Just as China is undergoing rapid changes to meet global needs, so also are its multi-national corporations. One such Chinese giant is the multibillion-dollar telecom infrastructure and mobile device maker Huawei (News - Alert). To stay current and on top, Huawei has adopted an experimental management strategy, rotate CEOs very six months. It was revealed last year by the founder and longtime CEO Ren Zhengfei.

Consequently, under the Huawei rotating CEO system, the Chinese telecom giant has announced a new CEO for the next six months. Eric Xu will be the acting CEO of Huawei from October 1st 2013 to March 31st 2014. According to Huawei, the rotating CEO acts as the primary person of the company’s operations and crisis management during his tenure and is responsible for convening and chairing the meetings of the board of directors’ executive committee and the company’s executive management team.

Under this scheme, three executives will take turns as acting CEO, and bring expertise from different parts of the company, such as marketing, wireless, and research and development. However, their normal responsibilities do not change while acting as chief. Huawei said that the CEOs retain "considerable authority" even when not acting as CEO.

Because competition is getting stiffer and more and more new companies are entering the market every quarter, Huawei is looking for a way to adapt well to this rapidly changing world. However, time will tell if the rotating CEO strategy was right for the Chinese giant.

A 10-year veteran of the company, Xu is the third acting CEO to be named under the new plan. He will take over from Guo Ping, who took office last March from Ken Hu. Likewise, Hu was named CEO in late 2011 when he took the chief executive position from Zhengfei, who founded the company in 1987.

Xu holds a doctorate degree from Nanjing University of Science & Technology. Since joining  Huawei in 1993, Xu has served as president of the Wireless Product Line, chief strategy & marketing officer, chief products & solutions officer, chairman of the investment review board, corporate EVP, and chairman of the SDC.