Banking on a taste for sweets

By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily) Updated: 2014-11-28 08:34

Holding a doctorate in marketing and statistics, a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in psychology, all from Cornell University, Rosenfeld recalled that she had always been fascinated by human behavior and what makes people tick.

Later on in her career, Rosenfeld taught a course on the psychology of advertising as a teaching assistant. "That really captivated my interest and enabled me to meet a lot of people in the field," she said.

The teaching stint also prompted her to pursue a career in advertising. Her first job was in the consumer research division of General Foods, which later became part of Kraft Foods. Rosenfeld served on the team that spearheaded the company's initial public offering in 2001, and successfully integrated the Nabisco, LU and Cadbury businesses.

Since returning to Kraft Foods, the predecessor to Mondelez, in June 2006 as CEO and then chairwoman, Rosenfeld led the spin-off of the company's North American grocery operations in 2012.

Under her leadership, Mondelez has to date become a world leader in chocolate, biscuits, gum, candy, coffee and powdered beverages with a record revenue of $35.3 billion in 2013.

Though the company has tasted success with its biscuit and gum units, Rosenfeld wants to introduce more new categories in China, but cautiously.

It is important to develop products with flavors and tastes that are suited to local palates, she said. Mondelez has already expanded its research center in Suzhou set up five years ago, by doubling the size of the staff to 60 at present. The center is designed to serve customers in the entire Asia-Pacific region, said Rosenfeld.

The chairwoman was not hesitant to admit the slowdown in its power brand Oreo and Chips Ahoy in China since last year, a big step back from its peak time since their launch in 1996. The country has become its second-largest market for these brands globally after the United States.

According to its second-quarter financial report released in August, Asia-Pacific was down 8.3 percent due to continued weakness in China and a more intense retail and competitive environment in Australia and New Zealand.

"During the last two years, we did not do a good job with the new products," she said. But the new Oreo products are designed to meet the needs of Chinese consumers and are lighter and thinner. The different packaging formats will help consumers to eat Oreo cookie at different occasions, Rosenfeld said, offering up a pack of Oreo Thin for sampling.

Though the company faces strong competition from rivals, including products from Nestle SA, Want Want Holdings Ltd as well as Ting Hsin International Group, Rosenfeld said her strategy to counter this is by expanding the distribution network and making Mondelez products visible across China.

"We want to expand our distribution to third-tier and fourth-tier-cities," she said.