Huawei Technologies Co CEO Ren Zhengfei has banned staff from saying things such as "crushing Apple, crushing Samsung" and imposed a 100 yuan ($14.6) fine for each time anyone uses such terms, according to the transcript of a speech posted online on Saturday.
Samsung and Apple led world smartphone sales in 2016, followed by Huawei, with the company's shipments up 30.2 percent year-on-year to 139.3 million units, according to International Data Corp (IDC).
Whether in public or private, each such utterance will be noted, said the 73-year-old CEO, according to a transcript of his speech on January 17 to the Huawei Consumer Business Group posted on the company's online community Xinsheng Shequ, or voice of the hearts community.
Ren said Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Huawei are the "stabilizers in the world of terminal handsets" and "Huawei should desire an environment of harmony, win-win, competition and cooperation."
Ren instructed a fund to be set up to collect the fines, with money to be used to buy coffee for staff in the consumer business group.
The fourth quarter of 2016 marked the first time that Huawei achieved a double-digit global market share, according to IDC. Two other domestic manufacturers, OPPO and Vivo, shipped 99.4 million and 77.3 million units, respectively, in 2016.
"I trust that you won't say such things intentionally but there is the chance that some media will hype it if you do," Ren said in the speech.
"I can understand sometimes such things need to be said to achieve sales but we should beware of making too many enemies," said Ren.
Ren went further as saying that Huawei, Samsung, Apple, OPPO and Vivo are colleagues, in the sense that they share the same business model and they all have to make a profit.
But Huawei should differentiate itself from companies that try to monopolize the market by "burning money" and then "extorting customers," he said. "Different from them, we have our clients as top priority."
Ren encouraged his lieutenants to exceed Apple in terms of profit margins and levels of customer service.
He and his management team have a three-year plan to ensure that Huawei's consumer business offers a service level that beats Apple and achieves profit margins that beat OPPO and Vivo.
