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Case Study

Xiaomi 2013: Copycat? Not my style

By Howard H. Yu

17 pages

September 2013

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Reference: IMD-3-2410

Chinese mobile start-up Xiaomi has achieved remarkable growth between 2009 to 2013. As a mobile phone maker, Xiaomi’s market valuation was more than what Microsoft just paid for Nokia’s handset unit in 2013. The company, however, saw itself as an internet company rather than a traditional manufacturer, focusing on services and application development. Xiaomi’s success even attracted former VP of product management at Google to join the company to expand its international market.

Learning Objective

The case illustrates several important concepts: 1) How product modularity can lead to fragmentation of the industry structure; 2) How new entrant can leap-frog leading players through business model innovation; 3) How open innovation can drastically reduce R&D cost and increase product effectiveness; 4) How the outlook of Chinese entrepreneurs differ from the Western counterpart.

Keywords

Open Innovation, Disruptive Innovation, Consumer Electronics, General Management, Strategy

Settings

Asia, China
Xiaomi, Manufacturing, Electric and Electronic Equipment, Services, Telecommunications
2009 to 2013

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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Case reference: IMD-7-2351 ©2024

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Reference IMD-7-2351

Organization Nippon Telegraph and Telephone

Industry Services, Telecommunications;Information Technology

Available Languages English

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