The Middleby Corp.

Illinois Tool Works, Inc. manufactures industrial products and equipment. It operates through the following segments: Automotive OEM, Test & Measurement and Electronics, Food Equipment, Polymers & Fluids, Welding, Construction Products, and Specialty Products. The Automotive OEM segment produces components and fasteners for automotive-related applications. The Test & Measurement and Electronics segment manufactures equipment, consumables, and related software for testing and measuring of materials, structures, gases and fluids. The Food Equipment segment supplies commercial food equipment and provides related services. The Polymers & Fluids segment provides adhesives, sealants, lubrication and cutting fluids, janitorial and hygiene products, and fluids and polymers for auto aftermarket maintenance and appearance. The Welding segment furnishes arc welding equipment, consumables and accessories for a wide array of industrial and commercial applications. The Construction Products segment makes construction fastening systems and truss products. The Specialty Products segment manufacturing beverage packaging equipment and consumables, product coding and marking equipment and consumables, and appliance components and fasteners. The company was founded by Byron L. Smith in 1912 and is headquartered in Glenview, IL.

Haier Group is a global leading networked home appliance & furnishing supplier and virtual-real distributor Founded in Qingdao, China in 1984, Haier has grown from a small plant close to bankruptcy into a global group with an annual turnover of 163.1 billion yuan (2012). It has five R & D centers, 61 trade companies, 21 industrial parks and over 80,000 employees worldwide, with its customers spread in over 100 countries and regions. According to the data released by Euromonitor, an authoritative consumer market survey agency, Haier has topped the list of global home appliance brands for four consecutive years and ranked 8th on the list of the "Most Innovative Companies 2012" released by The Boston Consulting Group. Successful enterprises move with the times. Over the 28 years since its establishment, Haier has kept peace with the times focusing on customer demands. After implementing Brandind Strategy, Diversification Strategy, Internationalization Strategy and Global Brand Strategy, it entered the stage of the fifth strategy--Networking Strategy in December 2012, building a networking enterprise to get in line with networking markets. Guided by the strategy, Haier has changed from a large-sized enterprise into an open platform-based enterprise, building two platforms based on two listed companies--Qingdao Haier (ticker symbol: 690) and Haier Electronics (ticker symbol: 1169). The 690 platform based on Qingdao Haier has been advancing networking household appliance and furnishing through disruptive innovation. It has established an open innovation system based on the R & D centers in the US, Europe, China, Japan and Australia & New Zealand, and forged strategic partnerships with over 200 top suppliers, research institutions, prestigious universities and innovative companies, thus bringing into being an innovative eco-circle involving over 1.2 million scientists and engineers through the medium of virtual-physical network. By late 2012, Haier had applied for 13,952 patents and won 8,987 patents, and had submitted 84 international standard proposals as the home appliance manufacturer that has submitted the most international standards in China. Of these submitted proposals, 28 have come into effect. On this basis, Haier has worked with its global strategic partners to build four patent pools in the field of disruptive innovation, covering over 1,100 patents, and has taken the lead in applying the technology of wireless power transmission in mass production of home appliances. The 1169 platform based on Haier Electronics has been advancing the business eco-network based on the distribution platform and the interactive platform. By building the competitiveness from the integration of marketing network, virtual network, logistics network and service network, it offers customers the optimal experience of virtual-physical integration. In China, over 30,000 Haier stores, 190,000 village-level interface offices and Haier's own online mall have constituted a network of customer loyalty. Over 90 logistics centers and over 2,800 secondary distribution stations have enabled Haier to deliver products within 24 hours in 400 cities and over 1,500 districts and counties and within 48 hours in 460 districts and counties. The competitive edge of four-network integration has attracted a host of domestic and overseas famous brands like GE, Donlim and Whirlpool for Haier's logistics channel Goodaymart. The open bulky logistics platform serves the country's five major e-commerce operators and home appliance and furniture manufacturers. In the Internet era, Haier fills the organization with passion and creativity through the Win-win Model of Individual-Goal Combination, to promote the sustained and healthy development of the enterprise, its organizational structure has been transformed fundamentally from a "triangle" into an "inverted triangle" and been further flattened into a network with ZZJYT as the basic innovation unit, every node of the organization is driven by customers rather than leaders and meets customer demands through open connection with external resources. The innovation model has been concerned and studied by world-famous business schools and management experts, and is considered to be likely to crack the management problem in the Internet era. After the case of "Haier culture activating shock fish" made its way into the case library of Harvard Business School, the case of "Haier's cross-culture integration featuring individual-goal combination" has been included in the case library of the European top business school IESE. The Win-win Model of Individual-Goal Combination is guiding Haier in building a global brand in the Internet era by its modernity and internationality.

Whirlpool Corp. is engaged in manufacturing and marketing home appliances. The company's products include home laundry appliances, home refrigerators and freezers, home cooking appliances, home dishwashers, and room air-conditioning equipment, mixers, and portable household appliances. Its brands include Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp,Amana, Bauknecht, JennAir, and Indesit. The company operates through the following segments: North America; Europe, Middle East & Africa; Latin America; and Asia. Whirlpool was founded by Emory Upton, Fred Upton, and Louis C. Upton in 1898 and is headquartered in Benton Harbor, MI.