Emerging market companies create new management practices for an environment characterized by increased volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). This article shows how Haier developed a platform of management practices called Rendanheyi to transform itself from a conventional hierarchical manufacturing firm to a highly responsive online-based entrepreneurial company. It demonstrates how the organizational, competitive, institutional, and technological contexts mattered for the development of Rendanheyi, showing how context-dependent management innovations are created to allow emerging market firms such as Haier to deal with a high VUCA world and creating an extended process model of management innovation that managers can readily apply.

In a 2014 documentary, the multinational technology company Apple Inc. was implicated in alleged human rights violations at Pegatron, a large Chinese supplier that assembled Apple's iPhones. The allegations followed similar, well-publicized violations in 2009 at another China-based Apple supplier. Although Apple had promised to improve its practices, doing so had clearly proven to be a difficult task. How should Apple respond to these new allegations? Should it evade the accusations and instead point to its existing efforts? Could it do more to protect workers? Should it rethink its offshoring and outsourcing strategy? Is it fair to blame Apple for the activities of its suppliers? Where does the blame fall?