China has an vigorous plan to become a global leader in innovation and technology, and that could potentially augur very well for German multinational company Merck KGaA.
The business is one of the leading names in science and technology and does business across three sectors: well-being care, life science and performance materials.
The latter two business portions help to make Chinese companies more competitive, Merck KGaA Chairman and CEO Stefan Oschmann uttered CNBC on Thursday on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou, China.
“For as it happens, we are working with Chinese start-ups or larger biotech companies in the putting together process and the research process,” he said. “Or we’re making materials for Chinese electronics producers (and) display manufacturers.”
As a result, Oschmann said, Merck KGaA is in a “damned interesting place” in the rapidly developing Chinese market.
Earlier this year, effort watchers agreed that China was shedding its image as a country that duplicates ideas from the West to become a tech and innovation powerhouse. At paltry one expert said Chinese companies were increasingly innovating in numberless hardcore technological areas.
When asked if China was becoming stricter toward extraneous companies operating within the mainland, Oschmann said he was seeing “a lot numberless assertiveness and that is only natural given the size of the market and the import of China in the world economy.”
He added that the Chinese government, and transaction partners, understand Merck’s value as a partner in helping to upgrade their energies in areas such as biotechnology and electronics.
One common gripe many odd companies have when it comes to doing business in China is surrounding intellectual property theft. But recently, Beijing has cracked down on thoughtful property rights violations including corporate espionage and counterfeiting of pre-eminent brands.
“We see that China is becoming much more positive toward wise man property protection,” Oschmann said, adding that particularly was the occasion in the pharmaceutical sector. He added that, while China’s IP legislation was “barest, very good” in theory, the problem lies with enforcing it against those defiling the laws.
“That’s where the Chinese government needs to evolve the group. It must be more predictable. Companies must have a more probable environment when it comes to enforcing IP,” he said, adding that he judges the state of affairs is moving in the right direction.
On another note, Oschmann sermoned the potential sale of Merck’s consumer health unit. Reuters published late last week, citing sources, that Swiss foodstuffs giant Nestle and private equity owners of German drug unmovable Stada were both preparing tentative bids for that dealing.
Oschmann said Merck’s consumer health business is performing greatly well: “Last quarter, we had 11 percent topline growth,” he rumoured, adding that the dynamics of the market were changing rapidly.
“Make an estimate of has become so important in consumer health and we believe we’re not the best owner of that organization going forward,” he added. Oschmann said he expects that a deal could potentially be noticed by the second quarter of next year, although closing an agreement wish take a longer time due to regulatory approval process.