World Grain - September 2013 - 34

FEATURE: purSuing a global Footprint

colossal acquisitions, Weisser said.
“In our expansion into Australia and
Africa, we are acquiring smaller local
players, partnering in joint ventures
and growing organically,” he said. “But
it’s not just expanding geographies, it’s
also expanding relationships with our
customers. We’ve moved from being
a supplier to a partner. We work with
our customers on everything from developing new products to replacing
ingredients in existing products to anticipating consumer trends. We have
invested a lot in business intelligence
and have built a new innovation center
in the U.S.”
From an asset basis, Bunge also has
invested in the food ingredient sector. In
North America, for example, they rebuilt
a Bunge Oils facility in Fort Worth, Texas,
U.S., and built a new packaging plant
in Decatur, Alabama, U.S., to replace
aging infrastructure in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, U.S. A global footprint is not
necessarily at odds with a streamlined
corporate structure, Weisser said. In a
2002 interview with Milling & Baking
News, he said Bunge’s corporate headquarters in White Plains did not and
would not have a large number of the
company’s workforce. He said a decentralized structure and an “entrepreneurial spirit” were critical to success going
forward. The largest part of Bunge’s
business remains selling to the feed and
food industry with localized operations
around the world, and so to a significant degree, the Bunge approach has not
changed. In the 2013 interview, he said
entrepreneurship remains a key part of
the value system that has been the focus
of his tenure.
“I think it is still the same spirit,”
he said. “I feel very strongly about my
contribution to building the culture and
team, and that is reflected in our values
— integrity, teamwork, entrepreneurship, openness and trust, and citizenship. We could not have grown as much
as we have without these values.
“But one thing that has evolved, as
we have grown and as the market has
changed, is our decentralized business
34

030_WG_Sept13_Bunge.indd 34

Part of a joint venture with SCF Marine, Bunge’s newest grain elevator in Fairmont City, Illinois, U.S.,
was built with a focus on efficiency.

model. Today, we are both decentralized and integrated. We have functions
that connect the dots around the world,
not only here in White Plains but also in
St. Louis, Geneva and Singapore. When
customers are buying in Asia, and we are
buying from farmers in the Americas,
then somebody has to connect the dots.
Certain functions are completely decentralized close to the market, but when
it comes to risk management, when it
comes to controls, you have to have a
centralized approach. So the business
has evolved.”
Expanding on how entrepreneurship
has manifested itself at Bunge over
the past generation, Weisser said the
company’s positioning from a “second-tier regional company” in 1996
to the top global oilseeds processor
today only could have been achieved
through acquisitions. He described a
more nimble Bunge corporate culture
very different than the stereotypical
large company corporate culture with
layers of executives hesitant to “pull
the trigger.”
“In order to do smart acquisitions you
have to be locally connected and empowered,” he said. “So I empowered
my team to do things. Obviously when
they came up with ideas I participated in

the negotiation, but they created the opportunity. Then we could move fast. We
never would have been able to grow as
much as we have if we didn’t have this
entrepreneurial spirit.”
The importance of having a global
network of assets has been heightened by climate change, Weisser said.
He noted Bunge currently operates
30 ports, up from only four when he
joined the company.
“Suddenly you have a drought here,
you have a drought there, and you still
have to serve your customers,” he said.
“Remember when we had the major
drought in Russia in 2010? We served
customers in the Middle East and Spain,
not from Russia, but from America and
Brazil. We did this in a couple of days,
re-routing the products. With the Arab
Spring, who is continuing to feed the
Middle East? You have to have skills
and assets, and you have to have the
team to do that. You need to be everywhere and strong.”
Josh Sosland is editor of Milling & Baking News,
sister publication of World Grain. He can be
reached at jsosland@sosland.com.
We want to hear from you — Send comments and
inquiries to worldgrain@sosland.com. For reprints of
WG articles, e-mail reprints@sosland.com.

September 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

10/7/2013 9:23:32 AM

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World Grain - September 2013

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