Hangzhou Wahaha Group
 |
|
| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Headquarters | Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China |
|
Key people
|
Zong Qinghou, Chairman & CEO |
| Products | Dairy products, water, soft drinks |
| Revenue | RMB 67.8 billion (2011) |
| RMB 3.2 billion (2006) | |
|
Number of employees
|
30,000 |
| Website | en.wahaha.com.cn |
The Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd. (WHH; Chinese: 杭州娃哈哈集团有限公司) is a private group of companies, and the largest beverage producer in China. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. "Wa ha ha" signifies "laughing child".
Wahaha has roughly 150 subsidiary companies and 60 manufacturing bases scattered throughout China. Wahaha employs about 60,000 staff.
The company was originally a local government owned sales company founded in 1987-8. For most of the time since creation, it has been run by Zong Qinghou (宗慶後), who exercises operational control over the day-to-day operations.
Wahaha has its origins in the sales department of the Shangcheng District School in Hangzhou, which was founded in 1987. A factory, the "Hangzhou Wahaha Nutritional Foods Factory" (杭州娃哈哈營養食品廠), was created in 1989 to tap a niche in the market for a "children's liquid nutrient" 兒童營養口服液. Although there were 38 producers of liquid nutrients on the market, none were specifically for children. The advertising campaign struck a note with single child Chinese parents, and was a runaway success. In 1991, the factory was merged with the ailing "Hangzhou Canned Food Factory" (杭州罐头食品厂) in a social restructuring, but which increased the overheads of the business.
In May 1992, Wahaha raised CNY236 million internally in order to start the Hangzhou Wahaha Food City Co. Ltd. (杭州娃哈哈美食城股份有限公司), and to finance the construction of Wahaha Food City, in Hangzhou. Due to inexperience in project management, cashflow became a problem, as construction was delayed for 6 years. This company holds the interests of the employees' union. It changed its name to ZHI at an EGM in August 2001.
During the period from 1992 to 1994, WHH shifted the company away from health drinks to other products. During this period it launched a sour plum drink, alcoholic beverages and pseudo-medicinal potions, but these would successively fail.
In 1994, the company acquired three insolvent companies in Sichuan, and established its first factory in Chongqing. A local manufacturing base enabled the company to reduce distribution costs to western China. Once talks had started with Danone, capital became available once again for the company. WHH launched Wahaha Pure Water and struck gold with it. Over the next three years, WHH would acquire 40 more companies in 22 different provincial cities, transforming it into one of the largest beverage companies in China.
...
Wikipedia