In 1996, Lenovo Group - then known as Legend Group - changed the landscape of the burgeoning personal computer market on the mainland by beating foreign rivals to become the country's best-selling brand for the first time.
Founder and then chief executive Liu Chuanzhi and his then vice-president, Yang Yuanqing, drew up a strategy to make the group a mover and a shaker in the industry.
'Instead of passively following the lead of foreign companies, we started to launch products at the same pace as they did,' Mr Yang said in 1997. 'While others were selling [computers based on the old Intel processor] 486s, we were already selling [new Intel] Pentium-based personal computers at even cheaper prices.'
Roughly 13 years later, Mr Liu and Mr Yang are back in charge in a larger Lenovo organisation and hoping to recast the group's position in today's struggling global computer industry.
But analysts forecast more pain ahead for Lenovo if its new leadership fails to execute as quickly, decisively and wisely as current market conditions warrant.
Mr Yang took over as Lenovo's chief executive on Thursday after William Amelio resigned in the aftermath of the firm's first deficit in almost three years - a net loss of US$97 million for the quarter to December last year, a reversal from a net profit of US$172 million a year earlier.