Since 2008, FOTILE has actively introduced philosophies of the traditional Chinese culture - such as benevolence, justice, courtesy, wisdom and faith - into its management, which it believes to compensate for deficiencies in western management concepts and creates a new Chinese enterprise management model. FOTILE's attempts are controversial and evoke intense discussions and reflections. The core question for class discussion is whether its philosophy is sustainable and applicable to modern enterprises generally in China? How can one integrate the western management philosophy with traditional Oriental culture? Is it really possible? This case can be used in MBA, EDP, EMBA Organizational Behavior and Corporate Culture courses. It supports a 60-90-minute class discussion. The case describes how FOTILE developed its Confucian culture-based management model in a world of market competition. It first introduces the company's background, including its startup and development processes. It next describes the transformation of FOTILE's management model from western philosophy to one based on traditional Oriental concepts. It then shows how Confucianism is applied in FOTILE's management. In particular, it describes the applications of Confucianism in FOTILE's HR management and performance evaluation.

With the rapid growth of China's economy and China's increasingly integration into the global economy in the past two decades, China's leisure clothing and garment enterprises achieved a rapid rise and became an important competitive force confronting with the foreign brands in the Chinese market. Zhejiang Semir Garment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Semir Group") was founded in 1996 and currently owns two brands ("Semir", targeted at 16-25 year olds, providing affordable casual clothing featuring "fashion and vitality"; Balabala, providing children's clothing, targeted at 3-12 year-old children in better-off families). Both brands occupy a leading position in the Chinese market. However, with the intensified market competition and changes of cost elements and new sales channels, Semir Group faces new challenges.