For Subscribers

Get the complete article now!

TWST: Can we start off with an introduction to Givaudan (VTX:GIVZn.VX)?

Mr. Davis: Givaudan is a collection of companies that have been, I would say, pulled together, with a history dating back approximately 200 years with a substantial amount of activity in the last 10 years. This was driven by a lot of the same things that drive the consolidation in our customers’ industries, and also from a strategic perspective to enhance our capabilities across all segments and all regions around the globe. So, we are a whole lot of companies and at the same time we are one company today. Our sales in this past year were 2.8 billion, split approximately 60:40 favoring. Historically, we have been pretty much a 50:50 split and that difference is driven by an acquisition we made on the flavor side last year. Actually, we made two acquisitions, but only FIS, which we acquired from Nestle earlier last year, is included in our numbers at year end.

TWST: What are your main markets, geographically?

Mr. Davis: We are spread very evenly around the globe. Our U.S. and European businesses are both in the mid-30% range, Asia-Pacific in the 20% range, and Latin America in the 10% range.

TWST: How large would you say your markets are currently and what trends and developments are you seeing that suggest further growth opportunities?

Mr. Davis: We always talk about this as about an 11 billion U.S. business and the conventional wisdom over the last few years has been that the market is growing probably some place between 2% and 3%. Some people -- up until the current events -- might have said we are pushing the upper end of that range.

TWST: Can you tell us about the key members on your management team, the strengths that they bring with them and the overall ability to execute and take the company forward?

Mr. Davis: That's a great question because we have a strong belief in our people. There is no question in my mind that we have the strongest organization in this industry. I mean, we have this incredible capability and competence, and we continue to invest in our people, not only in in developing their skills, but also developing leadership capability because at the end of the day we are only going to deliver that industry sustaining leadership if we are investing in our organization's capability. This is an important part of our culture today. So, let's start with the management team. This is a great team of people that have come both from within the industry and from outside the industry; some in very closely allied industries and some from further afield, but each with a unique set of skills, very strong and vocal in their own way, with a different set of perspectives, and that makes for a great mix. We have some long-term industry executives that are seasoned with some young, new blood, from outside the industry who bring a different array of skills. They bring a whole different slant to technology and ideas and thinking than the experienced management team that knows and has lived this ‘heart and soul’ for the last 20 years. At the end of the day, there is a lot of good strategic thinking; there is a lot of process focus and orientation within our organization and the management team. So, we really are committed to looking for ways to enhance our performance. I don't want to overemphasize this because I don't want to ‘tee this up’ for the competition, but if we are not doing things right, they won't be here anyway. I can't speak highly enough about our organization, and it’s not just the management team, but the creativity and the competence throughout. It is just so important to me and I get so excited when I talk about this part of our business.