Constructing an Organisational Identity of Unfluidity: National Identity Work in Huawei, 1987-2020

How multinational enterprises (MNEs) answer the question of ‘who we are’ has important implications for their global business. Having a fluid organizational identity allows them to downplay their national identity and avoid geopolitical controversy. In this paper, we present a case of an unfluid organizational identity, where national identity was consistently emphasized as core to who we are. Our inductive, longitudinal case study of Huawei reveals the process through which it constructed its identity by drawing on a key ideological shibboleth of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. We argue that the ideological imprinting resulted in the dominance of national identity and the unfluidity of its organizational identity. Our paper changes the way we think about national identity in today’s multi-polar world order.