CEO Forum
March 2015 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 67
technologies that keep pace with new substrates will be another
opportunity we are following.
CW: What is your business strategy for
growth in 2015 and beyond?
Büchner: In 2015, we will continue to improve our ability to
leverage our strong brands and leading market positions as we
further adapt our business, reduce our costs and drive organic
growth. We are embedding continuous improvement in our
businesses and drive commercial excellence and customer focus
through innovation, service and top products.
Bunch: Our two primary strategic objectives relative to coatings
remain intact. That is to develop leading or break-through technologies that are measurable and desirable by our customers,
and to continue with the overall consolidation of the coatings
space. Naturally, we need to accomplish these in a manner that
creates shareholder value. From an economic perspective, we
spend about $500 million per year on R&D, and we anticipate
deploying an additional $1.5 –to- $2.5 billion of cash on acquisitions and buybacks, in years 2015 and 2016 combined, with a
focus on creating shareholder value. Tactically we have a variety
of other initiatives focused on maintaining operational excellence across our businesses.
Cao: In 2015, we will continue to improve our branding as a
leading coating supplier in China. Firstly, we’ll upgrade our cur-
rent brand stores to round out product offerings and enhance
in-store services. Secondly, we’ll work with our distributors on
advertising, road show, and other marketing activities so as to
increase exposure to end consumers. Communication efforts
to furniture factories on environment friendly products such
as water-based wood paint and UV paint will be an important
action to gain market share. M&A is an area that is of great
interest in the coming years. We are well prepared to acquire
small-to-medium-sized companies with competitive technolo-
gies in green products or outstanding functionality.
Jullien: In general, we want to focus on growing organically.
Of course, we are also open to grow externally if the right opportunity arises – as happened when we acquired Schaepman,
a leading Dutch coatings supplier, at the end of 2014. In 2015,
we will keep building on the growth momentum created in late
2014. Organic growth is the key to our success and we have
launched several initiatives and new products that should help
us grow faster than the market in all our key segments.
Wherever we work, the key to growth is to offer products
that add value to a customer’s business, whether it is through
long-term maintenance savings, fuel savings or some other benefit. In 2014, we launched a number of products and technologies that achieve this, such as HEMPAGUARD or AvantGuard,
a new zinc technology that increases anti-corrosive performance
