In late October, Hikvision hosted nearly 30 professional journalists who cover the security industry around the world at its global headquarters in Hangzhou, China. The purpose of the visit was for the editors to get to know the company and people who stand behind the moniker of “world’s largest supplier of video surveillance products and solutions.” Hikvision provided a well-balanced itinerary of business, culture and history for the week-long editors’ junket.

The heart of the business agenda was a media presentation given by Yangzhong Hu, president of Hikvision; Keen Yao, international marketing director of Hikvision; and Cynthia Ho, vice president of Hikvision for international business. The executives discussed some of the key decisions that have led to the company’s growth and success; Hikvision’s regional business strategy; mergers and acquisitions in the industry; the company’s channel strategy; and cybersecurity, among other topics.

“We are extremely, extremely lucky,” says Yangzhong Hu, referring to the migration of technology in the video surveillance industry and Hikvision’s ability to hit on the right technology trends. The most important trend, he believes, is content analysis. “With that technology alone, Hikvision will have been invested in development since 2006,” he says.

Hikvision’s tag line is “Global approach with local touch.” The company has 18 regional subsidiaries including Hikvision USA, located in City of Industry, Calif. “The company’s management style is decentralization, meaning that all the decision-making will be coming down to the local team, from the people closest to the market,” says Keen Yao.

Hikvision was founded in 2001 with 29 people as an outgrowth of a research institute. Today the company employs approximately 14,500 people around the world including 5,400 engineers. It has had a 53 percent compound average growth rate from 2009 to 2014. Crucial to its growth, Hikvision divulges that more than 8 percent of its annual revenue is invested in research and development.

The executives said that on a daily basis, the company can produce more than 160,000 cameras and 28,000 back-end products.

More information about the editors’ trip to Hikvision in China is at www.SDMmag.com/hikvision-china-junket.