Marketing

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For a long time the Mexicans have viewed China as a competitor in terms of manufacturing and exports. But recently, armed with Mexican corn and tortillas, investors from Mexico have started to see the world's biggest market as an engine for their business growth.

Mexican exports to China have jumped nine-fold since 2000, soaring from $204 million to $1.9 billion in 2007. China now isthe fastest-growing market for and seventh-largest buyer of Mexican goods, according to Mexican government.

The largest Mexican investor in China by now is Bimbo Food Co Ltd, one of the largest bakery makers in the world with annual revenue of $5.38 billion in 2007. For a long time its business was mainly based in Mexico and Latin America. But recently, seeing that the Asian economy is thefastest growing in the world, it started to consider entering the Chinese market as part of its expansion.

"We have the vision of becoming the first company in the world in food and bakery," said Cesar Cruz, the general manager of the company's operation in Beijing. "Looking at the economic development in China in the last several years, we knew we had to come here," he said.

After an intensiveresearch into the Chinese market and several trips here beforehand, the company finally entered the Chinese market by acquiring a Spanish bakery company in 2005 at 9.2 million euros. It first reserved the brand of the Spanish company and changed the brand back to Bimbo at the beginning of last year.

As one of the first Mexican businessmen working here, Cruz had never been to China before but hesaid he volunteered for the job.

"I saw China as an interesting country, and the growth potential here is great." However, the first month was not easy at all. His two daughters, who came with him speak only Spanish, not English or Chinese. In addition, the Mexicans are tiny community in Beijing, with less than 100 in the city.

But an even bigger challenge came from work. The Chinese do nothave a tradition of eating bread for breakfast. But the core product of Bimbo has long been bread, cake and other bakeries. And its previous expansion has been in Europe and America, where bread is a staple for consumers.

However, Cruz said Bimbo is here not for foreign expatriates, and its target consumers are local Chinese. As a result, while bringing Bimbo to China, the company has also madesome changes to appeal to local tastes.

Its besting selling product is "rolling style bread", or juanqu, a type of bread with layers of beef floss. The fillings include meat floss and red bean paste, both of which are common in the Chinese diet. "It is similar with steamed huajuan, a traditional Chinese food, but it is still bread," said Cruz. They also add less sugar to its bread here becauseChinese people eat less sugar than Mexicans.

The company also tries to appeal to its customers by emphasizing a warm family atmosphere in its advertisement. "A housewife in Mexico would be shown caring for her children by cooking tortillas for the family, and a Chinese housewife would do manto or baozi," said Bernardo Zermeno, marketing director of Group Bimbo Asia Corporate. "The way theyexpress their caring is different, but the human nature is the same." Apart from the product line, the company also worked to set up its retail network to cover China's vast consumer group. It set up its own shelves in supermarkets that target middle classes, and also sells its products at small convenience stores.

Bimbo is now concentrating on the Beijing market, but has also started to entersecond tier cities. But each part of the Chinese market is different said Zermeno adding that the market is akin to planting a tree, building a house and creating a yard.

"The size of house and yard differs from city to city here, but we have a framework in our mind," he said. The proportion of market in China is still small in the company's overall market network, but Zermeno said Bimbo is only...