Marketing Strategies of Chinese Mobile Phone MNCs in the European Market : - A Case Study of Huawei

Abstract: The rapid popularisation of smartphones and the growth of the industry has attracted a large number of Chinese manufacturers. In terms of the long-term development and the increase of benefits, numerous Chinese manufacturers turn to the European market to seek the opportunities. However, Chinese smartphone manufacturers sell products at a low price on account of insufficient technical content. Therefore, how to improve the products’ technology is critical to increasing prices.   Huawei, with the operation in the smartphone market for only nine years, has achieved significant success from zero in that short time, especially in the European and American markets. What innovation and marketing strategy has Huawei implemented in Europe and how successful has it been? How can their marketing strategy be imitated to help other Chinese Mobile MNCs when operating in the European market? In order to seek the answers to these questions, this paper will start from analysing the integration of innovative strategy and pricing strategies of Huawei as the competitive strategies, thereby giving suggestions for other Chinese smartphone MNCs to creating competitive advantages in Europe.   It is found that Huawei’s competitive strategies are phased. In the early stage, Incremental Innovation strategy and Innovation Integration method were adopted to improve non-core parts, and low prices complemented technology disadvantages. In the middle stage, internal innovation and open innovation are adopted; in the meantime, the technology of core components and non-core parts are improved by modular innovation and incremental innovation to lay the foundation for improving premium step by step. In addition, the usage of the strategic combination is also important.