Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei (pictured) called on the company’s 195,000 employees to move into survival mode for the next three years by working to improve profit and increase cash flow, Yicai Global reported.

In an internal notice, Ren predicted the global economy to face a recession which will lower consumption, the news outlet stated.

To prepare for a downturn, he noted Huawei is shutting down all marginal business units and backing off its long-held policy of driving efficiencies by building scale in new initiatives, which may require pulling out of some overseas markets, Yicai Global wrote.

Ren reportedly stated Huawei’s focus must shift from seeking to build scale to one of profit and cash flow.

The message comes less than two weeks after the company reported its profit margin dropped from 9.8 per cent to 5 per cent and revenue declines slowed during H1.

With Huawei’s network equipment banned in some countries and its consumer product group blocked from importing some components and software, it has turned to emerging sectors to drive growth.

Over the past two years, Huawei invested heavily in cloud computing, intelligent automotive services and digital energy.