China's vast market and the diversity of consumer tastes, coupled with its rich talent pool and its innovative approach to creating new products, make the country a key part of PepsiCo’s future plans, according to Ramon Laguarta, the U.S. food and beverage giant’s CEO.
In an interview with China Global Television Network, Laguarta described the scale of PepsiCo’s operations now, 45 years after the company first came to China.
"We were pioneers in China in a way from western companies. We started 45 years ago as a pioneer. Now we build scale, we're very scale in China, we have 10 factories in food, over 50 factories in beverages. We work with 70 plus farmers across the country. And we have about 170,000 people that are part of our ecosystem. So we know China well, all our talent is Chinese and we know how talented they are and how much they can help us. But now the next phase of growth for us is through innovation, creating new markets and leveraging China not only as a kind of a consumption market, but as a creation market, a creation for the rest of PepsiCo," he said.
Laguarta outlined PepsiCo’s growth plans in the country and detailed how its staff there were driving the company’s innovation and transformation globally.
"China is a growth opportunity for us, but it's a growth opportunity that comes with innovation and transformation. So, it plays a very important role also in how we can define the future of PepsiCo both from the portfolio and technology. It's a very important hub for talent, as well. So, our people in China are bright, hardworking, and they are learning outside of China. So, we see China as a place to grow our talent and then bring it to the rest of the world," he said.
"We have clearly insight is a core competence of the company and understanding Chinese consumers, not only young consumers because they're a big source of growth, but what we call silver consumers, let's say 50-year-old plus consumers. That's a very important part of the growth as we see them. So they both require different needs in terms of nutrition, but also experience, value for money. So these are very good groups. We have a broad portfolio because the consumer in China likes variety, and for us to participate in consumers’ lives from the morning to the evening, we need to have multiple solutions. So that's why we have this variety of brands," he added.
Diverse consumer tastes, top talent, innovation make China key to PepsiCo future: CEO
