Akzo Nobel coo and the new leaders of China made a speech for the first time

In just one day, we met the new president of Akzo Nobel China in the office on the 22nd floor, 1788 Nanjing West Road, Shanghai. It was Guo Zhenhua's sixth week in office, during which, in addition to the official information, the outside world knew little about him, which also made us look forward to this meeting. April 10, 2 p.m., Ruud Joosten, global chief operating officer of Akzo Nobel, and Guo Zhenhua, new leader of China / North Asia region, appeared in front of reporters. This is Guo Zhenhua's first public appearance in front of the media as president of China. Ruud Joosten, executive member and chief operating officer of Akzo Nobel, left, President of Akzo Nobel China and North Asia, and Guo Zhenhua, general manager of decoration paint China and North Asia business group (Huicong paint net was photographed on April 10, please do not use without permission). "For me, the new leader of China / North Asia made his first voice, At present, it is mainly to understand the overall operation of the company and its advantages and strengths. Although I came to Akzo Nobel from across the border, some of the core things are the same, that is to develop our strategy, our customers and our company better. " Guo Zhenhua told reporters in less standard Mandarin. Guo Zhenhua is a native of Hong Kong. He has an MBA from Hong Kong University of science and technology, majored in finance and MBA exchange at the University of Chicago. He has also won the outstanding alumni Award for the 30th anniversary of the marketing department of Baptist University.

For Akzo Nobel, Guo Zhenhua believes that this is a very attractive company, and the good feeling mainly comes from three aspects: first, having a very strong international brand, such as Dulux, which is Akzo Nobel's strong advantage; second, the whole company is working together to achieve the strategic goal of "win win cooperation: 15by20" Thirdly, as a Dutch company, sustainable development has been integrated into Akzo Nobel's blood and is superior to many other countries in terms of sustainable development. I particularly agree with these three points. The manager, who has more than ten years of experience in the management of consumer goods industry, said. Opening his resume, before joining Akzo Nobel, Guo Zhenhua served as president of Li Jinji soy sauce group in China, held important positions in companies including P & G, Master Kong Group / Pepsi beverage, Johnson, etc., and accumulated rich experience in business development and leadership. Therefore, Guo Zhenhua has full confidence that his experience can be brought into full play in Akzo Nobel. As the largest single market of Akzo Nobel, China plays an important role in Akzo Nobel's development strategy. For the new appointment, Akzo Nobel headquarters also expressed considerable attention and support. "This time we all know that President Guo has just taken office. We have come here to make sure that we can provide enough support when he takes office, because he is also the leader of the whole decorative paint business in China and will play a very important role in the decorative paint business. So for us, our arrival also shows the support of headquarters. " Yulude admitted that his visit to China was related to Guo Zhenhua's new performance.

At the same time, I also need to keep in touch with relevant government departments and stakeholders to introduce the development of Akzo Nobel. In addition, Dr. Lin Liangqi is leaving his post. He has been in charge of the business in China for eight years. We respect him very much and thank him for his contribution to the company. " Yulude joined Akzo Nobel in 1996 as the international market manager of decorative paint business. Since joining Akzo Nobel, he has held important positions in business departments including decorative paint and special chemicals. In this interview, yulund also talked about the development of Akzo Nobel in China. "2018 is a very important year for the company, because we have finally completed the divestiture of professional chemicals business, and the whole process is very smooth. So, we have a very clear goal now, which is to become a company focusing on paint and coating. But 2018 is also a very difficult year for us. From the perspective of the Chinese market, the lack of market demand, rising cost of raw materials and internal business adjustment (divestiture of professional chemicals business) are three factors, which have resulted in the decline of our performance in the Chinese market. " However, there are also some good aspects. For example, in this process, we focus more on serving customers and strive to improve the quality of our products. We are also very happy to welcome President Guo from China / North Asia. We focus on our advantages, including decorative paint, coating business quality, etc., and further tap our potential to invest in the Chinese market. " He further said. In this year, Akzo Nobel has done two aspects of balancing work, on the one hand, reorganizing the company's business.

AkzoNobel now carries out 14 projects in the world at the same time, hoping to make the company more focused and efficient through these projects; on the other hand, it acquires all the equity of Taigu paint oil joint venture to increase the flexibility of business management in China. Yulude pointed out that although the performance of Akzo Nobel in the past year is not so good, it is not a big problem for Akzo Nobel. Akzo Nobel focuses on long-term development goals. China will always be one of the important markets of Akzo Nobel and an important driving force for the company's global business. Akzo Nobel will continue to invest in this market. "Over the past three decades, China has been used to the high growth rate in all aspects. It may slow down a little or have some problems in one year, but we will not feel panic or worry about it. We agree that there are still great opportunities in the Chinese market and the market potential is infinite. We expect that in the next 5-10 years, the sales volume of China's paint market will probably double. " Yulude made it clear to reporters. Decoration paint business focuses on "three directions". 2019 is the first year of AkzoNobel's business specialization. Under such a big strategic background, where will AkzoNobel's decoration paint business go in China? He gave a detailed answer to this question. He said that Akzo Nobel's decorative paint business in China has three main directions: how to further promote digitalization; help support consumers to have more choices in color and other aspects; and make more efforts in sustainability. "Our brand philosophy is to add color to people's lives."

This can be clearly felt in the actions of Akzo Nobel. Akzo Nobel will launch a global color trend every year, hoping to provide more inspiration for consumers in home decoration, which can be said to be a very important part of Akzo Nobel's business. Yulude believes that in the decorative paint business, China plays a leading role in the world, especially in using digital means to help consumers make color and design decisions. As early as 2014, Akzo Nobel launched an application called "master huanse", through which consumers can see the wall color effect in advance before painting. "Chinese consumers are now very skilled in using apps on mobile phones to choose colors and buy paints. The download volume of" master Huan "is very large every day. We believe that China has been in the forefront of other markets in this respect. Moreover, the application of digitalization in the paint industry is a long process, not the end of downloading an application. It involves how to help consumers make choices, help them get new inspiration, and change their living environment. I think we need to further explore in this area, so as to achieve faster development. " Yulude pointed out that many Chinese consumers are still very cautious in color selection, but now they are also more and more bold in color selection, which also brings more development opportunities to Akzo Nobel. "We went to the Dulux Shanghai concept experience store yesterday, which didn't provide any products, but provided services to help consumers choose colors and give them a more intuitive feeling. In addition, we also provide curtain suggestions related business, so that consumers have a complete sense of home decoration, which is the future direction of development. "

In addition, Akzo Nobel also noted that there are many buyers of new houses and first-hand houses in the Chinese market every year. After using up the coating products and services, it may take 8-10 years before the second decoration. "In other European and American countries, new decoration accounts for only 15%, 85% of which is repainting. The proportion of new decoration in China is 55%, and the remaining 45% is repainting. Therefore, for us, our challenge is to shorten this cycle so that consumers can buy our products faster. In addition to creating more value for us, we hope to bring more inspiration to consumers' living environment. " "Sustainable development is also very important for Akzo Nobel, especially in the Chinese market. Chinese consumers are now increasingly concerned about the safety of paints and coatings, as well as the impact on environmental quality. In this regard, we will have more innovations to support the needs and sustainable development of consumers, such as launching more innovative products to improve the air quality of the whole room, and more biomass based raw materials. We hope to bring some durable solutions to consumers through our investment in sustainability. " He added. In 2019, Akzo Nobel will continue to focus on some major projects, such as infrastructure, hotel or airport projects. Akzo Nobel has accumulated rich experience and expertise in these fields. In addition, Akzo Nobel started to do some amusement park projects last year and made some initial progress and success. For example, the Colorful Yunnan happy world theme park in Yunnan is a good example. "Under the leadership of general manager Guo, we will also take some local strategies accordingly, and try our best to explore opportunities for cooperation with local customers. There is no reason for us to stop innovating. All our innovations are based on the needs of consumers, which determine the direction of our innovation. As the industry leader in innovation, the rapid learning of our practices by competitors also drives us to constantly find new product solutions, which is also the concern of Chinese consumers. " Said yulud. 2020 is not the end, but the starting point.