Team
Thomas Blaser - Founder & Owner
I am a seasoned business manager with extensive experience in international consumer goods / FMCG / CPG / luxury goods, leadership and general management.
My passion is to open markets for high quality brands, to build sustainable profitable businesses and to work with high-perfoming people of any cultural back-ground. I have done this for the last 25 years for @RICOLA in leading positions in Switzerland, the USA/Canada and in Asia with additional accountability for Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Under my new company @PALTEA I offer my expertise to export-oriented brands (food, pet care, personal care) who wish to grow their business in Asia, incl China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israel and others.
Together with my expert partners on the ground, we manage all aspects of our clients business from strategy development to business planning to execution, incl. market entry strategy, value chain and pricing, distributor search & assessments, marketing (social media, mass communication, TV, social selling, etc.), sales contracts, etc. Asia is fully omni-channel and we are experts in off-line, on-line / e-commerce, cross-border (eg. CBEC China), club stores, B2C and B2B customers.
Expertise
2020 - 2021
2014 - 2019
2008 - 2013
2002 - 2008
1996 - 2002
Ricola – President BU Asia, Member of Group Management (GM)
Chairman of the Board of Ricola (Shanghai) Trading Ltd.
Full P&L and people responsibility for Business Unit Asia (Greater China, Japan, South Korea, South East Asia). Successful break-through and double-digit sales, market share and profit growth in China, Korea and Thailand. Incorporated subsidiary (WFOE) in China, acted as Chairman of the board / BOD. Adopted leadership and cultural programs in the Business Unit. Developed sales & marketing teams in Singapore, Hong Kong, China (Shanghai and Guangzhou). Supervised brand re-positioning and development of brand communication campaigns incl. Digital Marketing. Accountable for multi-million US$ advertising budgets. Developed key account management (KAM) and joint business planning (JBPs) for major accounts in the region. Drove e-commerce share of sales in Korea / China to exceed 20% / 10%. Listed Ricola at Costco Japan.
Ricola – Head of Asia & Emerging Markets, Member of the Executive Board (EB)
In charge of building a sales and marketing organisation in Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Developed management capabilities and strategies in the regions. In the GM, built the global business strategy for Ricola. Led the evaluation and optimization of the distributor network in the regions. Re-negotiated contracts. Entered Poland and substantially increased the CEE business.
Ricola – VP Sales Overseas & European Markets
In charge of Overseas (USA, Canada, Asia, Israel) and European Markets (Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and others). Developed key account management capabilities, built a first-in-class export management system including pricing structures, distributor management processes, reporting and result measurement, presentation and selling techniques, etc.
Ricola USA, Parsippany/NJ – President & CEO
Led a team of 20 through a successful turn-around. Developed and implemented sales and marketing strategy and achieved break-through growth in all major retail chains and key accounts incl Walmart, Target, Costco, Walgreens, CVS and others. Led the work on award winning brand campaigns. Increased sales and market share by 50%.
Ricola Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Singapore, MD
Managed through the Asian financial crisis. Implement business fundamentals across the region.
1991 - 1996
Omega Ltd, Project Manager Controlling & Area Manager
Managed various Controlling projects for Omega’s luxury Swiss watch division. Successfully entered Vietnam and established Omega’s first flag-ship store in the SEA region. Extensive advertising and public relations (PR) work in India and the Middle East.