Henrique Braun, president of Coca-Cola Greater China and South Korea
To coincide with President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the U.S., China Daily asked senior executives with American companies for their opinions on China's business environment.
Companies in China are facing the challenge of rising costs. Will this affect your plans in China or will you continue to invest in the country? Do you have any plans to relocate to the U.S. or elsewhere in the region?
We have confidence in China and we are committed to the China market for the long term. Just recently in August, Coca-Cola Co announced a three-year, $4 billion investment plan in China, while our total investment over the past 35 years has totalled $9 billion.
Together with our bottling partners, we will further invest in developing new local infrastructure and capability for growth, including new investments in production, distribution and marketing across China.
How has the depreciation of the yuan affected your company? Will this play a major role in your decision to continue to invest and expand in the country and region?
Since our return to the country in 1979. Coca-Cola is proud to have created a locally rooted business system that is part of the communities where we operate in China.
Today, more than 98 percent of our raw materials are purchased locally, and final products are mostly sold in the China market. Ninety-nine percent of the 45,000 employees of the Coca-Cola China system are local people from across the country. I can assure that our commitment will not be compromised by any temporary changes in currencies, which are a normal factor in doing business.
The Chinese government believes in a stable investment environment and has rolled out policies to help international companies here by increasing transparency. What other measures would improve business efficiency and competitiveness?
We welcome the move to strengthen the rule of law and moves to create greater transparency and consistency in laws and regulations. More transparency and positive competition will benefit not only Chinese consumers, but also companies in the food and beverage sector in China.
What are the greatest challenges your company faces in China, and how will you deal with them?
Talent, especially local talent with a global perspective, is one of our key opportunities in China. We have evolved our talent programs in recent years, creating tailor-made, cross-function and in many cases cross-geographic experiences for the right candidates. We are confident that over time, these efforts will create a strong pool of talent for sustainable business development in China.
At the same time, we strongly believe that a sustainable business is only possible with sustainable communities. As we have grown our business in China to our third largest global business, we have always sought to do good along the way. We were the first multinational company to sponsor Project Hope in 1993, and today we support more than 100 rural schools. Today, our sustainability efforts are focused on what we call the "3 W's": water conservation, women empowerment and person well-being.
Chinese companies have been looking at the U.S. for investment opportunities as they increase their global footprint. What cultural and social issues do they face, and how would you deal with those issues?
As a global business that operates locally in more than 207 countries and regions around the world, we have some experience with entering new markets. There are always a lot of local differences to take into account, but there are also a lot of common principles involved.
Across the language and lifestyle differences, we work hard to ensure we operate in a way consistent with our core brand values as a company, sharing happiness and creating value through our business.
Since returning to China in 1979, we have learned a lot from China. This learning extends across new distribution systems leveraging wholesalers, new types of products and even new approaches to marketing, for example via WeChat. China changes at such a rapid pace, so we are literally learning and adapting every day.
