Recruiting in China

CISCO Systems Inc announced yesterday a partnership with Haier Group to explore home network markets in China, relatively new territory for both companies.

Cisco's cooperation with Haier, China's largest appliance manufacturer, helps them to expand consumer business, and Haier aims to profit from the growing integration of the Internet with home entertainment, industry insiders said.

Under the terms of the cooperation, Cisco and Haier announced their intention to explore sharing practices in group management and processes, financial management and controls, strategic investments and capitalization cooperation, construction of information infrastructure and home networking systems, Cisco said in a statement.

Qingdao-based Haier, with a global revenue of 107.5 billion yuan (US$14.3 billion) last year and 50,000 employees, is expanding its brand in international markets and the partnership with Cisco will help that.

Haier is also a large Cisco customer in China, and uses Cisco's network equipment.

"We are a market leader in China, but are working to establish a strong brand presence in overseas markets. We believe it is necessary to take advantage of Cisco's business practices as a model for efficient international expansion," said Zhang Ruimin, Haier's chief executive.

China's digital TV market revenue is expected to hit 150 billion yuan in 2007, 19 percent of the global market size, according to Gartner Inc, an IT research firm.