Gerald Lema

Mr Gerald Lema, President Asia-Pacific Baxter International

"Growth as a Mind-set: Are you Asian Enough?"  was the topic of an A-List presentation to some 100 alumni and business guests in the CBD campus on 19 February 2007 by Gerald Lema, President Asia-Pacific of Baxter International.

According to Mr Lema, as companies move away from 1990s and early 2000s, both periods of corporate restructuring, consolidation and cost cutting, all industries are looking at ways to return to growth mode. While new products, focus on marketing and innovation, remain key drivers for growth, arguably the best opportunity is represented by geographic expansion and penetration.

"Fortunately, the need for 'Corporate' growth is coinciding with the rise of emerging economies as the engines of world 'Economic' growth and arguably the only group of countries that can deliver 'above-average' rates. Among these 'high-growth' economies, none are more important than the Asian countries, in particular China and India but also Japan, Korea, and South East Asia," Mr Lema said.

"However, as appealing as returning to the 'Growth' mode is, the drivers for success are more nuanced, faster, deeper and require a different mind-set to fully exploit fast moving Asian markets. Therefore, this talk discussed, from a Corporate perspective, how to address Asian countries and how to look at 'Growth as a Mind-set,' he said.

Gerald Lema joined Baxter International as President Asia Pacific in 2005. He has more than 19 years of pharmaceutical, diagnostics and healthcare experience in Asia, Japan, Europe, North and South America and the Middle East and Africa.

Mr Lema holds a Bachelor of Science, Engineering, from Universidad del Valle, Colombia and a Master of Business Administration from the Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, New Orleans.

 

(L-R) Associate Professor Yiming Tang, MBA student Loree Gourley, Mr Gerald Lema, of Baxter International, and Associate Professor Guy Ford, at drinks following Mr Lema's presentation to MGSM's A-List alumni and business guests.)