Unilever Says More Work Needed To Grow In China
英国-荷兰消费者产品巨头联合利华(Unilever)进入中国已有近25年时间，是首批进入中国市场的跨国公司之一。但联合利华高管周二表示，即便是现在，中国市场有巨大的增长和盈利空间。联合利华亚洲非洲及中东欧区总裁曼瓦尼(Harish Manwani)表示，促使我们增长的推动力并不是盈利，而是继续投资这一市场。事实上，还没有人开始真正渗透进中国市场。联合利华并没有披露具体市场的销售额。去年联合利华实现全球收入405.2亿欧元（约合581.1亿美元）。联合利华旗下品牌包括Breyers冰激凌好乐门牌蛋黄酱(Hellmann's mayonnaise)立顿(Lipton)茶饮料，以及多芬(Dove)沐浴产品旁氏(Pond's)护肤产品和洁诺(Signal)牙膏等日化产品。曼瓦尼在上海对一小群记者表示，联合利华在印度印尼和巴西等其他主要发展中国家拥有更大的业务规模。这一定程度上是因为联合利华进入一些市场已经有百年历史了。曼瓦尼表示，你必须有和中国市场相匹配的发展雄心。相比中国的市场规模，现在联合利华的中国业务规模并不大。外资跨国公司高管对在巨大复杂中国市场发展业务的困难发表谦逊言论并不是第一次，但此类言论通常表明一些高管对中国市场巨大潜力抱有很高预期。一些跨国公司已经为他们的中国市场雄心配上了具体的投资计划：可口可乐(Coca-Cola)宣布计划在未来三年向中国投资20亿美元，百事公司(PepsiCo)计划在四年内投资10亿美元。即便如此，有迹象显示一些跨国公司已经认定，全球衰退的当下是从中国赚取利润的合适时机，而不适合继续向如此复杂的市场大举投资。今年前7个月，外商在华直接投资同比下滑了20.3%，降至483亿美元。麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Co.)合伙人马格尼(Max Magni)上周表示，自己越来越多的从客户那里听到谨慎言论。他说，这些公司在中国有一个非常明确的战略，那就是盈利性的增长。曼瓦尼表示，联合利华正努力按地域划分中国市场，对产品进行针对性定价，以便实现较高的利润率，允许公司继续投资中国市场。他说，这是一个打造品牌的有计划战略。联合利华首席执行长波尔曼(Paul Polman)周二在上海主持了一个研发中心的落成仪式。这个研发中心耗资5000万欧元，面积达到3万平方米，最初将雇佣450名产品和市场研究人员，是联合利华全球六大研发中心之一。联合利华董事会正在上海召开会议，会议重要议题就是制定至2015年的中国市场战略。曼瓦尼表示，过去四年联合利华中国收入增长了一倍，希望在未来四年左右时间再次实现这一业绩。James T. Areddy相关阅读以好莱坞大片的手笔卖香波 2009-06-01联合利华借中国“丑女”造势 2008-12-30 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年09月09日11:29', 'UL'));Unilever Plc (ads)总部地点：英国上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：ULdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年09月09日11:29', 'UN'));荷兰联合利华公司英文名称：Unilever N.V. (ADS)总部地点：荷兰(Netherlands)上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：UNdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年09月09日11:29', 'UNA.AE'));Unilever N.v.总部地点：荷兰(Netherlands)上市地点：AMS股票代码：UNcdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年09月09日11:29', 'ULVR.LN'));英国联合利华公司英文名称：Unilever PLC总部地点：英国上市地点：伦敦股票代码：ULVR
Anglo-Dutch consumer-products giant Unilever was one of the first multinationals to enter China, nearly a quarter-century ago. But even today, top executives said Tuesday, the market remains too big and untapped to regard profitability as the main measure of success.'The driver of our growth is not to make money, but to continue investing in this market,' said Harish Manwani, president of Unilever's Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe division. 'No one has actually started penetrating the Chinese market in a real sense.'Unilever doesn't disclose how much of its sales comes from specific markets. The company, whose brands include Breyers ice cream, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea, as well as household products like Dove shampoo, Pond's cold cream and Signal toothpaste, reported global revenue of 40.52 billion euros($58.11 billion) last year.Speaking with a small group of reporters here, Mr. Manwani said the company has bigger businesses in other large developing countries, including India, Indonesia and Brazil, reflecting in part the fact that its presence in some of those places spans 100 years.'You have to have an ambition that is commensurate with the market,' he said. Right now, 'in relation to China, [Unilever] isn't big.'It isn't unheard of for an executive of a foreign multinational company to make humble comments about the difficulty of navigating China's size and complexity, but such comments tend to underscore the high expectations some of them have about the country's potential as a market. Some companies have attached figures to their China ambition: Coca-Cola Cos. has announced plans to invest $2 billion in China over the next three years, while PepsiCo Inc. is spending $1 billion over four years.Even so, there are indications that some multinational companies have concluded amid the global recession that it is the right time to draw profits from China, rather than plow more money into such a tricky market. Foreign direct investment in China in the first seven months of this year fell 20.3% from a year earlier to $48.3 billion. McKinsey & Co. partner Max Magni said last week he is increasingly hearing a message of caution from clients. 'A very clear strategy: profitable growth,' he said.Mr. Manwani said Unilever is trying to segment China geographically and price products so that they generate a profit margin that permits it to continue investing. 'This is a planned strategy of building brands,' he said.On Tuesday in Shanghai, Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman opened a 30,000-square-meter research center at a cost of 50 million euros. It is one of six such facilities Unilever has globally, and it will initially employ 450 product and market researchers. The company's board is assembled for a meeting in Shanghai. High on the agenda is to map out China strategy through 2015.Mr. Manwani said Unilever's China revenues have doubled in four years. He said they should do so again in the next four or so years.James T. Areddy
Anglo-Dutch consumer-products giant Unilever was one of the first multinationals to enter China, nearly a quarter-century ago. But even today, top executives said Tuesday, the market remains too big and untapped to regard profitability as the main measure of success.'The driver of our growth is not to make money, but to continue investing in this market,' said Harish Manwani, president of Unilever's Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe division. 'No one has actually started penetrating the Chinese market in a real sense.'Unilever doesn't disclose how much of its sales comes from specific markets. The company, whose brands include Breyers ice cream, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea, as well as household products like Dove shampoo, Pond's cold cream and Signal toothpaste, reported global revenue of 40.52 billion euros($58.11 billion) last year.Speaking with a small group of reporters here, Mr. Manwani said the company has bigger businesses in other large developing countries, including India, Indonesia and Brazil, reflecting in part the fact that its presence in some of those places spans 100 years.'You have to have an ambition that is commensurate with the market,' he said. Right now, 'in relation to China, [Unilever] isn't big.'It isn't unheard of for an executive of a foreign multinational company to make humble comments about the difficulty of navigating China's size and complexity, but such comments tend to underscore the high expectations some of them have about the country's potential as a market. Some companies have attached figures to their China ambition: Coca-Cola Cos. has announced plans to invest $2 billion in China over the next three years, while PepsiCo Inc. is spending $1 billion over four years.Even so, there are indications that some multinational companies have concluded amid the global recession that it is the right time to draw profits from China, rather than plow more money into such a tricky market. Foreign direct investment in China in the first seven months of this year fell 20.3% from a year earlier to $48.3 billion. McKinsey & Co. partner Max Magni said last week he is increasingly hearing a message of caution from clients. 'A very clear strategy: profitable growth,' he said.Mr. Manwani said Unilever is trying to segment China geographically and price products so that they generate a profit margin that permits it to continue investing. 'This is a planned strategy of building brands,' he said.On Tuesday in Shanghai, Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman opened a 30,000-square-meter research center at a cost of 50 million euros. It is one of six such facilities Unilever has globally, and it will initially employ 450 product and market researchers. The company's board is assembled for a meeting in Shanghai. High on the agenda is to map out China strategy through 2015.Mr. Manwani said Unilever's China revenues have doubled in four years. He said they should do so again in the next four or so years.James T. Areddy