Kathy Gibson reports from CeBIT, Hanover – Local recruitment and skills transfer is always high on the agenda as Huawei expands its operations across the globe.
This is the word from David He, president of marketing and solution sales: enterprise business group at Huawei Technologies, speaking about the company’s operations in Germany.
“Huawei Enterprise set up in Germany in 2011,” he says. “We already have 1 100 employees, 70% of whom are German.”
Similar ratios of locally-recruited staff members to Chinese workers are typical around the world, he adds, with South Africa for instance currently boasting a 70% local staff complement.
“It really depends, and varies country to country,” says He. “But Africa is a good example of where are employing local talent and transferring skills.”
In the US, he adds, the company has a modest presence where it addresses two key vertical markets, which it intends to grow over time.
He believes that Huawei technology is the key to its success in the global market; along with a culture of partnering.
“For instance we have 35 partners co-exhibiting with Huawei at CeBIT, and this week have signed 11 global partnership MoUs (memorandums of understanding).”
In terms of innovation, the Chinese giant spends more than 10% of its revenue on research and development (R&D), with about 14% being spent in the last two years.
“With such huge R&D investment we can sustain our long term innovation,” He says.
