’S SUCCESS

On December 5, 2016, an article appeared on the Wall Street Journal that confirms
both my assessment of Huawei and my attribution of its success to its corporate
culture and culture management processes. Specifically, the article titled “Boot-
camp Culture Drives Huawei,” written by Juro Osawa, indicates that Huawei has
now become the number 3 smartphone maker in the world.2 The author states
that” Huawei has surprised rivals in the past five years, doubling revenue to nearly
$60 billion and becoming the world’s no. 3 smartphone maker by shipments.”
The article also describes some aspects of Huawei’s culture and quotes employees
at Huawei about its culture.
Although the article is accurate about Huawei’s success, it is somewhat superficial
in its analysis of both the nature of the company, its culture, and the reasons for its
success.

DECONSTRUCTING HUAWEI’S SUCCESS

The reason for this article is not to describe Huawei’s success per se. It is to
examine some of the underlying key factors contributing to that success. As you
shall see, Huawei’s game plan for success is consistent with what we propose that
companies do.

1 Eric Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle, Corporate Culture: The Ultimate Strategic Asset, Stanford
University Press, 2011.
2 Juro Osawa, “Boot-camp Culture Drives Huawei,” Wall Street Journal, Business & Finance, Monday,
December 5, 2016, p 1 & 5.

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