Internet-based strategy changes business landscape

Smartphone maker Xiaomi also focuses on understanding consumers' demands in product development via online interaction, having opened an online community where Xiaomi users' recommendations can be heard by the company's research and development personnel.

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Internet has also pushed Chinese firms to change its sales and management structures in order to reach consumers more directly.

Home appliance manufacturer Haier has discarded its pyramidal structure by dividing 80,000 staff into 2,000 independent units which directly dock with users, according to Zhao Dawei, author of "Swordsmanship of Internet Thinking."

All changes in sales channels, marketing and corporate structure are meant to make the enterprises more consumer-centered, which is more possible in the Internet era, according to Zhao.

Chinese consumers used to have nowhere to complain to, regardless of how dissatisfied they were with the goods the received, said Zhou Hongyi, chairman of Internet giant Qihoo360. "With the Internet, negative comments are seen publicly. This influence cannot be ignored," Zhou said.

"The Internet has broken the information asymmetry to put consumers in first place," said Ye Daqing, CEO of online lending platform Rong360.com.

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