Analyse the internal and external environment of Xiaomi and the Chinese smartphone industry using Pestel, Swot, Porters five forces & BCG

• For Lenovo Pestle and Swot analysis, see Lenovo Pestle & Swot.
• For Huawei Pestle and Swot analysis, see Huawei Pestle & Swot.

1.0 INTRODUCTION 

Xiaomi is a Chinese privately owned electronics technology multinational currently engaged in the design, manufacture and retailing of smartphones, tablets, mobile apps, smart electronics as related software, accessories and third party applications. Key products include the Mi, Redmi and Mi Note series smartphones as well as Mi Pad series tablets. Launched in 2010, Xiaomi expanded exponentially in such a short period of time to become one of the fastest growing technology firms in the world, at one point overtaking both Samsung and Apple as number one in the Chinese smartphone market in 2014, less than 5 years after it was founded (Gilbert 2016).

This exponential rise led many to label it the “Apple of the East” a tag matched by its valuation which by 2016 was estimated at US$45bn (Gilbert 2016). But fast forward to 2017, Xiamo had fallen from 1st all the way to 5th rank in the Chinese smartphone market alone, behind Chinese rivals Huawei, BBK (which offers the Oppo and Vivo brands) as well as Apple and Samsung (Dunn 2017). Its valuation has fallen drastically to just $4bn in 2017, $41bn less in just one year. Just two years ago, Xiaomi was the bestselling smartphone brand in China as well being third largest in the world. What happened to Xiaomi? 

2.0 Xiaomi PESTLE analysis 2017-2018 (Opportunities and threats)

As will be looked at shortly, many factors both macro and micro have contributed to Xiaomi’s fall from grace. While some are internal weaknesses due to poor strategic decisions, certain macro threats haven’t favoured the Chinese smartphone maker.

Using PESTLE and SWOT framework, we will examine all these factors in the Chinese external macro environment th