---
id: "entity-china-lodging-group"
type: "entity"
entityType: "organization"
canonicalName: "China Lodging Group"
aliases: ["Huazhu Group"]
source_timestamps: ["¶5", "¶7"]
tags: ["company", "case-study", "hospitality"]
related: ["claim-top-down-centralization-fails"]
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-105-fast-growing-better-decisions"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/how-fast-growing-companies-can-make-better-decisions"
sourceTitle: "How Fast-Growing Companies Can Make Better Decisions"
---
# China Lodging Group

**Profile.** A fast-growing Chinese hotel chain cited as an example of the **risks of over-centralization**.

**In this source.** In **2009** it implemented top-down standardization, causing hotel managers to **lose autonomy to set prices or adapt locally**. The company ultimately recognized this error, **invested heavily to rebuild flexibility, and recovered**.

Evidence for [[claim-top-down-centralization-fails]].

> **Enrichment.** The corporate identity is now commonly associated with **Huazhu Group**; the provided research did not verify the specific case details in the excerpt.