Center

Unilever's HQ homecoming

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-12 09:36

"Shanghai is China's economic hub and the leading economic engine of the Yangtze River Delta, so it is natural for us to set up our China head office here," says Zeng.

"Many of our manufacturing facilities are clustered in the Yangtze River Delta region, and many of our supplies are transported through the nearby Hongqiao Airport, which makes it very convenient for us".

The company has a global production center in Hefei, capital city of East China'sAnhuiProvince. Its Hefei facilities, launched with an initial investment of $50 million, are gearing up for expansion and are expected to soon become its largest production base worldwide.

Zeng says that Shanghai's municipal government doled out favorable incentives for the establishment of the company's headquarters, but he declined to elaborate.

The pool of highly educated and talented human resources available in Shanghai, which Zeng says "is as good asBeijing," in addition to its highly developed R&D facilities, made it an attractive destination for its headquarters.

The Dutch-Anglo consumer products giant currently has a global R&D center in the city. This is one of six such centers the company operates worldwide and will go from being the smallest to the second largest once the second phase of construction is completed.

The company's China office, according to Zeng, is also an office taking care of Unilever's brand development business in the Asia Pacific region.

"It will greatly improve our efficiency and cut our operational costs," Zeng says. "The new office demonstrates our determination to fully explore the Chinese market."

China is currently the third largest market for Unilever in the Asia Pacific region, trailing India and Indonesia, Zeng says.

Its sales revenue in China grew more than 20 percent to reach 5 billion yuan last year, making the country the fastest growing market for the consumer goods producer.

It expects that China will overtake India, which currently records 30 billion yuan in sales, in eight to 10 years, says Zeng.