16 | Tuesday, December 4, 2018 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY BUSINESS AstraZeneca ups R&D localization

By ZHENG YIRAN [email protected]

Global biopharmaceutical giant We will use our AstraZeneca PLC is promoting the production research and development of sev­ en medicines in China, as the com­ advantages to raise pany endeavors to strengthen its production and local R&D capabilities to lower costs for patients. lower costs, so that According to the company, it patients can benefit will take advantage of its produc­ from more tion and logistics bases in Wuxi and Taizhou in Jiangsu province to reasonable prices.” mass produce high­quality and Wang Lei, low­cost medicines. CEO of AstraZeneca China “In addition to the Chinese mar­ ket, we supply over 70 countries around the world, mainly develop­ “In the past, we merely brought ing countries. We will use our pro­ foreign drugs into China. From duction advantages to raise now on, we will develop new drugs production and lower costs, so locally in China, and bring the that patients can benefit from products not only to Chinese more reasonable prices,” said patients, but also patients from Wang Lei, CEO of AstraZeneca other developing countries. Chi­ China. na’s innovative drug imports and Chinese pianist Lang Lang (center) performs during the Steinway China 10th Anniversary Gala Concert in the National Centre for the Per­ At the China International market access are accelerating. forming Arts in Beijing. XINHUA Import Expo, the Cambridge, This shifts our emphasis onto spe­ United Kingdom­headquartered cific medicines and anti­cancer company demonstrated roughly drugs,” Wang said. 30 innovative products that it had For AstraZeneca, R&D localiza­ brought to China since entering tion is an important opportunity the country 25 years ago. A renal for multinational pharmaceutical Piano maker sees China as key anemia medication, which is being companies, leading it to promote developed locally in China, was the R&D process of seven new displayed at the expo. The drug is drugs in China. Growing national wealth is allowing up with a new headquarters for the consumption product,” said Wei. set to make its global debut in Chi­ The innovative products and Asia­Pacific region in Shanghai ear­ Given the instrument’s high value, na next year. development models based in families to invest in music at home ly this year. she said most households that have According to Wang, AstraZene­ China can also be applied to oth­ “China has always been the fast­ bought one see it as a piece of art, or ca hopes to bring its global experi­ er markets, says the company. By REN XIAOJIN that institutions tend to be compa­ est­growing and biggest potential an investment. ence to China through the CIIE. “The innovative business model [email protected] nies, shopping malls or schools, market for Steinway. It is also the According to the China Art Asso­ The company hopes to integrate in China will not only stay in Chi­ while individual clients are mainly market that we have been investing ciation, by 2018 there were about 50 its experience with China’s suc­ na. After being applied to various Steinway & Sons, the US­German wealthy households who love music most heavily in,” she added. “After million Chinese children learning a cessful internet of things ecosys­ therapeutic fields, the model can high­end piano maker, says it has or have a child learning the piano. being here for about 20 years, we are musical instrument, and the piano tem, colliding with more creative be used in other markets. In the seen sustained double­digit growth “Over a decade ago, about 80 per­ finally at a phase of stable growth was among the most popular sparks, to meet the country’s ever­ future, governments and medical in China in recent years, driven by a cent to 90 percent of our clients every year. We think it is the right options for parents. Such a large changing and upgrading medical institutions in other countries will flux of aspirational, music­loving were institutional, but in recent timing.” number of budding pianists has needs and pain points, by bringing rush to embrace Chinese innova­ households. years, the number of individual cli­ During the company’s 165th anni­ made China a key target for growth, new solutions for Chinese tion, and that era is coming soon,” The firm, whose pianos can easily ents has been growing,” Wei said. versary event, held in Beijing early for piano makers from both home patients, he said. Wang said. sell for up to 1 million yuan “Now the ratio is about half and in November, a mother, who pre­ and abroad. Wang said China has evolved Yang Wenya, a medical analyst ($145,000) each, is recognized as half.” ferred not to be named, said the “China has become the largest into the company’s second­largest with Beijing­headquartered think one of the most established bou­ “We can’t tell you exactly how family recently bought a Steinway piano market in the world,” said Tan market. As the second­largest tank EO Intelligence, said: “For tique piano brands in the world, and many pianos we sell every year to the piano for her 7­year­old child. Chan, board secretary of Pearl River medical consumption market in medical companies, local innova­ is known among the Chinese as individual clients, but the growth “My husband and I hardly know Piano, one of the biggest Chinese the world, China is also the compa­ tion in developing new medicines famed musician Lang Lang’s favor­ rate of pianos sold to Chinese house­ music, but somehow our child has piano makers in Guangdong prov­ ny’s fastest­growing market, with takes advantage of the local pro­ ite instrument to play on. holds has remained in double digits shown great interest in the piano,” ince. “But if you compare the num­ 12 percent year­on­year growth in duction advantages to cut costs “Our clients in China consist of in recent years,” she said. she said. “We didn’t mean to raise ber of pianos per hundred 2017, he said. and raise efficiency, throughout two different types, the institutional The firm has entered a period of him as a pianist, but since he loves it, households, the number is still Company statistics show sales the process of R&D, production ones and individual clients,” said more aggressive expansion. Last we decided to give him a high­quali­ behind Japan, Europe and the Unit­ revenues stood at $22.5 billion in and transportation. In this way, Wei Wei, president of Steinway & year, Steinway launched its first ty piano.” ed States. There is large potential for 2017, of which $2.96 billion was both medical companies and Sons Asia and Pacific, explaining flagship store in Beijing, following it “A Steinway piano is not just a growth in the future.” from China, 13.2 percent of the patients benefit. This is an inevita­ total. ble trend of the international divi­ That makes AstraZeneca the sion of labor.” second­largest multinational She said China’s large patient pharmaceutical company in pool offers abundant resources for Chinese brands wrest edge in FMCG sector China. To date, it has invested clinical research and data is easy to more than $750 million into access. By HE WEI in Shanghai urban sales revenue range of 100 high­growth insurgent brands is R&D of medicines that improve “Producing medicine locally [email protected] million yuan ($14.52 million) to 500 their decision to have narrow prod­ people’s quality of life saves the cost of transporting med­ million yuan. 1.4 uct ranges, according to Derek Having operated in China for icines. Also, the two major produc­ In China’s fast­moving consumer “These insurgents demonstrate million Deng, a Bain partner who also 25 years, the company continu­ tion logistics bases in Wuxi and goods or FMCG sector, digitaliza­ an entrepreneurial mission, Chi­ visits to Marie Dalgar’s official focuses on consumer products. ously adjusts its development Taizhou have obvious agglomera­ tion, New Retail and targeted prod­ nese consumers’ focused innova­ e­store on Tmall generated by Local brands typically focus on one strategy, and is beginning to place tion and scale effects, which can uct launches are increasingly giving tions, and more speed and agile its joint campaign with KFC or two “hero” stock­keeping units a heavier emphasis on local R&D guarantee the quality and quantity Chinese brands a clear edge over operating models, which are giving that target one specific market niche, innovation. of drugs,” Yang said. foreign labels, according to a new them an advantage in this ever­ metics brand Marie Dalgar, which he said. “This eliminates unnecessary research report and experts. changing market,” said Bruno Lan­ teamed up with fried chicken brand product complexity and ensures that Local brands’ lead is also due to nes, a partner in Bain’s consumer KFC for joint campaigns and adver­ an insurgent brand’s limited resour­ higher penetration rates and strong­ products practice in China and a tising activities, pulling in traffic ces are devoted to a very focused mes­ er volume growth relative to price co­author of the report. from KFC’s huge consumer base. sage to the target audience.” growth, according to the report pub­ Experts said local brands’ digitaliza­ Their campaign generated 1.4 mil­ The implications for foreign lished jointly by Kantar Worldpanel tion effort takes into account consum­ lion visits to Marie Dalgar’s official brands operating in China are that and Bain&Co. er preferences. They also embrace the e­store on Tmall, which translated they should localize product design, Between 2015 and 2017, the New Retail strategy, which is all about into 12 million yuan in sales. remain agile and nimble in terms of so­called insurgent local brands had linking the online and offline chan­ The makeup specialist also rolled organizational structure, and be fast just a 6­percent share of the 33 cate­ nels to deliver interesting consumer out pop­up stores featuring an aug­ in responding to market situations, gories these local insurgent brands experiences. Local brands also incu­ mented reality mirror to link offline experts said. represent, but delivered nearly bate hit products or launch product consumers’ experience with their For instance, local snack chain 20­percent of value growth in their variants in a timely way. online purchases. Bestore, based in Wuhan, Hubei prov­ sub­categories. Many insurgent brands focus on Experts also highlighted the ince, devised a dual­track operating Two­thirds of the 46 insurgent high­traffic online platforms such as smooth use of social media for model — that is, it included both prod­ brands studied expanded at least Tmall and JD, and are quick to use brand promotions. Juice vendor uct managers and marketing teams in twice faster than their category aver­ up­and­coming social commerce WeiQuan Daily C, for instance, col­ its new product development force to age, while selling their products at and social media platforms like Pin­ laborated with a Chinese online expedite the process, Deng said. above­average prices, the report said. duoduo and Douyin, said Jason Yu, reading platform Migu Reading for The development cycle for certain This is despite the fact most local managing director of Kantar World­ a campaign that allowed consumers products at Bestore was effectively insurgents are relatively small in panel in China and one of the co­au­ to customize their beverage bottles. shortened to two months, contribut­ scale compared with category lead­ thors of the report. The campaign quickly went viral. ing to the rollout of 400 new SKUs per A man walks past an AstraZeneca site in Macclesfield, north ers, with half of them falling into the He referred to the emerging cos­ Another key to the success of year, eclipsing many Western peers. England. REUTERS

upgrade in China is an opportunity so distinct, Wang said. for Miniso because consumers are The company has invested 100 Miniso sews up massive expansion plan increasingly becoming quality­con­ million yuan in product designs. It scious. So, retailers such as Miniso employs more than 500 product By LI WENFANG in Guangzhou Guangzhou, Guangdong province­ has seen the number of stores in its uted to the success, he said. that focus on quality products can designers from various countries, [email protected] based Miniso launched in January network grow rapidly to more than Miniso’s more than 200 procure­ gain by optimizing their supply including China, Japan, South its preparation for initial public 3,000 worldwide by mid­November. ment managers constantly scan the chains and increasing efficiency, she Korea, Sweden and Denmark. “The Miniso Corp, a low­cost retailer offering. The brand now boasts about global market to spot trends and said. north European style of simplicity is and variety store chain, plans to cre­ Miniso has already received 1 bil­ 1,000 overseas stores in 78 countries launch new products every week, Wang agrees. “Consumption is quite popular,” Wang said. ate more store brands, including lion yuan in strategic investment and regions, including the United said Zhu Linhui, an analyst with upgrading. It has become more sen­ Miniso plans to forge more coop­ those targeting third­ and fourth­ from Hillhouse Capital Group and States, Australia, Germany, Indone­ the Qianzhan Industry Research sible and pragmatic, with the previ­ eration agreements with intellectu­ tier cities in China, to make the most internet giant Tencent in September. sia, Mexico and India, Wang said. Institute. ous practice of people showing al property­holders in product of the ongoing urbanization trend The cooperation with Tencent The success of Miniso’s physical Miniso has developed capabilities their wealth with things they use design, given its customers’ pen­ and consumption upgrade. may result in building smart stores stores has defied the global trend of to cooperate directly with product gradually fading. In its place, there chant for new products, which the The company has set a goal of as well, said Wang Guangyong, chief online shopping, Wang said. suppliers, including owners of intel­ is this pursuit of quality inexpen­ company tries to satisfy. opening 10,000 stores in 100 econo­ director of Miniso’s brand center. He attributed the growth to the lectual property. It also boasts effi­ sive products.” Such tie­ups will supplement Mini­ mies, including 7,000 stores over­ Miniso expects this year’s revenue brand’s large variety of products — cient IT and logistics systems that Young consumers in the 18­35 age so’s investment in some product seas, and generating 100 billion to rise 50 percent to 18 billion yuan, 3,000 stock keeping units per store help with store management and bracket, the main patrons of Miniso, makers, including prominent origi­ yuan ($14.52 billion) in annual reve­ given that about 96 percent of the on average. enable quick shipping from manu­ prefer affordable, quality and nal equipment manufacturers, and nue by 2022. stores are already profit­making, he Low prices for quality products facturers to Miniso stores in 21 days, branded products. In addition, good an efficient logistics network. In over­ To fund the expansion in both said. and strong capability in in­house Zhu said. customer service and a pleasant seas markets, Miniso sources some of domestic and global markets, Since its launch in 2013, Miniso product development also contrib­ The ongoing consumption shopping environment make Mini­ its products locally, Wang said.