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Business Elite Profile
Foreigners in China
He is a British but never works in other countries except in China,he have been stayed in China for 18 years.He is the CEO of Swire Group in Xiamen. Straight after graduating from Cambridge in 1988, he moved to China.Now he can spesk fluent Chinese and is versed in Chinese culture.

Q: We’ve heard that you have been working in China for quite a long time.
A: That’s true. Straight after graduating from Cambridge in 1988, I moved to Hong Kong. Since then, I have worked in Beijing, Nanjing, Xi’an and Xiamen. I have been in this part of the world for over 18 years.

Q: The cities you just mentioned have all been capitals except for Xiamen. They are big historic places. Was that your personal choice﹖
A: Yes and no. I’m an employee of Swire Group. Swire Coca-Cola Beverages Xiamen is owned and managed by the Swire Group. The Swire Group sends me to go to work in different places. Fortunately, the move to Xiamen was very much in line with my personal preferences. I had visited Xiamen a number of times before I was posted here. It had always struck me as a beautiful and clean place which I was very interested in living in. For the sake of my three kids, we wanted to move to a place where the environment is better. Xiamen is very attractive in this respect.

Q: What has Xiamen offered to Swire Coca－Cola﹖
A: The first thing that stands out is the quality of the people. We have a very high quality and stable management team here. People who already have a successful career tend to want to stay here, which is quite different from a lot of other cities. This is great for the company, because we can have confidence in investing in our people, who can then grow with the company over the long term.
Secondly, Swire Coca-Cola has received tremendous support from the local government. As one of the earliest Special Economic Zones, Xiamen Government has many years of experience in dealing with foreign investors. They understand our requirements and are very responsive to our requests.

Q: What are the new challenges working in Xiamen﹖
A: Basically, the work is similar. The biggest difference is that Xiamen is not a provincial capital and it only accounts for about one third of our business in the province. The majority of business is outside the city, which means it’s more important for me to travel around the province than it used to be. The market for us in Xiamen is well developed, and we can see a lot of opportunities. However, we can see even bigger opportunities in the rest of Fujian Province, where the per-capita consumption is lower. There are many opportunities to grow the business faster.
The constant is change

Q: From your extensive experience of the Chinese market， what are your views on doing business in China﹖
A: Recently, I saw an interesting statistic which shows that the majority of Chinese believe that tomorrow will be better than the present; while in Europe the majority of people don’t have that faith. In a society where you are surrounded by positive people who believe they can manage today to create a better future, you tend to be more positive as well. One of the biggest challenges in management anywhere is to change the management. There is a huge challenge in many countries to try to convince people to change. In China, people embrace change and live with change every day. If you leave the city and come back after one year, it looks like a completely different city. In business, if you ask people to try a new way of doing things, Chinese people are very receptive to those concepts, since it’s totally natural and normal for them.
Personally, this has pros and cons. If I went back to live in Europe, I would probably feel bored, because China is a very exciting place. It is the right place for me, also because of my family. My wife is Chinese and our three children live here but attend Xiamen International School, which I think is a perfect compromise. The children are exposed to two languages and both cultures. I can also speak reasonably good Chinese, although I can’t read or write.

Q: There are those who say that too much cola intake is not good for your health. What is Coca－Cola’s response to that﹖
A: Personally, I think it’s wrong to say that any specific food or drink is unhealthy. The key to health is a balanced lifestyle with plenty of physical exercise every day and a balanced diet. This means that education is important. We are very proud of a new initiative that we work on with the government here, which is involved in educating students. The program is called “Happy Hour,” and it encourages students to take more exercise and to have a balanced lifestyle.
Our company has always and will always respond to consumer demands. We have adapted our product and business strategies over the past decades. In China, localized products such as juices and bottled teas have also grown in popularity. We no longer consider ourselves a carbonated soft drink company only, but a beverage company in a broad sense.
Embracing competition

Q: China’s beverage industry is increasingly competitive. With their strong rivalry with Pepsi， how does Coca－Cola see the competition﹖
A: Overall in China, Coca-Cola is staying on top of the beverage industry. I would like to quote an ex-CEO of Coca-Cola, Roberto Guizuetor. He once said: “If Pepsi didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it.” What he meant is that it is crucial to have competition. Competition is very positive and we see it in two ways. Firstly, strong competition forces you and your people to be more and more responsive to your customers’ needs. If we didn’t have a competitor who has been pushing us to do things better, then we wouldn’t be as good as we are today. The second advantage of having a strong and lively competitor is that the two of you together can grow the market faster. In Fujian, we are the market leader in both carbonated drinks and juice drinks. We have a much wider portfolio than Pepsi. We have seen many opportunities and we believe in more fantastic growth with competition.


他是英国人，却从未在中国之外的国家工作过，而且一呆就是18年，他就是厦门太古可口可乐董事及总经理贺以礼先生。他毕业于英国剑桥大学，说着流利的中文，深谙中国文化。正像这位日益“本土化”的总经理，近年来，可口可乐也紧随中国市场的变化，不断调整其产品战略，推出了果汁饮料、茶饮料和水等非碳酸饮料，保证了这个饮料帝国在中国市场上的“领头羊”地位。

Q：我们听说你再中国工作了很长一段时间了。

A：是啊，1988年从剑桥大学毕业之后我就直接到了中国香港。从那时开始，我就再北京，南京，西安和厦门工作，我在这个岗位上已经18年了。

Q：你刚才提到的城市除了厦门都是省会，而且是历史名城。这是你自己的选择吗？

A：是也不是。我是英资太古集团的员工。自从厦门的可口可乐公司被太古集团收购之后。太古集团就派遣我到那里去工作。所幸的是，我很喜欢迁到厦门居住。我定居厦门之前来过几次。我三个孩子希望搬到一个环境更好的地方。厦门非常有吸引力。

Q：厦门带给了太古可口可乐公司什么呢？

A：第一件值得一提的事情人民的素质。我们在厦门有一个高素质稳定的管理团队。有成功工作经历的人都希望能留在那儿，这和其他城市很不相同。这对企业来说很好，因为我们对培养我们的员工很有信心，他们可以和公司一起成长。第二，太古可口可乐公司得到了当地政府部门的极大支持。作为其中一个最早的经济特区，厦门政府在和外资合作方面有多年的经验。他们知道我们的需求也能满足我们的需求。

Q:在厦门工作的新一轮挑战是什么？

A：基本上说，工作是相似的。最大的区别在于厦门不是省会，只有我们在这个省三分之一的业务。大部分业务在这个城市之外，也就是说我比以前更需要在这个省到处看看。在厦门的市场已经很发达了，而且我们可以看到很多机会。但是，在福建省我们可以看到更多的机会，那里的消费水平要低一点，但是扩展业务的速度更快


Q：根据你对中国市场的广泛经验，你对在中国做生意有什么看法？

A：最近，我看到一个有趣的统计报告，大多数中国人相信明天会比现在更好，但是在欧洲大多数人并不相信。在一个充满乐观人群的社会中，大家都相信可以创造更美好的未来，你也会变得积极向上的。在管理上，其中一个最大的挑战就是改变管理模式。对许多国家而言，说服人民改变是一个巨大的挑战。在中国，人们欢迎改变而且每天都在改变。如果你离开这个城市，一年后回来，就会看到一个焕然一新的城市。在商业中，如果你要求人们在做事的时候尝试新的方法，中国人民会很接受这些观念，因为这对他们来说是自然又平常的。

就我个人而言，这有利也有弊。如果我回到欧洲，我可能会觉得很无聊，因为中国是一个令人激动的地方。这是一个很适合我的地方，当然也因为我的家人。我都妻子是中国人，我的三个孩子生活在这儿，在厦门国际学校上学，我觉得是一个完美的折中方案。孩子们同时接触了两种语言和文化。我也能说可以说相当不错的中文，虽然我不能阅读和写字。

Q：有人说喝太多的可乐对健康没有好处。可口可乐公司对此是如何回应的呢？

A：就我个人而言，我认为说一种特殊的食物或饮料不健康是不对的。健康的关键在于平衡的生活方式，每天做足够的运动还有健康的饮食。那就意味着教育很重要。很令我们高兴的是我们在这儿接触的政府部门中有很多有着良好教育的学生。这项计划叫做“快乐时光”，鼓励学生们做更多的运动，拥有更健康的生活方式。

我们的公司会满足客户的需求。在过去的几十年中，我们已经调整我们的产品和商务战略。在中国，本地产的饮料诸如橙汁和茶饮品发展很迅速。我们不再把自己看作是生产碳酸饮料的唯一商家了，而只是广义上的一个饮料商家而已。

Q：中国的饮料产业竞争越来越强烈了，有着百事这样强的竞争对手，可口可乐公司是怎样看待竞争的？

A：在全中国，可口可乐公司的地位在饮料业的顶端。我想引用可口可乐公司前CEO罗伯特.奎斯特的一句话。他说过：“如果没有百事，我们也要创造一个。”他的意思是说拥有竞争是很重要的。如果我们从这两个方面看待竞争它是非常积极的。第一，强大的竞争对手迫使你和你的同事对客户的需求更负责。如果没有竞争对手来推动我们把这些事情做的更好，我们就不可能像今天这样优秀。拥有强大的竞争对手的另外一个优势在于两方一起可以是市场发展更迅速。在福建，我们是碳酸饮料和果汁饮品的领军。我们比百事有更广泛的客户群。我们看到很多机会，而且也相信在竞争中会有奇迹的进步。



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