Food for thought
After becoming a publicly traded company in 2009, Mead Johnson Nutrition, the US-based infant food company, decided to move its European headquarters from Paris (home of its former parent company) to Amsterdam. “These days, the bar on the international orientation of organisations has been raised extremely high,” explains Catherine Fitzsimons, Mead Johnson’s European general manager. “For a coordination centre like this one, which directs all marketing and distribution activities throughout Europe and the Middle East, and also does all financial and tactical planning for the other European offices, flexibility is key.”
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area delivers this, plus a talented pool of international and multilingual employees. “Effective management of such a large and diverse area requires that you have multilingual people who are sensitive to the idiosyncrasies of introducing what is undeniably an extremely loaded product in different regions so as to have the best chance of success,” says Fitzsimons.
Changing world
The company is affected by demographic trends, shifting prosperity and developments in paediatric sciences. “We expect that the focus of our activities will soon shift to demand from young populations in emerging markets like India, Brazil, China and Russia,” says Fitzsimons. Nevertheless, she adds that “Europe remains one of our cornerstones in this entire development dynamic. There is still a whole world to conquer simply by factoring in more of the specific variations in market and demographic characteristics of EU countries. Plus, Europe is the international trendsetter in this area of research and is also leading the way on legislation.”
An important consideration in the move to Amsterdam was the production and development facility that Mead Johnson built 25 years ago in Nijmegen. “There we have a 230-strong production team for our markets in Europe and the Middle East,” says Fitzsimons. “A further benefit is the fact that the facility is situated in the heart of the Dutch dairy cluster. The Netherlands has a rich dairy history, and that has contributed to the development of a strong knowledge infrastructure.”
Top for transparency
The dairy knowledge network, coupled with Amsterdam’s international professional population, ensure that the right staff are available for Mead Johnson Nutrition’s European office. Further tipping the balance was the fact that Amsterdam Airport Schiphol means that the rest of Europe and the world are only a few hours away. In addition, housing and accommodation costs are low compared to the international average.
“For me personally, it was the degree of transparency that clinched it,” says Catherine Fitzsimons. “Here, you have a cosmopolitan metropolitan region that nevertheless has passable networks. It doesn’t make a person feel like they are drowning amidst the masses. And if you’re an enthusiastic theatre-goer and love the countryside like I do, this is an ideal place to be. Even more so than Paris!”
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