Background
Hou Weigui was born in 1941 in China.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Weigui Hou
Edit Profile为贵 侯
Education
Hou Weigui was educated locally.
Career
In early 1985, Hou started the Zhongxing Semiconductor Corporation in Shenzhen. In 1993 as incumbent chairman, Hou restructured the company into the Zhongxing New Telecom Corporation, a pioneer with a collective operation mechanism among state-owned enterprises. When the ZTE Group went public in A shares in 1997, Hou made a fortune of RMB154 million. Under his leadership, ZTE Group became the first telecom manufacturer in China to develop a digital SPC switch, with independent property rights, the first company in China to sell telecom products abroad, and the first Chinese enterprise to master the technology of separating the UIM card from CDMA mobile phones. As a pragmatic, courageous and innovative entrepreneur, Hou led ZTE’s march to become a giant telecom equipment provider.
When the global telecom market experienced a downturn in 2003, Hou’s instincts for future opportunities led him to concentrate on wireless devices, network equipment and mobile phones for the domestic market, reaping an annual profit of RMB295 million, a startling increase of 72.4 percent over the previous year. Thus Hou was named among the Top-Ten Business Figures in the Information Industry in 2003. In the following year, ZTE successfully launched the smallest and lightest mobile phone with leading 3G technology, and became the first Chinese enterprise to be listed in both A and H shares, and the first Chinese telecom equipment provider ever to serve the Olympic Games. As a result, Hou was named among the China Business Figures of the Year by CCTV on 28 December 2004.
Achievements
-
As a reward for Hou’s vision and managerial philosophy, ZTE was recognized as among the world’s fastest-growing telecom equipment providers by BusinessWeek in 2004, and as one of China’s top-ten most influential foreign listing companies and top-twenty Chinese brands in 2006, the only such company in the telecom industry. ZTE currently has a distribution presence in over 100 countries and regions, and is ranked among the top-30 world leading telecom providers. Hou has every confidence that the future of ZTE will be even brighter.
Politics
Hou also demonstrated strategic insight in his unique approach to the global market. In order to break through and secure market presence, he implemented the International Falcon Strategy to target markets in developing countries. In 2005 Hou’s global strategy earned ZTE RMB13.6 billion in overseas sales, 40 percent of ZTE’s total revenue. The secret of ZTE’s success lay in the mechanism for attracting, retaining, and motivating employees. By adopting a multiple distribution system, Hou tried his best to meet the needs of every employee in terms of rewards, career development, and their physical and mental well-being. Keeping a close eye on their customers’ demands, Hou and senior managers of ZTE personally visited various clients during the week of the Spring Festival in 2004, and Hou remains extremely sensitive to the evolving trends in the telecom market both at home and abroad.
