In the catch-up process, latecomer firms frequently face targeted threats from external competitors due to competition and sometimes even fall into organizational crises, which has a very severe impact on the survival and development of such enterprises. However, current catch-up research field has not paid enough attention to this phenomenon. By conducting in-depth exploratory single-case analyses of major crisis events in the development of intellectual property competitiveness of the high-tech company Huawei, three research questions were resolved. (1) Why do the crises occur? (2) How could latecomer firms better survive the crisis? (3) How could latecomer firms learn and grow up from the crisis? This study finds:(1) The combined effects of external targeted hostilities from incumbent companies and the lack of alertness and competitiveness weaknesses within the latecomer firms make them more likely to fall into (competition-induced) organizational crises.(2) Systematic scanning and analyses of the internal and external environment to accurately perceive and identify external threats and internal competitiveness deficiencies are the basis of crisis management for latecomers, and this action can increase the vigilance of the organization and provide necessary information for the organization’s further actions.(3) Appropriate ″crisis adaptation behaviors″ can help latecomer companies mitigate external threats and escape from crises at a lower cost, thereby winning a suitable development space, ″crisis adaptation behaviors″ include the comprehensive use of necessary compromises (cooperation) and counterattacks (competition). (4) Systematic organizational change is an important means for latecomers to enhance organizational competitiveness, which is a fundamental approach to mitigate the possibility of all future crises. By emphasizing the significance of crisis management in the catch-up process of latecomers, this research primarilycontributes to the field of catch-up research of latecomers. The conclusions of this article show that it is very dangerous to ignore the possible crisis (caused by competition) in the catch-up process of latecomers, because even if ″all parameters are set″, one organizational crisis could still easily destroy all the hard works of the enterprises overnight. By analyzing Huawei’s case, this study provides a template for latecomers, explaining why a crisis occurs, how to better survive the crisis, and how to learn from it and get stronger. In addition, the importance of IP management for latecomers has been highlighted. This article integrates IP resources and IP management capabilities into the IPC structure and considers it as an important independent component of the company’s overall competitiveness. Finally, this study also enriches theories on crisis and crisis management. This study finds and proposes another factor that increases the possibility of a crisis: internal competitiveness (resources and capabilities).For latecomer firms with weak internal competitiveness, the crisis is largely due to low resistance to external threats. Therefore, the fundamental way to prevent crisis from happening again is to enhance organizational competitiveness. In addition, the research conclusions of this article also have made important practical implications for the catch-up process of Chinese manufacturing companies in a turbulent environment.