A company reorganisation was the perfect time for Danone to bring its science-based specialised nutrition portfolio together under the Nutricia brand. Kim Berry spoke with Nutricia Oceania managing director Rodrigo Lima.
Q: Why did the rebrand happen?
Nutricia began in the Netherlands almost 120 years ago. In 2007, it was bought by the French group Danone. We have just undergone some reorganisation here in Australia and New Zealand, which was perfect timing for us to relaunch our Nutricia brand in the science-based specialised nutrition category.
Q: From an operational standpoint, how will things change?
First of all, there are a number of back office synergies we have been able to take advantage of. So instead of having a duplicate leadership team in Australia and New Zealand, we have only one now and a number of other synergies in finance, HR, operations, and many other reporting functions.
Most importantly it has improved interactions with our customers.
While our focus is on patients, talking to doctors and educating them about our products make them our biggest stakeholder. In the past we had maybe two people visiting the same doctor. Now we have one point of contact for the doctor.
Economically it makes sense for us as well as being less time consuming for the doctor.
