Houjian Zhou

Background

Zhou Houjian was born in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Zhou is the youngest and only son in a family with seven older sisters.

Education

Having achieved the highest scores in science of all high school graduates in Qingdao, Zhou entered the electronic department of Shandong University in 1978.

Career

After graduation, he was assigned to the Qingdao Television Factory where he worked as a technician, gradually being promoted a supervisor, assistant factory director, and at age 35, factory director. Zhou dismissed 20 workers who stole raw materials from the company, consolidated supervisory positions, trained employees with potential, and increased compensation for R&D staff. Through those actions Zhou built up his leadership prestige and set a good foundation for future growth. Based on the Qingdao Television factory, in 1994 Zhou established Hisense Group, which is now one of the largest home appliance makers in China, with a distribution presence in over 100 countries.

Zhou emphasized R&D and innovation, which he regarded as central to any corporate success. In 1996, the Chinese color television industry experienced a bitter price war. Zhou declared that Hisense would not take part in such chaos. Instead, Zhou adopted the strategy of ‘high technology, high quality, high service, and global brand’ to remain competitive. When the number of Chinese television makers declined sharply from over 50 down to about ten, Hisense not only survived, but also achieved remarkable growth. By 1998 its production had already reached RMB10 billion, and with sales revenue of over RMB8.23 billion, it ranked seventh among the top 100 electronic product companies in China. With such noticeable success, Zhou captured the national Labor Day Medal of that year, the highest reward for people working in the Chinese industries.

In 2000 Zhou was named chairman of Hisense. With executive matters transferred to Ms Yu Shumin, Zhou focused on strategic and developmental issues such as capital operation, structural adjustment, and enterprise ownership reform. Two years later, with help from Samsung Group, Zhou carried out TPM (total productivity maintenance) in Hisense while it was still enjoying sound growth. In June 2005 in Beijing, Hisense unveiled its Hiview chip, a digital video processing chip based on leading international standards, which marked the birth of Chinese chips and ended the use of imported chips in millions of color televisions made in China. Under Zhou, Hisense has since focused on technical innovation and structural optimization, established its ’3C’ dominant industries (consumer electronic products, communications, and computers), which includes such industries as televisions, air-conditioners, refrigerators, software development, and network equipment. It has set up trading companies or offices in the USA, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Indonesia, the Middle East, and Hong Kong, and built a local production base in South Africa. By 2006, Hisense’s sales revenue reached RMB43.5 billion. With more than 20 subsidiary companies and a worldwide sales network, Hisense has grown to be one of the most influential electronic groups in China.

Achievements

• Zhou’s dream is to make his company the Chinese Sony. To recognize his contribution to the electronic industry, Zhou has been honored with many rewards, such as the Outstanding Entrepreneur Award, National Model Worker, CCTV Business Figure of the Year in 2000, and the National Quality Management Fellow in 2002.