Baron Philippe de Rothschild Solidifies its China Strategy with Horizons

Industry	Beverage
Location	France
Company Size	600+
Founding Year	1933
With Horizons since 2019

Website

Key Takeaways

01. Baron Philippe de Rothschild (BPHR), a French wine company, first expanded to China in the early 2010s.

02. After nearly 10 years, BPHR wanted to change to a more reliable local partner. Horizons offered what they needed: efficient, on-time payroll with knowledgeable, international staff.

03. With all HR back-office successfully managed by Horizons, BPHR was able to fully focus on their business over the next 3 years.

04. As the Covid-19 pandemic faded, BPHR leveraged its existing relationship with Horizons to expand and hire staff in Thailand.

Breaking into the Chinese Wine Market

In the early 2010s, Baron Philippe de Rothschild (BPHR), a French premium wine company focusing on estates and branded wines, set their sights on the Chinese market.

BPHR was savvy about their initial expansion: They sought to balance staffing flexibility with the need for local partner support in China. They recognized that, even for companies with some China experience, expansion will be hampered without local expertise and connections.

The solution BPHR chose was ‘Employer of Record (EOR)’ — a specialist partner who takes care of payroll, HR and employment compliance for client companies.

A New China Director for BPHR

In 2019, BPHR decided that it was time to hire a new China Director for the company.

BPHR sought to hire Silvère Maurice, a French national with more than a decade’s experience in the China wine industry.

Silvère advised BPHR that he knew the right EOR provider for the job – Horizons. From experience, Silvère knew that Horizons meant on-time payment, quick visa renewals, and expert advice if there were ever legal complications.

Silvère had this to say about his Horizons experience:

“With Horizons, we have never had any back-office problems. Visas and work permits were processed without issue. Employees never waited on a salary or bonus payment. The Horizons team is professional and personable, and I strongly recommend them to anyone looking for an EOR partner with local expertise”
Silvère Maurice, China Director of BPHR

What Did Horizons Bring to the Table?

According to BPHR, Horizons brings many benefits to clients and employees that weren’t seen in some of the partners they worked with before.

First is the efficiency and accuracy of the service. Payments to employees are always processed on time, invoices are sent to the head office automatically, and the Horizons team offers world-class customer support.

Visas, salary payments, and social security & tax payments are all paid, in-full, on time making it easy for their Shanghai-based team to fully focus on their work, and not be distracted by HR tasks.

BPHR, with their wide breadth of experience working with EOR partners, also picked up on another benefit of Horizons:

“Horizons has exceptional local legal expertise. Their contracts are clear and tailored to the intricacies of local law. And they can quickly answer any question related to employment law in China. Working with Horizons provides the comfort that we are 100% locally compliant.”
Silvère Maurice, China Director of BPHR

Growth and Stability for BPHR in Asia

Under the partnership with Horizons, BPHR China has flourished, easily surviving and even thriving during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic; during this time, they’ve even expanded to a new location with Horizons: Thailand.

In Thailand, BPHR has hired their Director for Southeast Asia, pointing to the growth of the Southeast Asian markets in recent years. BPHR decided to do their Thai recruitment themselves, and when they were ready to hire, they reached out to their dedicated contact at Horizons with the hiring requests. Within a few days, their new team member had signed the contract, initiated the onboarding process, and began serving their notice period.

“When it’s time for us to open new markets, we will go with Horizons just as we have for Thailand. That we don’t have to worry about the fine details of beginning work in a new market — Horizons will take care of that so that we can just focus on the work.”
Silvère Maurice, China Director of BPHR

BPHR’s Favorite Part of Horizons’ Service

BPHR receives a lot of value from the fact that Horizons offers flexible office space to all its clients’ employees.

Horizons is a ‘remote first’ company, which means it promotes flexible working conditions for all affiliated. Horizons believes that people should work wherever they are most comfortable and most productive.

The BPHR China team prefers having a base of operations where they can meet, brainstorm, and have wine & fridge storage available.

More than that, BPHR has taken advantage of Horizons’ beautiful downtown Shanghai office, with a 270-degree view of Shanghai, mini-golf, comfortable reception area, and impressive meeting rooms to host clients and partners.

Conclusion

BPHR has benefited from Horizons’ deep local expertise, both in China and elsewhere, to make its global hiring efficient and cost-effective. As BPHR continues its international growth journey, Horizons will be there every step of the way to make global expansion as smooth as possible.

See what other clients say

"As a seed-stage, London-based startup, we were initially hesitant to expand internationally due to the administrative workload involved. Horizons completely took the headache out of the process and allowing us to hire a team of software engineers in Germany."

Gabor SzedlakCo-founder & COO

"I truly appreciated the thoroughness and the professionalism of Horizons personnel while going through the process of hiring internationally. When they spoke and commented, they spoke confidently and knowledgable on all subject matters pertaining to internal employment."

Gary PaskyVice President of Software Development

"On deciding to begin commercial activities in Asia Pacific, we needed a provider to handle the employment and remuneration of our workforce. With Horizons the result was a fast, efficient and fit-for-purpose employment solution. We recommend Horizons as an EOR provider.”

Chris MorrellManaging Director

"The collaboration with the Horizons team is excellent. Both our local employee as well as our HQ in Germany are more than pleased with the support provided and the simplicity of the service. We can highly recommend the Horizons solution to anyone."

Christoph EngelbertCo-Founder & CTO

"We needed an EOR that could provide expert support for payroll in APAC. We are pleased with Horizons’ expertise and the fact that they are flexible, responsive, and easily accessible from Belgium. They were able to provide services within the short timeline we required."

Katia FlamandHuman Resources

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Baron Philippe de Rothschild Solidifies its China Strategy with Horizons

Breaking into the Chinese Wine Market

A New China Director for BPHR

What Did Horizons Bring to the Table?

Growth and Stability for BPHR in Asia

BPHR’s Favorite Part of Horizons’ Service

Conclusion

See what other clients say

How we help

180+ countries

Compliance

85% savings

Hire anywhere. Today.

180+ countries for
hiring talent

24 hours to hire
without subsidiary

85% savings on
global hire

Baron Philippe de Rothschild Solidifies its China Strategy with Horizons

Breaking into the Chinese Wine Market

A New China Director for BPHR

What Did Horizons Bring to the Table?

Growth and Stability for BPHR in Asia

BPHR’s Favorite Part of Horizons’ Service

Conclusion

See what other clients say

How we help

180+ countries

Compliance

85% savings

Hire anywhere. Today.

180+ countries for hiring talent

24 hours to hire without subsidiary

85% savings on global hire

180+ countries for
hiring talent

24 hours to hire
without subsidiary

85% savings on
global hire