智慧型手機廠商的國際化策略研究-以華為技術為例

Abstract

本研究的目的為探討中國的手機廠商-華為技術如何成功的執行國際化策略，進而成為國際手機大廠之一。華為以白牌手機起家，卻能夠成功擺脫中國白牌手機品質不佳的刻板印象，成功在國際手機市場中佔有一席之地。本研究採用烏普薩拉模型(revised Uppsala Process Model)作為研究模型，探討華為在各國際化階段採用的策略，並與國際手機市場的前兩強三星電子、蘋果電腦互相比較其優劣勢。本研究發現華為在國際手機市場的成功，可以歸因於其在通信產業的國際化經驗，以及在未來手機通信科技如4G LTE專利的大量投資以建立研發的基礎。華為並積極與國際知名企業如摩托羅拉、賽門鐵克等的合作來增進自己的品牌形象，透過這些合資及各種行銷活動，華為成功將其品牌辨識度在三年內從不到20%提升至超過50%，並且在國際手機市場的市佔率達到第三名。目前華為銷量最佳的手機仍集中在中低價市場，而其在北美手機市場也一直無法進入前五強，如果要踏入高端市場，華為勢必需要更多破壞式創新才能夠在競爭激烈的國際手機市場中更進一步。華為手機成功國際化的案例、其優點及缺點可以對於未來手機廠商在擴展到國際市場時，提供很好的參考價值。

This research aims to analyze how Huawei’s internationalization strategies enable it to be a global player in the smartphone market. Perceived as a ‘white brand’ before, it is difficult for a Chinese smartphone vendor to build its brand equity, but Huawei has successfully increased its worldwide market share. The revised Uppsala Process Model is used as the primary tool to measure Huawei’s performance in each internationalization stage, and to compare with the top two smartphone vendors, Apple and Samsung. Huawei’s success can be attributed to its strong knowledge base, which it has a successful internationalization experience in the telecommunication industry, and it has invested heavily in internet and telecommunication related technologies such as 4G LTE patents. Moreover, Huawei improved its brand equity by actively building joint ventures with large global companies, such as Siemens, Motorola and Symantec. These ventures enabled Huawei to improve its brand recognition rate from less than 20% to more than 50% in 3 years. These internationalization strategies helped Huawei to be the third in global smartphone market share. Now, Huawei’s best-selling models are mostly low-to-middle priced ones, and it has not yet become the top 5 in North American market. The main reason could be that it lacks disruptive innovations to enforce a blue ocean strategy in the already crowded smartphone market. Huawei’s case, its advantages and disadvantages can be a good example for smartphone vendors to enter or expand to the global smartphone market.