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Good chemistry - Johnny Kwan's "Honeybee"
By WAN ZHIHONG (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-26 11:50
The $2.9 billion Nanjing integrated site is BASF's largest single overseas investment in its 140-year history. "Honeybee" is the word Johnny Kwan uses to describe his company. As the chairman of BASF Greater China Country Board, Kwan is leading the company's efforts in environmental protection and corporate social responsibility (CSR). "In the process of honey making, a honeybee is continuously spreading pollen, which will enrich the environment. Then with the pollen more flowers will blossom, and more honey will be made, so everybody is winning," Kwan tells China Business Weekly. "In BASF, we are working hard not only to benefit ourselves, but also our stake holders, as well as the industry and the environment," he says. The German chemical maker originally started its trade with China in 1885. Today, it has become one of the leading foreign investors in the Chinese chemical industry. With over 6,000 employees in China, BASF currently operates 23 wholly owned subsidiaries and 10 joint ventures in the country. The company's portfolio in China now ranges from chemicals and plastics to agricultural products. Today China is the company's third largest market, after Germany and the United States. Last year, the company achieved sales of about 4.4 billion euros in the Chinese market. China is also BASF's fastest growing market globally. "Over the last four years our business has increased three-fold in the country," says Kwan. Grow with China
BASF products have entered China for more than 100 years. As early as in 1904, China already accounted for 7 percent of BASF's global sales, with then synthetic indigo as the company's key product. In 1950, the company was represented by Hong Kong-based Jebsen & Co as its sole agent for trade in China. Realizing that China's importance as a market, BASF in 1982 set up its own subsidiary in Hong Kong, with the name of BASF China Co Ltd. In the 1980s the company started to set up joint ventures with Chinese partners to expand its presence in the country. In the early 1990s, the company came up with its "Vision 2010", saying that by the year, 20 percent of the company's global sales will come from Asia Pacific. "What is important in the vision is that half of the 20 percent will come from China," says Kwan. "What's more, in the Asia-Pacific region, our target is that 70 percent of the sales will come directly with locally-produced goods, and this also applies to China," he says. With this vision the company started several big manufacturing projects in China. In December 2000, BASF and Sinopec established a joint venture company, to build and operate an integrated petrochemical site in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. |
