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Executives confident in China's growth

(China Daily)

Updated: 2015-09-25 08:02:22

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Editor's note: President Xi Jinping has frequently spoke of business opportunities in China for foreign investors in his several speeches made in the ongoing US trip. China Daily reporters have interviewed a group of senior US business executives to learn their views.

Q1: 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 US or elsewhere in the region?

Q2: How has the depreciation in the yuan affected your company in China? And will this play a major role in your decision to continue to invest, and expand, in the country and region?

Q3: 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 in the country?

Q4: What are the greatest challenges your company faces in China? And how will you deal with those challenges?

Q5: Chinese companies have been looking at the US for investment opportunities as they increase their global footprint. What cultural and social issues will they face? And how would you deal with those issues?

Henrique Braun

Executives confident in China's growth

president of Coca-Cola in China and South Korea

A1:

We have confidence in China and we are committed to the Chinese market for the long term. Recently, in August, the Coca-Cola Company announced a three-year $4 billion investment plan in China for 2015-17. Meanwhile, our total investment over the past 35 years up to this year has totaled $ 9 billion.

Together with our bottling partners, we will further invest in developing new local infrastructure and capability for growth, including new investment in production, distribution and marketing across China.

A2:

Since our return to the Chinese mainland 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 Chinese market, 99 percent of the 45,000 employees of the Coca-Cola China system are local people from across the country. I can assure you that our commitment to China will not be compromised by any temporary changes in currencies, which are a normal factor in doing business.

A3:

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.

For example, we strongly support efforts to create a more nurturing environment for innovation. In fact, several of our best new global brands and products have been developed by our local team in Shanghai, such as Minute Maid Pulpy Orange.

A4:

Talent, especially developing local talent with a global perspective, is one of our key opportunities in China. We have evolved our talent programs over recent years, creating tailor-made cross-functional 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 back in 1993, and today we support over 100 rural schools. Today, our sustainability efforts are focused on what we call the "3 Ws", water conservation, women's empowerment and personal well-being.

A5:

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, at Coca-Cola 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. We do this in different ways across different markets by enhancing the relationship with our consumers with the most cutting-edge communication. We maintain the same high quality standards, and seek to cultivate the same culture of high integrity, innovation and inclusiveness.

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