Durante tres años consecutivos, de Syngenta Brazo brasileño, Syngenta Proteção de Cultivos, has reigned as the crop protection leader in the highly desired Brazilian market. And while the company followed a growth strategy built on understanding and anticipating the needs of its customers and offering the products and services to respond to those needs, Syngenta’s strategy in Brazil runs deeper than numbers.
“Agriculture is one of the main drivers of the Brazilian economy and we are aware of our responsibility towards the food production chain — from farmers to end consumers,” says Laércio Giampani, general director of crop protection at Syngenta Brazil. “We know it is vital to maintain elevated standards for health, safety, and the environment.”
Satisfacer las necesidades del mercado
Syngenta’s ability to meet the needs of the Brazilian market begins with its portfolio of crop protection products. The company notes that its herbicide line is the most innovative in the market, and its insecticide line is the broadest. In addition, Syngenta says its line of seed treatments pioneered the concept of “vigor and productivity” with products such as the successful Cruiser (thiamethoxam), which provides control of a wide range of early season sucking and chewing, leaf-feeding and soil-dwelling insect pests such as aphids, wireworms, flea beetles, and leafminers.
Syngenta también ofrece una cartera de productos fungicidas para combatir la roya de la soja asiática, destacada por Priori-Xtra (ciproconazol + azoxistrobina), que ha recibido una calificación de satisfacción de 100% de los clientes que la han utilizado.
In other crops, including coffee and sugarcane, the company’s thiamethoxam-based Verdadero and Actara are also leading products, both of which are now available in liquid formulations to facilitate handling and security in applications.
Más allá de los productos
Estos y muchos otros productos son motores de crecimiento actuales, y la compañía observa que hay más en camino. Syngenta está invirtiendo US $ $400 millones en el mercado brasileño desde ahora hasta 2012, tiempo durante el cual planea introducir 15 nuevos productos en el mercado.
Esta oferta diversa y completa es parte de lo que hace que la empresa confíe en que su tasa de crecimiento superará el rápido ritmo del mercado brasileño, que se espera que mantenga una tasa de crecimiento de 10%.
Por supuesto, los productos no significan nada sin acceso al mercado, que ha sido otro elemento clave en la estrategia que llevó a Syngenta a la cima. La empresa afirma que el objetivo final es centrarse en el cliente, llevando soluciones a los productores. Para lograr esto, ha sido pionera en el concepto de segmentar su negocio en grupos lógicos que reflejen las necesidades de los productores, y ha consolidado su red de distribución para garantizar que los productos adecuados estén disponibles para los clientes que los necesitan.
Negocio responsable
Building a successful business is one element of Syngenta’s overall strategy, but as Giampani points out, it is not the only one. “We don’t worry about growing faster than the market,” he says. “We want to build a company with longevity and sustainability.”
La construcción de la empresa imaginada por el liderazgo de Syngenta comienza con un personal que sea profesional, talentoso y lo suficientemente feliz como para permanecer en la empresa y aceptar su misión corporativa.
Syngenta’s approximately 900-person staff is all of those things. The company says that its workers “understand our goal and are involved and excited with the business.” It is right; in 2007, Brazil’s Exame magazine named Syngenta one of the 105 best companies to work for in the country.
To help develop its staff, the company has a clear strategy for professional growth to help each member of the team achieve its results. And, to measure its results, the company conducts its own internal working climate survey. In the last survey given to its employees, Syngenta reports that 98% of its team answered that they understand the company’s strategy. Moreover, the company is pleased to note that 97% of its staff stated in the same survey that they are proud to work at Syngenta.
Mantener el impulso
La empresa se da cuenta de que para el éxito a largo plazo, no se pueden realizar negocios que sean explotadores o perjudiciales para el entorno de su mercado. Por otro lado, si una empresa contribuye al éxito y al crecimiento continuo del mercado al que sirve, tanto el mercado como la empresa pueden compartir las recompensas.
De particular importancia para Syngenta Brasil es la protección y promoción del medio ambiente. La compañía cuenta con alrededor de una docena de proyectos separados para promover el ambientalismo en el país. Entre sus éxitos más destacables se encuentran:
- A “School on the Field” project which has raised environmental awareness among more than 370,000 school-age youths.
- The “Live Water” project, which has restored more than 1,400 water sources since its inception in 2004.
- The “More Beans” project, which provides support for small farmers to improve their productivity, yield, and quality of life. In this project, soybean productivity was, on average, two times higher than the state average, and 3.3 times higher than the national average. At the same time, average corn productivity was 1.9 times higher than the state average and 2.5 times higher than the national average, according to a study of the 2006/07 crop.
As Giampani puts it, “Syngenta has a strong commitment towards corporate responsibility and full conviction that, in order to gain in a sustained manner and add value to the business, its activities need to progress in integration with the environment and society, which means sustainability.”