Haier - Insights, Learnings and Experiences (Post 4 - The Haier ZeroDX Awards 2024)
Mirko Kleiner - As a Thought Leader in Lean-Agile Procurement and a Registered Scrum@Scale Trainer, my personal mission is to unite various movements—Agile Leadership, Extreme Manufacturing, Scaling Agile, Lean-Agile Procurement, and more—to push the boundaries of Business Agility across organizations.
One company that stands out, and perhaps the only one of its kind globally, is Haier. With over 50 years of history as a white goods manufacturer, Haier has undergone its sixth major transformation, evolving into a network of over 4,700 Micro Enterprises (ME), all interconnected within Ecosystem Micro Communities (EMC).
Each ME operates with its own balance sheet, its own people, and collaborates closely with partners who share in the ECM’s success. This win-win philosophy, implemented on such a massive scale, is truly unprecedented and sets Haier apart as a pioneer in organizational and management innovation.
For over two years, the LAP Alliance has partnered with the Haier Model Institute (HMI), itself a Micro Enterprise within the Haier Group. Its mission is to spread the word about Haier’s New Economic Engine, or RenDanHeYi, which serves as the foundation of Haier's management model. For those unfamiliar with Haier, it is arguably the most disruptive and successful organization in the world, operating with virtually no bureaucracy and achieving an impressive annual growth rate of 20% over the last decade.
In this series of blog posts, I’ll be sharing key insights, learnings, and experiences from my visits to Haier, and why I believe the future of business lies in a New Economic Engine driven by AI and Business Ecosystems.
Post 4 - The Haier Zero Distance Excellence Awards 2024 & the Winners
September 20th 2024 the Haier Zero Distance Excellence Awards 2024 have taken place in Qingdao, China. In this post, I’d like to give you a sneak peek about the winners, some behind-the-scenes insights from the pre- and post-events, and introduce you to our four outstanding nominees, one of them has been awarded—each of whom has already implemented a New Economic Engine.
Stay tuned for an inside look at their remarkable journeys and how they are transforming their industries with innovative, user-centric ecosystems.
image source: HMI
Summary of the visit
During the Haier ZeroDX Awards 2024, we had the privilege of experiencing a rich lineup of pre- and post-event activities. These offered valuable insights not only from Haier but also from leaders around the globe. Below is an initial summary of the program, followed by more detailed information about the awards, the winners, and my key takeaways.
I arrived in Qingdao, China, late the day before the official program kicked off, following a journey from the Agile Prague Conference via Dubai and Shanghai. Awaiting me in my room was a delightful surprise: my badge, signifying my official recognition as a Haier Model (HMI) Expert. Holding it for the first time, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. Is it selfish to feel that way? Maybe, but it’s also a moment of deep personal significance.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner
Day 1 - Visiting & Learning from Haier’s RenDanHeYi Lighthouse Practices
It all began with the pre-event on September 19, 2024, where we had the opportunity to visit the Haier Ecosystem Experience Center. There, we learned about Haier's rich history and its six major transformations. Following that, we explored the IoT Smart Home Experience Center, where we experienced firsthand what Haier envisions with real-world user scenarios.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
Equally fascinating was our visit to one of Haier's more than 2,000 Quantum Shops, which are deeply embedded in local communities and serve over 10,000 households daily. These Micro Enterprises are part of several Ecosystem Micro Committees (EMCs) and play a vital role in identifying and capturing new customer and user needs.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The day concluded with a visit to one of Haier's Lighthouse Factories, where we had the chance to experience firsthand what mass customization truly means.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
I might write separate posts about day 1 experiences and learnings. Stay tuned!
Day 2 - Haier ZeroDX Awards 2024
The main event, the Haier ZeroDX Awards, took place at the InterContinental Hotel in Qingdao on September 20, 2024. It was a dynamic blend of meetings, knowledge-sharing among thought leaders, and recognition of both internal and international nominees. The over 70 nominees, representing six continents and various industries, have all embraced the principles of zero distance. Like Haier, these organizations are management pioneers, eliminating bureaucracy to create flat, open, and highly empowering environments.
The event was moderated by Gary Hamel (Founder of MLab and Visiting Professor at London Business School) and Stuart Crainer (Founder of Thinkers50 and Co-Founder of the Business Ecosystem Alliance). In addition to the awards ceremony, international and Haier’s internal leaders presented the next stage of the New Economic Engine, RenDanHeYi 2.0, including its practical applications. A definite highlight was the opportunity to meet Haier's Chairman and Founder, Zhang Ruimin, along with Zhou Yunjie, CEO of Haier Group.
Day 3 - Discovering & connecting with the city & culture of Qingdao
After the awards, we had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the local traditions, culture, and environment. Haier offered three unique experiences: Traditional Wellness, a Beer & Culture tour, and a Sailing Adventure.
Overall, the three-day program was an incredible experience, providing numerous opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange, and collaboration between business leaders and subject matter experts. I can wholeheartedly recommend attending. From my personal experience—and I've been to many similar events globally—this gathering had one of the most forward-thinking and progressive audiences I've ever encountered.
The Haier ZeroDistance Excellence Awards 2024
Before the formal ceremony, we had a gathering with the international HMI experts, and I was truly impressed by the depth of knowledge in the room, with experts from all over the world. Even more remarkable was the presence of senior leaders from Haier who joined the conversation. I had the honor of speaking first with Zhou Yunjie, the CEO of Haier Group, followed by an inspiring conversation with Zhang Ruimin, the Chairman and Founder of Haier.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner
To be honest, I was a bit shocked when Chairman Zhang took a seat right next to me, and suddenly, the press swarmed around us. Fortunately, Anika Steiner, who was sitting beside me, and I began the conversation, asking him a few questions and sharing some of our ideas. I have to say, both Chairman Zhang and CEO Zhou are immense figures in driving Haier's New Economic Engine. They are true leaders—highly knowledgeable and an invaluable asset to both the organization and everyone who had the privilege of engaging with them.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
Gary Hamel and Stuart Crainer kicked off the event, and we then moved on to announce the winners in the ZeroDX Incorporated category:
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
raizen from Brazil - Is an integrated energy company with more than 46,000 employees operating across the entire bioenergy production chain. Over the last year, Risen created empowered end to end teams and processes to serve its largest fuel station customers, resulting in a 36 percent reduction in service times, a 40 percent increase in customer loyalty scores, and far less bureaucracy.
SD Guthrie from Malaysia - Is one of the largest producers of certified sustainable palm oil of operations in over 90 countries. The company shifted to a customer focused one stream model, empowering cross functional teams to act autonomously across functions and delivering new customer value.
SeamosUno from Argentina They described themselves as a liquid organization. Founded during the pandemic to rapidly distribute critical supplies to people across Argentina. They revolutionized crisis management by bringing together more than 300 organizations and ecosystem, including religious and social entities and state agencies in a highly networked management model. They allowed autonomous units to work at unprecedented speeds.
Ingersoll Rand from USA - Over the last five years, the company has embarked on a remarkable journey of entrepreneurship at scale. Employees now receive substantial equity ownership and take part in hundreds of empowered cross country teams, which have generated over three billion dollars worth of value.
ASA Group from San Marino - This is a metal packaging company with production sites across Europe specializing in tin plate cans. They employ 500 people and they're implementing micro enterprises and ecosystem micro communities that have full autonomy to decide their strategy, their goals, their investments, profit sharing, and coordinate activity with the group functions.
VARGROUP from Italy - A system integrator with over 3,800 employees across 13 countries in 2023. The company started a journey to become a platform organization and began implementing small independent business units called Micro Enterprise, with their own profit and loss responsibilities, shared service platforms to support these units and ecosystems across the collaboration.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The next category focused on the Benchmark Innovators. These are companies that have embraced the principles of zero distance from their very inception—they were, to quote the famous Lady Gaga song, "born that way." Like Haier, these management pioneers have never been burdened by bureaucracy. Instead, they've built organizations that are flat, open, and highly empowering. And the winners are:
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
Morningstar from USA - Founded by Chris Rupert, Morningstar is America's and the world's largest tomato processor. At Morningstar there are no managers at all, no titles. Employees negotiate their contracts with each other in what they call a colleague letter of understanding. And they have become a benchmark for self managing organizations around the world.
hoxby from UK- hoxby is a community based feed board. A business balancing profits with social impact and it delivers creative and strategic services with a distributed workforce across 43 countries. hoxbys associates work according to their own work style. Organizing around client needs, full autonomy, and participating in a profit sharing scheme.
„We started hoxby where each person is a micro entrepreneur to prove that everybody can have their work style that fits the unique nature of each person's lifestyle.“
— Alex Hirst, co-founder hoxby
BuurtzOrg from Netherlands/Global - The leading Dutch home healthcare organization. They have a hyper flat structure with more than a thousand teams and ten thousand nurses delivering services across the Netherlands. They have become one of the most benchmark healthcare organizations in the world. They deliver better patient care at lower cost, peer beating service, and there's much to learn from them.
„We focus also on creating healthier & better neighborhoods for people to live in “
— Thijs de Blok, CEO BuurtzOrg International
Social Innovation Academy (SINA) from Uganda - 81 social enterprise in Africa having been born in SINA so far, and we have 16 communities in 6 African countries, that empowers marginalised youth and refugees to become social entrepreneurs. At SINA, participants practice free responsibility, combining freedom and responsibility to create their own curriculum and launch social enterprises within a self organized community.
„We unleash the potentials of disadvantaged, marginalized young people, as well as refugees, to really become the change they want to see in the world, as social entrepreneurs “
— Etienne Salborn, Founder SINA
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
I’m incredibly proud to announce that SINA, one of our nominees, has truly earned this recognition through their purposeful work! Their achievements have already been highlighted in Forbes. You can find more details in the recent article „Zeros For Heroes: New Awards For Organizational Innovation” by Bill Fischer.
We’ve also published their Ecosystem Case Study here.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The next category is Emergent Excellence. Each change within an organization is significant, but the first step is often the most challenging, the most dangerous, and also the most important. These organizations have bravely stepped into the future, and the winners, hailing from countries such as Poland, Japan, Australia, and others, are:
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The winners have been asked some idea or principle that has helped them as they’ve been through this journey.
We focused on the employee's well being and the impact on our sales and our customer service after 30 years later was and still is very positive.
We decided to be radically transparent about salaries, revenue, profit, and people utilization. So people could understand the why behind the decisions.
I think everything started when I fired myself. So firing the boss is the key, so that the rest can really Running company. Getting out of the way.
Change is very hard, you have to start with yourself.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The first round of international awards were followed by a Keynote „Celebrating today to Build the Future“ by Zhou Yunjie, CEO Haier Group.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
He spoke about the evolution of RenDanHeYi, Haier’s New Economic Engine, highlighting the reasons for its application and the urgent need for a new management model in the ever-evolving AI era. He also introduced the next phase, RenDanHeYi 2.0, Haier’s updated management model, which likely deserves a separate blog post of its own.
A key inspiration: they’ve shifted one of their core principles from "Zero Distance" to "Zero Boundaries", which now extends to collaboration with suppliers and other ecosystems. There’s so much more to share—wow!
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The next category was the ZeroDX Pioneers, individuals who have made outstanding contributions and achievements either in theoretical research and consultation or in practical innovations.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
Interesting to mention a new ISO standard is on its way!
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The next category was the ZeroDX AI, which aims to acknowledge the outstanding organizations within Haier, that have taken the lead in creating a new economic engine through the implementation of RenDanHeYi model and the zero-distance transformation.
San Yi Nico EMC - Trailblazer Award
EU HVACS EMC - Explorer Award
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
The awards were followed by another very inspiring keynote by the founder and chairman of Haier Zhang Ruimin. He took as back to the thinking of Peter Drucker, the various industrial revolutions and his point of view of the future of Management.
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
He outlined the three dimensions of Zero Distance, and I was particularly captivated by the concept of "Zero Signatory". When discussing excellence, he emphasized the idea of self-evolution and emergence—processes that never truly end. What resonated most with me was the focus on human value and a win-win mentality, which Haier takes so seriously that they operate under the principle of "Shareholders Last." Another key point was that even in highly digital organizations, such as those utilizing AI, governance and ways of working are equally, if not more, important. These will become increasingly critical as organizations adapt to new changes and market demands.
One noteworthy aspect of RenDanHeYi 2.0 is its broader inclusion of players beyond just customers. Haier applies the same win-win mentality to everyone, including suppliers, other ecosystems forming alliances, and even communities.
In the afternoon, the New Engine Roundtable Forum provided deeper insights into Haier’s strategic industries, including Medicine, CARtech, and Home Appliances.
It's truly impressive to see the capabilities Haier has developed. For instance, Haier can deliver a personalized car in under 15 days—from order to delivery—thanks to its advanced digital platform, which connects all internal and external ecosystem players in real time, alongside its mass customization capabilities. They can even manufacture different models and car types, from sedans to buses, on the same production line.
Another example, shared by Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances USA, highlighted how they are taking modular design to the next level, both in their products and organizational structures. They've started partnering with other ecosystems—such as menu providers, shops, and delivery services—which will make them unbeatable in the market.
I may write a separate blog post diving deeper into this later. Stay tuned!
Image source: Mirko Kleiner, contents by Haier
Gary Hamel closed the second day with his signature thought-provoking remarks—no surprise there! Seriously though, he made some excellent points about identifying the current challenges and key leverage points for change in management, organizations, and cross-company collaboration. He emphasized the need to start addressing these areas by engaging with relevant institutions far beyond our usual scope, such as investors, regulators, business schools, and government departments. The idea is to form a movement similar to how the medical community collaborates to combat diseases like cancer. Well, count me in, Gary!
Our Nominees
We are proud to of each of our nominees. You are leading examples with the New Economic Engine:
SINA (Social Innovation Academy) 🇺🇬 w/ Etienne Salborn -> their Ecosystem Case Study
eRevo AG 🇨🇭 energy Revolution w/ Gregor Zust -> their Ecosystem Case Study
Miles AS 🇳🇴 The value-based IT Company w/ Camilla Amundsen -> their Ecosystem Case Study
NET Engineering 🇮🇹 Engineering Agility w/ Silvia Furlan -> their Ecosystem Case Study
We’ll be sharing more details about their Case Study in separate upcoming post of this series, so stay tuned!
Conclusions
This was, without a doubt, one of the best events I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been to many across all kinds of domains. The maturity level of the participants—whether they were business leaders, researchers, or consultants—was exceptional. More people need to see and hear what we had the privilege to experience. The combination of engaging with the most disruptive, world-leading companies and connecting theory to real products and people was outstanding.
Content-wise, I’m a firm believer that the New Economic Engine will serve as a huge inspiration for organizations worldwide. The nominees and winners have proven that these principles are universally applicable, regardless of the size, industry, or culture of the organization. It has also reinforced that we’re on the right path with our movement, the LAP Alliance, but at the same time, there is still so much more to do and learn.
Book references
At the event the following books have been mentioned:
Management Challenges for the 21st Century by Peter F. Drucker
The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab
Humanocrazy by Gary Hamel
The Startup Factory by Corporate Rebels
Global Business Model Shift by Umberto Lago
The Silicon Valley Model by Anika Steibler
Proximity by Robert C. Wolcott & Kahn Krippendorff
Next Post - Our Case Studies in more Details
Stay tuned for the upcoming posts in this series!
All Posts of this Series
Post 1 - Visiting Haier in Qingdao China
Post 2 - The New Economic Engine
Post 3 - Preview of the Haier ZeroDX Awards
Post 4 - The Haier ZeroDX Awards 2024
Post 5 - The Haier ZeroDX Awards Ecosystem Case Studies