Day 11: A trip to the dairy

It’s Wednesday evening in Shanghai and the theme for the day was undoubtedly the dairy industry.

First up was Howard Moore, Managing Director of Taranaki Dairy Technologies, who met with Fran and I for an extended coffee break in the morning. Howard and his business has gained a unique foothold in the market by doing just what Dr. Li talked about yesterday – competing on the basis of smarts and innovation as opposed to scale.

Howard discussed with us the unique business model upon which Taranaki Dairy Technologies is based and how it was a significant point of difference from their competitors. It was also interesting to hear first hand from someone who made the move to China largely unassisted by the government, instead using partnership arrangements and co-operating with Chinese firms.

In the afternoon we had a meeting lined up with Shanghai PengXin’s Chairman Jiang Zhaobai and his son Jason. In a fascinating interview, the chairman discussed with us some of the strategies for the business moving forward – both in New Zealand and abroad. Keep an eye out on newzealandinc.com for more on this next week!

Tomorrow is set to be a long day – we’re departing the hotel at 6am for our first event and then my last meeting doesn’t even begin until 7:30pm. Should be a captivating experience though as I meet up with young Kiwis all over Shanghai, doing some really exciting stuff. Check out all the coverage of these in my Face to Face – China series.

Tán míngtiān!