German pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, is setting its sights on China's vast market and actively expanding its business operations across the country.
China's thriving market is attracting more international pharmaceutical companies, leading them to accelerate their expansion efforts as well as talent recruitment and development.
Mohammed Tawil, president of Boehringer Ingelheim Greater China, shared his views on the Chinese market and what the company has offered.
"China is a great country, and Shanghai is a really unique city. You find everything great, great culture, great food, nice entertainment and great infrastructure for really good business," he said.
During his one year and three-month journey in Shanghai, he has consistently done one thing -- finding the right person among the company's 4,000 employees in China.
Last July, Tawil launched a campaign called "Think China", an exchange plan that brings global talents to China and sends Chinese employees to other headquarters overseas.
"When they go back to their original positions at global or their headquarters, they can speak about China in their best possible way and then the understandings of China will be cross fertilized," he said.
Now, China is the second-largest pharmaceutical market in the world. With 21 percent of the population aged 60 and above, the market is of great importance to drug makers around the world.
"The Chinese market has a lot of peculiarities which is not found anywhere else in the market. So Chinese market, you have local competition, you have also a massive number of patients and you have clinical trials that needed to be executed in China itself," said Tawil.
German pharma giant aims to expand in China's unique, huge market
