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Sheng Hong

Senior PartnerShenzhen

Evaluates market opportunities and strategy to advise executives in the agriculture and chemical sectors as they seek to enter new markets and implement transformative performance improvements

Sheng leads McKinsey’s Agriculture and Chemical Practices for Greater China. He also leads our work in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and strategy across the region.

After joining the firm in Philadelphia in 2006, Sheng transferred to Beijing and then Shanghai. He has offered advisory support to executives in several sectors, with a focus on chemical companies and agricultural businesses. In all his work, Sheng seeks to help international and local business leaders set strategic direction and achieve strong performance. This often involves increasing competitiveness and boosting operational performance.

Examples of his recent client work include the following:

  • analyzing core competitiveness as well as market opportunities and challenges for a leading dairy company in China to clarify and set a new strategic vision
  • helping a multinational address consumer dynamics, regulation, government policy, and the competitive landscape when entering the poultry and egg market in China
  • leading transformation and capability-building initiatives, including strategy-setting, recruitment, and retention-system work, for a major food and feed-additives company in China
  • developing for a large Chinese conglomerate a fresh-food strategy that involved systematically improving retail-store management and building an end-to-end supply chain, which resulted in vastly improved performance
  • implementing an operational transformation and restructuring the production business for a $100 billion subsidiary of a leading petrochemical company in China

Interested in understanding industry dynamics, Sheng has published articles looking at trends and potential shocks that could affect petrochemical companies. He has also offered his perspective as an invited speaker at industry gatherings.

Published work

A new operations formula for the chemicals sector,” McKinsey & Company, January 2023

How advanced analytics can address agricultural supply chain shocks,” McKinsey & Company, April 2022

China’s chemical industry: New strategies for a new era,” McKinsey & Company, March 2019

Oil-price shocks and the chemical industry: Preparing for a volatile environment,” McKinsey & Company, May 2015

What’s next for international chemical companies in China?,” McKinsey & Company, June 2013

Past experience

Total Petrochemicals USA
Research scientist

Education

University of Massachusetts Amherst
PhD, polymer science and engineering

The Pennsylvania State University
MS, materials science and engineering

Peking University
BS, chemistry