"Wolf culture": How Huawei controls its employees in Europe

Wir haben diesen Artikel auch auf Deutsch veröffentlicht.

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The journalist with the camera causes nervousness. Minutes after he appears in front of Huawei’s European headquarters in Düsseldorf in mid-November, a stocky security guard and a female employee rush over. The street in front of the building is public space, but the company seems to feel its turf has been violated. „What do you want here?“, the woman asks. „Delete the photos.“

Insights into the inner workings of the controversial Chinese mobile phone company are rare. Huawei has about 200,000 employees worldwide, and about 2,400 in Germany, according to the company. The European headquarters are in Düsseldorf. „We Are A Top Employer!“, a sign in the entrance area reads, beneath it orchids decorate the reception table. In the corridor hangs a photo of a hiking group posing and waving on a mountain peak.

What voices tell us from inside, on the other hand, belies the impression of a friendly atmosphere. They tell of a technology company that seems to see its employees first and foremost as raw materials from which it wants to forge its own success. About a company that moves Chinese employees around like chess pieces, that fires employees at will and where a quasi-military esprit de corps prevails. In Germany, the company sometimes violates the spirit, perhaps even the letter, of labour law.

This article is the result of months of investigation by netzpolitik.org with media partners of The Signals Network including The Daily Telegraph (United Kingdom), El Mundo (Spain) and Republik (Switzerland). Documents we have seen show, how Huawei reaches into the lives of its employees in order to achieve its goals.

We have spoken to people who have worked for the company in several European countries. Our sources come from China, but also from Germany, they worked for different subsidiaries and departments. Some ex-employees speak well of the corporation, while several interviewees make serious accusations. To protect our sources, we refrain in most cases from mentioning names and other details that could make them identifiable.

Huawei’s „wolf culture“

Their accounts paint a picture of a company that is celebrated in public for it’s seemingly modern management philosophy, but at the same time pushes employees to their limits. Ex-employees speak of a toxic corporate culture that is promoted by the company’s management. The enormous pressure to succeed also plays a role.

Those who play along with all this are rewarded by Huawei with special payments linked to company shares. But what happens when workers refuse to put their lives entirely at the service of their employer is shown by internal emails and covert audio recordings obtained by netzpolitik.org and its media partners, as well as court cases in several countries. The cases dealt with discrimination and dismissals that should never have happened under the law.

Anyone who listens carefully to Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei and pays attention to his uncompromising, war-like rhetoric will notice that Huawei makes no secret of its true corporate culture. Ren peppers his speeches with military metaphors and proudly calls his rough style of leadership „wolf culture“. In Europe, too, „wolf culture“ reigns.

Top jobs probably only for staff from China

Not everyone is equal in Huawei’s tight hierarchy. Metaphorically speaking, the company has two floors and employees without Chinese roots can occupy only the lower floor — no matter where they are on the official organisation chart. The top level is reserved for expats, Chinese who are sent from the company headquarters in Shenzhen to subsidiaries all over the world.

One ex-employee says there is effectively a glass ceiling for European workers. „When you walk through the corridors, it is very obvious that 99.9 per cent of the management is Chinese.“ That is probably an exaggeration, but it has a core of truth.

Chinese dominance is reflected in the management level of the global group, which says it operates in 170 countries around the world. Of the 17 members of Huawei’s board of directors, 17 are Chinese. The head of Huawei Germany is also Chinese, flanked by a German as Chief Technical Officer. Management positions held by locals appear to be little more than window dressing. „Every German manager had a shadow manager from China standing behind him“, says a former employee at the European headquarters.

A Huawei spokesperson contradicts this account. He says that German managers are not shadowed by Chinese „supervisors“, nor is there a glass ceiling for non-Chinese. He states that just 59 per cent of the management are employees deployed from China.

At the same time, the spokesperson says that in some departments there are „proven dual-head structures with a clear and sensible distribution of tasks“. According to him, it is the task of local managers to take care of local customers, market development and compliance with local law. The Chinese management, on the other hand, serves as an interface to the Chinese management level.

What is clear is that, according to our investigation, different rules presumably apply at Huawei for non-Chinese. They have less access to information and are excluded from important internal decisions, our sources report. At meetings, management personnel sometimes switch to Chinese at crucial moments.

In response to our questions, the company emphasises that the official working language in Europe is English and that, according to internal company rules, meetings between colleagues from different countries have to be held in English. However, several of our sources complained that expats English skills are sometimes poor.

A „small Chinese embassy“ in Düsseldorf

One source compares Huawei’s European headquarters in Düsseldorf to a „small Chinese embassy“ where Chinese employees have built up their own world. Ex-employees say that the areas of responsibility are often defined in such a way that there is little contact between employees from China and those from elsewhere. Chinese and non-Chinese at Huawei are a world apart, even outside of work.

European employees rarely find out what is really going on in the company during the day at work, says a former German employee. However, Chinese colleagues occasionally ask in the evening if they want to have dinner together. „After a few beers, you find out what is going on in the company and what is not.“ Yet many Western employees did not want to get involved and preferred to go home.

Trade unionist Ulrike Saaber from Europe’s largest industrial union IG Metall has established contacts with several former Huawei workers. She describes to netzpolitik.org and its media partners the narrow world in which Chinese expats move. „The Chinese who have their roots and family in China, who only come here to work, they are totally isolated.“

According to Saaber, Chinese expats have little knowledge of German laws and therefore hardly try to claim them for themselves. „It is often the case that these people are drawn together in their free time by representatives of their employer.“ There are informal meetings, he says, where the expats are „oriented“ along company lines. Upon request, Huawei says that joint leisure activities are organised independently by interested colleagues.

Dominance of the „sea turtles“

Year after year, Huawei sends young Chinese abroad. In China, the staff who are meant to earn their spurs away from home are called „sea turtles“. Their typical profile: young, male, well-educated. Our sources indicate there is a clear hierarchy in Huawei’s Europan operation. „Sea turtles“ clearly dominate.

The junior staff are under pressure: hard working conditions and constant control by the company are part of everyday life, fostering the „wolf culture“ that company boss Ren likes to invoke.

One such „sea turtle“ is Joe. Some five years ago, Huawei sends him to Switzerland. He falls in love with a European woman, she becomes pregnant. This is what Joe reports in a joint conversation with our media partner Republik.

For a long time, Joe recounts, he tries to keep his girlfriend a secret, but his boss finds out. One day the man invites him to dinner. After Joe and him share a few beers, the superior asks the question: Is he planning to marry the woman?

The company wants to transfer Joe, away from Switzerland. But Joe resists, so the company threatens him with dismissal. According to Joe, he fears for his safety. In mid-2018, he secretly records a video of a conversation with the HR manager. In making the recording, which netzpolitik.org and our partners have seen, Joe hopes to prove how Huawei deals with employees who want a future outside of China.

On the company website, Huawei promises to promote a caring environment that inspires a good work-life balance.

In the video, Joe can be heard saying, „My wife is going to give birth to our baby so I will probably stay here.“ But the HR manager insists that Joe agrees to a transfer. „The company has the right to decide where you work and you should follow our instructions.“ Joe refuses. He leaves the company in spring 2019.

An internal document with the unwieldy title „Assignment and Mobility Management Regulation“ demonstrates how Huawei has also determined parts of its employees‘ private lives in Western Europe. „Those who’ve obtained residency in an EU country or whose spouses are permanent EU residents and those who have voluntarily applied for permanent residency in the EU must leave Europe as soon as possible“, the company writes in Chinese in the document. „If they don’t follow the order, the company will terminate their employment.“

When asked, Huawei confirms in principle that such internal regulations existed. A spokesperson says that the company has no opinion on the private affairs of its employees. However, expats knew in advance about the conditions of their foreign assignment. If there are conflicts between these and the employee’s private life, „the employee must comply with Huawei’s international assignment policy and the international assignment agreement signed by the employee“.

Days later, a spokesperson tells us that the regulation on residence permits is no longer valid — however, when asked, he did not want to say since when.

„Please don’t tell anyone that I’m learning German“

The consequence of the tough corporate policy is apparently a climate of fear. According to our Düsseldorf sources, the mistrust already starts when expats acquire knowledge of local languages. „Please don’t tell anyone that I’m learning German“, a Chinese employee is reported to have said to a former colleague who spoke to us.

In Spain, a case landed in court in 2018 that shows how Huawei apparently wants to have a say in the family planning of its employees. The plaintiff is a woman who goes by the pseudonym Ana. She accuses the company of sexist discrimination. Ana is Chinese, an expat. For almost a decade she worked in a senior position in the group’s finance department. Huawei sends her to Spain, where she marries a local.

When the woman wants to have a child, the trouble begins. Twice she suffers a miscarriage, twice she calls in sick afterwards. Huawei claims Ana’s work performance has declined and curbs her annual bonus, according to court documents. When she starts fertility treatment and calls in sick again, the company fires her.

Ana sues the company and wins. The court rules that the dismissal was not legal. A spokesperson for Huawei tells netzpolitik.org and its media partners that the Spanish judiciary has never ruled that the dismissal was due to discrimination against a pregnant woman.

However, in a written submission to court, Ana’s lawyer makes serious allegations against Huawei: „This decision to penalise the employee in her remuneration as a consequence for her leaves of absence due to abortions suffered during her pregnancies presents itself no longer as a hint but as direct proof in fact — consequence, of discrimination based on sex, derived from her two frustrated attempts at maternity.“

In the course of the proceedings, a pattern seems to emerge. A member of the workers’ council at Huawei’s subsidiary tells the court that she knows of at least five women who have become mothers and lost their jobs at Huawei. Three of them were Chinese.

Those who resign must sell their shares

There are reasons why Huawei can treat its employees like this and yet hardly anyone rebels. One is the way the company pays its Chinese employees.

After working for Huawei for some time, they receive share certificates in the company, which formally is owned to 99 per cent by Huawei’s union. The shares are used to give employees a cut of the profits. According to the company, this is done to motivate them. For them, the model seems lucrative, but only as long as their plans are aligned with those of Huawei.

In fact, employees do not truly have a stake in the company: anyone who resigns or is fired is forced by the company to sell their shares back. According to a Huawei spokesperson, this is in line with „our long-established, generally known and contractually fixed rules in this area“. The only exceptions are for long-serving, older employees, who are allowed to keep their shares when they retire.

The retirement age in China is 60 for men and 55 for women. At Huawei, however, according to our sources, it is common to end one’s career already in one’s mid-40s. When long-serving Chinese managers reach this age, they often cash out the value of their company shares and effectively retire.

So if an expat decides against returning to China, they not only lose their job, but also this form of retirement provision. „Huawei is a company, not a prison: if you want to quit, you can quit. But this decision is not easy,“ says a source who worked for the European headquarters in Düsseldorf for more than five years, including in the human resources department.

Strict rotation principle for expats

The company is determined to prevent expats from putting down roots outside of China and obtaining residency rights in European countries, says a source who worked for the company for several years. „The internal atmosphere at the company is that if you marry a local person and get citizenship rights, then this is seen as a betrayal“, an ex-employee in London tells our media partner The Daily Telegraph.

One method the company uses to enforce the loyalty of Chinese employees is the strict rotation principle. No expat can stay in the same country outside of China for more than five years. Several sources say that the company wants to prevent Chinese employees from developing close ties to their host country.

Apparently, Huawei categorically refuses to compromise on this. „Upon the completion of a five continuous years assignment in a country, expatriates who are not interfacing with the customers will be relocated regardless of all factors“, Huawei’s guidelines, for Western Europe, state.

In the internal document, the company makes clear what the rule is probably really about: control. „This regulation is hence established to warrant that the expatriates from China adhere to the Company’s arrangements.“

For the group, „the principle of rotation is important and essential at many different levels“, a Huawei spokesperson said. The constant change of location allows the organisation to remain flexible, and employees can gain experience in different roles and countries.

Veterans from the telecoms industry wanted

Huawei has been suspected of espionage in the West for years. Great Britain, Sweden, Australia and other countries have banned the installation of Huawei components in their 5G networks. In the USA, the company is practically excluded from the market altogether. In December, the Welt am Sonntag reported that a manager had asked employees in Germany to explore and copy the software of a competitor. Accordingly, the company denied the accusation. Accusations against Huawei of helping the Chinese state with espionage have so far been unproven. But there is no doubt that the company plays a key role in China’s quest for technological sovereignty and supremacy.

The book „The Management Transformation of Huawei“ retells the story of the group. In its efforts to gain a foothold outside China, it was not welcomed with open arms. In response, it had to hire local staff in host countries in addition to expats, Wen Li, Xiaoran Chan and Bin Guo write.

In Germany, according to our investigation, Huawei likes to hire veterans from the telecommunications industry who are lured by the salaries of the Chinese company. At its European headquarters in Düsseldorf, it gathers experienced staff.

„A few years at Huawei doesn’t hurt anyone who wants to work in this industry because you can really learn a lot“, says a former German manager who quit in 2019. That year, he says, Huawei was the „biggest gorilla in the whole market“. Another person who worked for the company in Düsseldorf also says: „I don’t regret my time at Huawei, I learned a lot.“

Huawei appears to hold ex-employees of competitors in high regard. That is illustrated by internal documents that netzpolitik.org and its media partners have seen. In HR forms, the firm records, among other things, the work experience of its employees. One line is reserved for competitors, such as Cisco, Ericsson, ZTE. The next line is for experience with potential clients, such as T-Mobile and Telefonica.

Huawei’s subsidiaries pass on personnel data of their German employees to the headquarters in China and a branch in Malaysia, which became known last year through a lawsuit. As first reported by WirtschaftsWoche, the court awarded the employee damages from Huawei because the company refused to provide information about what data it had collected about him and what had happened to it.

Hardly any employees over 50 work at Huawei

Huawei demands discipline and loyalty from its European managers just as it does from its expats. But the loyalty the company demands is only partially met by itself, especially towards older European employees.

We have spoken to several former employees who were fired by the company. Their accounts are similar: „I always did everything exactly by the book“, says one of our sources. Nevertheless, Huawei fired the source after several years of loyal service. The ex-employee doesn’t want to read their name on the internet, to avoid trouble with the company, but says their only offence was their age.

Huawei appears to take pride in its young workforce. Of 194,000 employees worldwide in 2019, only two per cent are older than 50 years, the company says on its website.

Huawei does not like it when someone is employed by the company beyond their 60th birthday, according to several of our sources. According to them, if older employees do not leave voluntarily, Huawei resorts to pressure.

We cannot write details of a number of such cases, because they might allow conclusions to be drawn about the identity of the persons concerned. This could expose them to legal retaliation by the company. According to our sources, Huawei is not squeamish in its choice of means to get rid of workers of advanced age.

In Germany, several cases have ended up in court. In those, Huawei dismissed workers who were around 50 or older without an obvious reason. Some cases have long since been closed and Huawei has paid large sums in compensation. But the company seems to accept legal trouble to get rid of disagreeable staff after years of good service.

A former German manager who worked for the European headquarters for almost ten years says he has heard of dismissals that were not formally correct because, for example, there had been no warning beforehand. „This is then settled with money — the company doesn’t care at all. The main thing is that the problem is solved.“

Huawei probably prefers that those affected leave of their own accord. The company’s tactics are said to include giving them meaningless tasks or no tasks at all, as well as transferring them to other workplaces, sometimes even to other company locations. This is done to disrupt the daily lives of those affected and to give them the feeling that they are no longer welcome at Huawei, is the interpretation of one of those affected. Some talk of harassment. Upon request, Huawei states that it does not resort to any such measures.

Accusations are also made in another European country where the company does business. A labour court in Madrid concludes in November 2020 that Huawei dismissed five of its middle-aged Spanish employees without just cause. The judge ruled that Huawei had discriminated against them, because of their age.

The court awards the victims compensation of 20,000 euros each. According to the court, a speech by founder Ren Zhengfei supposedly shows that such dismissals are company policy, as employees over 50 and over 60 cost the company millions of euros in additional expenses. A German spokesperson insists that Ren’s statement was taken out of context: He had actually wanted to encourage older employees.

According to the spokesperson, Huawei „strictly rejects“ the accusation of age discrimination.

The fear of a workers‘ council

Huawei’s treatment of its employees is also causing frustration among trade unions. Attempts to establish a workers‘ council at Huawei’s European headquarters in Düsseldorf have so far been fruitless, says unionist Ulrike Saaber.

A company spokesperson writes to us that Huawei respects the German Works Constitution Act and has done nothing to prevent the formation of a workers‘ council. „The initiative to establish a workers‘ council lies with the employees, not the company.“

According to Saaber, the union has tried time and again to contact employees, but Chinese workers duck it „because they are afraid“. Without employees willing to even stand, the union is fighting a losing battle. „This undermines the Works Constitution Act, which actually stipulates that a workers‘ council must be formed if there are five or more employees“, says Saaber.

Only in one of Huawei’s German subsidiaries are workers allowed to appoint their own representatives. Huawei had taken over several hundred employees from Ericsson in 2016, most of them union members. After months of negotiations and threats of strikes by workers, Huawei gave in and Huawei Technologies Service GmbH had to accept union collective bargaining and a workers‘ council.

But even that does little to change the power relations in the subsidiary, Saaber speculates. „Personally, I only ever had contact with the German representatives at Huawei TS, even though it was clear that behind every German managing director or HR manager there was some Chinese mirror figure.“ The structures are strictly hierarchical, he said. „The German managing directors have little to say and always have to coordinate all the way to China. They are not actually allowed to decide anything on their own.“

The conditions at Huawei are not only a problem for the company’s workers, but also for its competitors. „If workers‘ rights are not respected — be it in terms of working hours or pay — such companies can offer cheaper. They can operate around the clock without any problems and thus distort competition.“

The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs under the leadership of Hubertus Heil (SPD) did not want to comment on the Huawei case when asked by netzpolitik.org and its media partners. A spokesperson stated that they do not comment on individual cases.

„Coming second is not an option“

Huawei itself takes the position that the only way to get opportunities is through hard work, the Harvard Business Review noted in 2015. It described the company’s culture as „key to success“. For some employees, however, it is more of a burden, as our investigation shows. The pressure to succeed within the company is enormous.

„If you don’t sell anything, you can expect to be demoted“, says a source who worked at the European headquarters for a long time. For the company, it is irrelevant whether success fails to materialise because of one’s own performance or because of external conditions over which employees have no influence. Another person who has worked at the company for more than five years sums up the management philosophy as follows: „Coming second is not an option for Huawei.“

The company’s strict, „wolfish“ company culture is part of its corporate folklore and at the same time part of everyday life. New employees at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen have to endure a two-week boot camp, the Washington Post reported. Its components include daily training runs at five o’clock in the morning and courses that actually bear the name „brainwashing“.

How deeply military thinking is rooted in the company is also expressed in a framed calligraphy that, according to the New York Times, hangs on the wall at the company’s headquarters. In Chinese script, it reads: „Sacrifice is a soldier’s highest cause. Victory is a soldier’s greatest contribution.“

Errors are pilloried internally

Our sources agree that Huawei regularly punishes its Chinese employees for their alleged failures, often in front of the eyes or ears of colleagues — this also happens at the Düsseldorf headquarters. Via internal e-mail lists, the company sometimes lets everyone know who, in Huawei’s opinion, has not behaved properly and what sanctions have been imposed on them. According to our sources, the company holds its managers responsible for the missteps of individuals. Within the group, they are treated as parents to their employees, their children.

The company frequently hosts what ex-employees call „criticism and self-criticism“, in the style of a communist ritual in the spirit of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. A Chinese manager, for example, had to admit fault in a telephone conference after a bidding process failed, a non-Chinese source tells us, who says they took part in it himself. Everyone present was asked to criticise the man. Our source says they were very uncomfortable. Shortly afterwards, Huawei sent the manager from Düsseldorf back to China.

Self-reflection is „an important principle of our corporate culture“ and served to improve the company and its products and services, Huawei states. Managers are encouraged to discuss the current situation in team meetings and to explore „room for improvement“.

Complaints about working hours at Huawei

When it comes to working hours, the technology company also follows a course that is rather unusual in Europe. Attendance often extends beyond core working hours, in tune with the so-called 9-9-6 principle for employees in China. The principle refers to employees’ suggested presence in the office from nine a.m. to nine p.m., six days a week. In the early years, Huawei even distributed blankets and mattresses to new employees, according to the quasi-official company biography „The Huawei Story“.

In Düsseldorf, working hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. are the rule, at least on paper, but according to former employees, Huawei demands much longer hours from employees in some departments. Ex-employees tell of meetings at the European headquarters that are scheduled at 10 p.m. and of offices that are bustling even on Sundays. Chinese employees sometimes slept in their offices, says a former employee.

This is hardly compatible with German labour law. For years, workers at the Düsseldorf site could only enter their arrival in a time recording system, our sources report, but the company did not allow records of the end of working days. Non-Chinese employees rebelled and have since been effectively exempted from the rule. Expats, however, are denied proper recording of their working hours, according to our sources.

A company spokesperson insists to netzpolitik.org and its media partners that working hours are not recorded, but only the attendance of employees. At the same time, he admits that there have indeed been complaints about the recording of attendance at the European headquarters. The competent authority also confirms that complaints under labour law have been received. The Welt am Sonntag had first reported on such complaints. Since 2018, Huawei has been „inspected for compliance with occupational health and safety regulations, in particular the regulations in the Working Hours Act“, the Düsseldorf district government informs us.

Huawei states that it complies with European labour law. Employees are allowed to work after 8 p.m. „on a voluntary basis”, as long as they do not exceed the maximum working hours of ten hours per day. „It is not the case that employees regularly spend the night in the office“, a company spokesperson said.

Image and reality

Sinologist Mareike Ohlberg, who works for the think tank German Marshall Fund, sees Huawei in a pinch. The most important thing for the company is still the Chinese market, she told netzpolitik.org and its media partners. So it has to emphasise its loyalty to the Communist Party. To the outside world, however, Huawei tries to present itself as an international, modern company. „This happens largely in rhetoric and not in practice.“

Ohlberg advises applying the same standard to Huawei as to other technology companies like Google or Apple. She says that just because a company is from China, it should not be allowed to treat its employees badly. If it is active on the German market or in other Western countries, it must also adhere to corresponding ethical standards.

„In terms of the rights you have as an employee, you are often a lot worse off in China than here“, says Ohlberg. „When employees are hired locally here, work cultures and different ways of dealing collide. „In her opinion, however, there is little interest at Huawei in changing the company culture in the long term.

„Heroes are forged, not born“

The illustration of a brochure that the corporation distributes to its employees says a lot about how it seems to see them. As if human beings were raw materials that could be processed in a factory into the perfect soldier. One picture shows a shot-up Russian fighter plane from the Second World War that nevertheless continued to fly, as Huawei points out in the accompanying text. The caption reads, „Heroes are forged, not born.“

Obviously, the company is trying to inculcate its employees with this fiery management rhetoric. Former employees from Europe with whom we spoke found it strange. Nevertheless, it is apparently practised in the company. Huawei offers an atmosphere of high pressure, but little support or positive feedback, our sources say.

Managers would raise their voices with Chinese employees for even the slightest misconduct. According to former employees, the management system is to blame. In this system, managers often moved back and forth between quite different departments. Several sources tell of bosses who are technically well informed, but who ultimately lack people skills and leadership experience. „It’s a nerd’s den“, says a long-time German employee who has since left Huawei on good terms.

On request, the company claims that the motif with the fighter plane has „nothing specific to do with everyday work at Huawei“. But the graphic could also be seen in an email that has now been obtained by netzpolitik.org and its media partners. The human resources department of the European headquarters sent it to employees via a distribution list as early as August 2019.

The email contains a speech allegedly given by Ren Zhengfei at a swearing-in ceremony for employees. According to the speech, the founder said that Huawei needed to improve the skills of its „warhead teams“ that were closest to customers. He spoke about a „sound of artillery“ that employees in the field could hear. They should form „regional field armies“.

A spokesperson for Huawei says he cannot recognize any generally bellicose pattern in corporate rhetoric.

Rommel as inspiration

Yet the military metaphors are deeply embedded in the group’s DNA. For almost a decade, Ren Zhengfei worked as an engineer for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. When he founded Huawei in 1987, the company initially supplied the military.

Even in everyday life, according to our sources, executives at Huawei like to talk about „generals“ and supposed „battles“ at a „front“. In an e-mail to employees at the European headquarters, Huawei is said to have referred at least once to the Wehrmacht general Erwin Rommel as a source of inspiration. Until recently, there was also a Chinese-language entry on Huawei’s website praising Rommel as an „invincible“ commander in North Africa.

„Victory language“, is what one ex-employee calls the martial language. Some non-Chinese employees apparently found it highly irritating. A company spokesperson asserts that, as a matter of principle, there is no positive reference to Nazi Germany at Huawei.

The bellicose rhetoric and the questionable figure of reference not only fit into the company’s world view, they are even a core element of it’s thinking. Company founder Ren sees economic competition as a constant „struggle for survival“, writes Eric Flamholtz, professor emeritus of management at the University of California, who studied Huawei. Accordingly, Ren sees corporate culture as the „ultimate weapon“.

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The investigation

This article is the result of months of investigation on documents reviewed by the media partners of The Signals Network including The Daily Telegraph (United Kingdom), El Mundo (Spain), Republik (Switzerland) and netzpolitik.org (Germany). The Signals Network coordinated the collaboration of this international investigation.

The Signals Network is a European-American non-profit organisation founded by Gilles Raymond and led by Delphine Halgand-Mishra. It partners with a dozen media organisation representing a cumulative audience of 165 million readers in 6 languages. The Signals Network also provides support to selected whistleblowers.