The deep meaning behind the personnel adjustment of Huawei's device business
Recently, Huawei announced a major personnel adjustment: Yu Chengdong stepped down from the position of CEO of Huawei Device BG (Business Group) and transferred to the newly established position of Chairman of the Device BG; He Gang, the former chief operating officer of Huawei's device BG, took over as CEO. This adjustment is widely regarded as Huawei's normal business structure adjustment, which aims to optimize the management level and improve the efficiency of decision-making. However, at a deeper level, this personnel change reflects Huawei's development strategy adjustment in the current environment and its thinking about the future development direction.
As a veteran of Huawei's device business, Yu Chengdong has been the CEO of the terminal company for nearly 13 years since 2011. Under his leadership, Huawei's mobile phone sales continued to climb, once surpassing Apple and Samsung, and topped the global single-quarter mobile phone sales. This is undoubtedly one of Yu Chengdong's greatest achievements during his tenure. He Gang, who succeeded him, is Yu Chengdong's old partner, and the two cooperate seamlessly in the terminal business. He Gang led the development of Huawei's well-known Mate and P series mobile phones, and made outstanding contributions to the development of Huawei's mobile phone product line. From this point of view, this personnel adjustment has not had much impact on the operation of Huawei's terminal business, on the contrary, the smooth handover of new and old generals may inject new vitality into Huawei's terminal business.
We cannot ignore the deeper considerations that may exist behind this adjustment. One view is that this adjustment is similar to Yu's position change in Huawei's Automotive Solution BU (Business Unit) in September last year, which means that Yu Chengdong will gradually shift his focus to the automotive business. This speculation is not groundless, Huawei has been in the automotive field for many years and has made some progress. With the advent of the era of intelligent and connected vehicles, Huawei's automotive business may become an important growth point in the future. As a veteran of Huawei, Yu Chengdong has devoted his energy to this emerging field, which is undoubtedly a strategic deployment of Huawei.
Another point of view is that the position of chairman is more like a fictitious position, which means that Yu Chengdong may gradually turn behind the scenes and withdraw from front-line decision-making positions. This view is based on the fact that the chairmanship is typically only responsible for strategic and investment decisions, and is not involved in day-to-day operations. If this is true, then the purpose of Yu Chengdong's adjustment may be to give He Gang greater decision-making autonomy, and at the same time free up more energy for himself to focus on Huawei's overall strategic layout. Some insiders have denied this speculation, saying that Yu Chengdong will still be the actual helm of the terminal business and has investment decision-making power.
We cannot ignore the fact that Huawei's revenue and net profit increased significantly in the first quarter, and the strong recovery of the terminal business contributed to it. This undoubtedly instills confidence in Huawei's future development. Yu Chengdong once said in an interview that 2024 will be a critical year for Huawei's independent operating system HarmonyOS, and Huawei will accelerate the development of related applications. From this point of view, this adjustment may allow Yu Chengdong to focus on higher-level work such as the construction of the HarmonyOS ecosystem, laying a solid foundation for Huawei's long-term development.
Behind the personnel adjustment of Huawei's device business, Huawei's thinking on the future development direction is reflected. Whether it is shifting its focus to the automotive business, focusing on the construction of the HarmonyOS ecosystem, or making more decision-making space for the new generation of leaders, this adjustment shows that Huawei is actively responding to changes in the external environment and making strategic plans for its own sustainable development. In the current complex situation, this kind of thinking and decisive action will win Huawei more room for development.