Founded in 1876, Henkel specialises in laundry and home care, cosmetics, toiletries and adhesive technologies with well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite.
Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, the group has about 48,000 employees worldwide and counts among the most internationally aligned German-based companies in the global marketplace.
In 3Q2011, the German detergent and glue maker reported a year-on-year increase of 1.7 per cent in sales totalling EUR4.028 billion. The Asia/Pacific region contributed 14.5 per cent to the global sales with EUR586.0 million.
Henkel said it is now focusing its energies in the region as China, India and other emerging markets are expected to make up 45 per cent of sales in 2012.
Recently, the group has appointed Monica Sun in a dual role as president for Singapore and Malaysia and vice president of adhesive technologies for Southeast Asia.
In an interview with Biz Daily, Sun shared her new plans and targets as she now wears a new hat in Henkel.
As the newly appointed President of Henkel Singapore and Malaysia, what’s your first order of business?
For Singapore and Malaysia, it is about being an ambassador of Henkel in the countries and to promote our image as a responsible and attractive employer as well as building the company culture.
Globally, Henkel operates in three different business units that are involved in detergent, cosmetics and adhesive technologies. So our people here have different portfolios to handle. But, there’s still a need for communication and collaboration among the different teams. So part of my responsibility is really to promote the “One Henkel” culture by building a cohesive and broader team that has a shared vision in the company.
How important is Southeast Asia as a market for Henkel?
This region is an emerging market, so we really need to grow here, profitably and sustainably.
Henkel is a global company so our growth is also patterned after the global economy. Now we are seeing that the gravity is shifting towards the East and the emerging markets…. so the expectations of Henkel for this region are tremendous.
What’s your strategy for promoting growth profitably and sustainably? Does this mean pushing for more products aside from the ones that you currently have in the region?
From the perspective of adhesive technologies that I am responsible for, definitely we have a lot of advantages and potentials to further exploit, such as our wide scale of coverage and innovation power. And we are continuously launching new high quality product and sustainable solutions to continuously add value to our customers.
What’s your market position in cosmetics and adhesive in the region?
Cosmetics is a growth market for us so we have a lot of growth opportunities for this market. And we are the global leader in adhesive products and technologies.
In late 2010, Henkel launched a new vision and mission. Tell us more about it.
The new vision is “a global leader in brands and technologies.”
It actually mirrors our organisation setup and it helps to bring our people from different business units together under one roof with a common purpose.
How important is this new vision for Henkel?
It gives clarity, and as I said, a common purpose, for the 48,000 employees of Henkel. We are operating in both the consumer and industrial markets given the various portfolios of products that we have, from cosmetics and detergent to adhesive products. So this new vision is bringing the company and employees together. And it is this vision that inspires our employees to come to work every day.
We also want to highlight the five core values that support our new vision statement. These include customer, financial performance, people, sustainability and family.
Sustainability, in particular, is the DNA of the company. It has always been part of the company culture especially in innovation and being a responsible corporate citizen in the global economy. We have put a lot of emphasis on green technologies, reducing waste and corporate social responsibility, etc. Every year, Henkel spends around EUR400 million on R&D alone.
Henkel is unique in what it calls “diversity management.” How did it come about and how essential is this in your operations?
This is an initiative that can be traced back to 2005 and one dimension is gender diversity. Initially it received a lot of discussions within the group, but through the years, our level of understanding of diversity management has matured and true enough, it is not only the senior management but the entire organization that comes to the conclusion that “diverse team delivers the best results”.
It is also about mirroring the composition of society. Women are important decision makers when it comes to purchasing household products, among others. So diversity management allows us to structure our organisation along this social structure in order for us to be more attractive to our customers.
Does this mean giving more importance to women inside the organisation? Or maybe promoting more Asians than others? What was the discussion all about?
There were questions like that inside the organisation, but we made it very clear that when it comes to promotion and recruitment, what counts is performance and capability.
The diversity management is all about understanding the social structure that everyone, regardless of gender, race and age, can make valuable contributions to the group.
It is also about understanding and respecting different perspectives and make the best out of it.
And as a Germany-based global company, this also means not only German nationals but also other nationalities working together within a very inclusive environment. Everyone should feel that Henkel is a company that they would like to work for, that they are committed to.
On a personal level, have you experienced any challenges working in a male-dominated environment?
Looking back, yes it seems that I am always the “minority”… especially in senior management meetings. Sometimes I have the feeling whether I am really that different…in way of thinking and interaction (ie behaviour-wise)
I guess it’s fair to say that women are more detail-oriented than men in so many ways. But given this difference, not for once I thought that this is a barrier.
And with the promotion of diversity, it really encourages talented female leaders to strive for their highest potential.
In Henkel here in Southeast Asia, currently around 30 per cent of managers are female compared to just 28 per cent in 2008. We didn’t impose any quota on how many female managers should be promoted, but it’s just rewarding to see that diversity management allows more dynamic participation among our employees regardless of gender, nationality and age. It is also encouraging a high-performance culture and winning spirit.
With the increasing female managers in Henkel, have you noticed any significant changes operations-wise?
According to a McKinsey study, there is high correlation between a highly diversified management team and business results. It confirms our belief that a diverse team delivers the best results.
Going back to the Southeast Asian market, are you planning to push more products in the region?
We are launching new products soon but I’m not in a position to share it now.
With economic setbacks in other regions and markets more volatile, how do you plan to address these challenges going forward?
I’m actually quite bullish here in this part of the world. Being in the role for one and a half months, I am very excited to see the potentials lying ahead of us.
Henkel has a very comprehensive coverage in Southeast Asia. We have about 20 sites, including 12 production plants, which can really provide a lot of added value to our customers. We just need to further exploit our potentials.
What do you wish to achieve as head of Adhesive Technologies in Southeast Asia?
Though we are strong in our technologies and our offerings to our customers, we are not yet no.1 in all market segments here. And that’s a very clear objective: to be no.1 in all the market segments that we participate in, and to be really the partner of choice to our customers.
In your career in Henkel, what would you consider as your biggest achievement so far, and what do you want to achieve more?
I have spent eight years in HR with Henkel so I would like to think that people development has always been at the top of my agenda. Every day you hear about the war for talent….so it’s all about developing your people much faster than others, and we’ve been successful in that.
What I would like to achieve more is for the Southeast Asia to be the internal talent machine for the whole group, and for the region to be more profitable.
