Unleashing new quality productive forces

Editor's Note: As China steps up efforts to boost domestic demand and drive consumption-led growth, multinational corporations are uniquely positioned to seize the opportunities presented by this transformative period. China Daily examines how these companies are aligning with China's new round of high-standard opening-up policies, embracing emerging tech innovation trends, and expanding their presence in a market that increasingly values high-quality development and upgraded consumption.

Q1 Driving domestic consumption is a top priority for China's economic growth this year. With the country placing greater emphasis on consumption-led development, how is your company adapting its products, services, or localization strategies to meet evolving domestic demand and shifting consumer preferences?

AN: China is an important market for Henkel. With domestic demand prioritized at the national level, we are encouraged by the tangible measures being implemented to stimulate consumption. We remain confident in the long-term potential of the Chinese market. By deepening our investments — including the 2024 acquisition of the Vidal Sassoon brand in China and the launch of our Asia R&D center for consumer business in Shanghai with 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) — we are dedicated to meeting the diverse and evolving needs of consumers, ensuring our localized innovations resonate with their preference and lifestyles. This year, we've completed the acquisition of Suzhou Boke, a longstanding contract manufacturing partner of Henkel, specializing in the production of personal care products. With this acquisition, Henkel Consumer Brands significantly enhances our manufacturing capabilities in China, ensuring we are well-positioned to meet evolving market demands with greater agility and efficiency.

XU: China is one of the most important markets for the Bosch Group. Take the mobility sector as an example: China now produces more than 30 million vehicles annually, which outnumbers the total vehicles produced in Europe and the United States. This scale, coupled with the transformation toward electrified and intelligent mobility, presents significant opportunities for our largest business sector, Bosch Mobility, which accounts for roughly 80 percent of Bosch China's business. Consumers in China are highly sophisticated and open to embrace new technologies, intelligent features, and personalized experiences. Bosch is continuing to invest in strengthening its local R&D capabilities and drive local innovations. Today, we have more than 10,000 associates working across 26 R&D centers in China. This year, many of our latest innovations will enter mass production in China. China is becoming a major innovation hub for Bosch. The innovation and experience we gain here will not only serve the Chinese market, but also be shared across our global R&D and manufacturing network and applied to other markets as demand evolves.

KOH: FedEx has been growing in tandem with the Chinese market for over 40 years. It is increasingly prominent that Chinese customers value quality, personalization and efficiency, meaning customizable, streamlined and reliable logistics solutions are more important than ever. FedEx addresses Chinese consumer and customer demand with service capabilities enhancement and continuous network expansion. Our investment in flight optimization and infrastructure development enables us to strengthen our connectivity within the China market and extend the reach of our network, providing reliable service to an increasing number of consumers and customers, including those in China's second- and third-tier cities, enabling us to provide China customers with flexible and reliable logistics services. We diversify our service offerings and improve efficiency in key areas such as e-commerce and freight. We also provide our customers in China with various time-definite and flexible delivery options to efficiently manage their shipments online.

CUI: Driving domestic consumption is indeed a key priority for China's economic growth, and we see this as a tremendous opportunity. As China continues to emphasize consumption-led development, we are actively adapting our strategies to align with evolving market dynamics and consumer expectations. Innovation is deeply embedded in Aveva's DNA. We are committed to bringing cutting-edge technologies and the latest products to market. Built on Aveva's platform, we work hand in hand with our ecosystem partners to deliver tailored, differentiated solutions that address the unique needs of diverse industries and scenarios. We were among the first to introduce the concept of "Industrial Intelligence", using data to empower AI and advance the deep integration of artificial intelligence into industrial applications. As one of the most promising markets for AI adoption globally, China offers fertile ground for us to cultivate the future of Industrial Intelligence.