What does culture reform look like in China’s oldest beer company? Tsingtao Beer, China’s largest exporters of beer, was established in 1903 by German settlers in Qingdao, China. They have a national marketing network with over 50 production plants and export to over 50 countries and regions globally. Today their vision is to become a large international company with a globally influential brand and they are poised to confirm their strategic position as the “Chinese Beer Industry Leader and International Market Pioneer.”

In the recent decade, Tsingtao has been taking a hard look at their culture. The 100-year-old company is steeped in tradition, history, and culture and they recognized that to keep their position and grow on the international stage, they would need to transform. As early as 2001, Tsingtao began to implement their “stronger then larger” growth strategy. The task in front of them was to improve their organizational culture, using it as a competitive advantage, while keeping in line with the new organizational strategy. They understood that this shift would be a process and involve many areas of the organization over time.

Working with the Denison Organizational Culture Survey pointed them toward the Capability Development of employees. With the new mission and vision for the organization, many of the employees felt their skills were not up to the task. Tsingtao fundamentally changed their talent management system during this transformation. The foundation of the company was based in the time of China’s planned economy with a production model that was fairly closed. Legacy ideas with regards to personnel such as “once promoted, never demoted” and “once in, never out” still lingered in the company. A significant shift in their thinking here was to find good employee skill fits for each position. They consciously found people to fit the right jobs, valuing performance over seniority. Additional improvements including the establishment of the “Tsingtao Beer Management Institute” to develop resources, training, and cultivate culture, the establishment of a "Knowledge Channel" for sharing experiences, and increased employee involvement in the "code of conduct" were also integrated.

Tsingtao attributes much of its growth in the last decade to the changes in culture within the company. The new culture system helped them keep key talent in the right positions with a better understanding of what was expected of them. Key economic indicators such as sales volume, revenue and retained profits continue to increase. In 2007, they were named number one in “China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands” by the World Brand Laboratory. They also won the “2007 Most Globally Competitive Chinese Company” award and the “2007 Chinese Implementation of Strategy Star Organization Award.”