Former Legislative President Wang Jinping (left) presents 17th Golden Torch Award
James Ou, chairman and general manager of Sage Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The Pandemic Changed the Industry's Thinking
Taiwan has gone through the road of anti-epidemic in 2022, and it also coincides with geopolitical challenges. These 2 challenges Taiwan's biotechnology companies to find a way to solve these crises. James Ou, chairman of Sage Pharmaceuticals, Inc., who recently won the top 10 outstanding companies and top 10 outstanding managers of Taiwan's "Golden Torch Award", said that making unique “must have” products and are oriented towards the "short supply chain" will be a necessary direction for Taiwanese manufacturers to gain a global foothold in the future.
James Ou pointed out that Taiwanese companies should deal with geopolitical challenges carefully. Geopolitics may lead to prolonged delivery and instability of the supply chain. For example, palm oil is the common base oil of many skin care products, but Malaysia recently restricted the export of palm oil, causing the price of palm oil to rise nearly 4 times. Another example is the most commonly used moisturizer polyols in skin care products, many of which are made from corn sources. Ukraine is a major producer of corn. Because of the Ukrainian-Russian War, Ukrainian agricultural products cannot be exported, that is why the cost of polyols has increased around 3 times compared before the war. “It is actually very difficult for the industry."
Towards a "short supply chain" supply and marketing model
James Ou said that Taiwan has a trade-oriented economic system, and the wave of globalization and anti-globalization is bound to have an impact on it. The production is sold locally to save transportation time. In addition, the longer the supply chain, the greater the carbon emissions, and this short chain is more in line with the international trend of corporate social responsibility ESG.
Make unique "must have" products
However, James Ou said that as Taiwanese companies think about the short-chain model, foreign companies will think of it as well. For example, Malaysian customers also want to save costs and turn to Malaysian companies to produce products. "Why are you looking for Taiwan? The only solution for this is that if your stuff is unique enough, businesses will look for you because you’re the only one who can make it.”
James Ou said that during pandemic, local and overseas professional channel customers of Sage Pharmaceuticals were closed and unable to do business. They turned the crisis into an opportunity, found another way to become an e-commerce provider of maternal and child-related products, and also assisted customers in e-commerce. The sales of the platform have led to a substantial increase in the company's performance by nearly 70%, and also helped customers increase revenue.
Focus on sustainability, streamlined design, and eco-friendly packaging materials
In addition, Sage Pharmaceuticals has made efforts for environmental sustainability in three stages. First, the company has tried to use local, sustainable, and renewable raw materials to shorten transportation and reduce carbon footprints. Second, streamline production and processing. Lastly, the packaging materials should be made of recyclable materials as much as possible. Recently, in the "Golden Torch Award" hosted by the "China Association of Outstanding Enterprise Managers", Sage Pharmaceuticals was awarded "Top Ten Outstanding Enterprises" " and "Top Ten Outstanding Managers" by former Legislative President Wang Jinping.