Midea Group: The Systems Approach to Becoming a Global Leader in Household Appliance Sector

Over the past decades, firms from emerging economies like China have sprung up and reshaped the economic map of the world. This chapter focuses on a miniature of these firms: Midea Group, a global leader in household appliance sector. We give a glimpse of how firms, in a developing China, implement an innovation management system to motivate and integrate the creativity of each innovation element. The story is also an excellent example of the promotion of the ISO 56002. We find that Midea has applied the total innovation management philosophy, developed a future-oriented innovation vision and strategy, leveraged indigenous innovation competence and external resources to support innovation activities, which are followed by the four-level technology roadmap as an action plan. It has also organised the R&D centres as a global collaboration network for the internal and external innovation activities and resources. As a result, Midea established a portfolio of innovation competence that consists of technological and managerial core competencies. Midea’s experience in innovation management and development brings important insights to other companies that are on the track of catching-up as well as becoming global innovators.