That's a radical shift from the popular management philosophy that incentives like lucrative foreign postings, paid holidays, raises, job promotions, goodies and the like are enough to keep productive staff from flying the coop, Gwinner said.

According to the agreement, Irma, a subsidiary of Coop Denmark A/S, will in the beginning sell its own coffee, chocolate, marmalade, personal care products, and kids wear through Kaola, the e-commerce arm of internet giant NetEase.

Coop's CEO Peter Hoegsted sees huge growth potential for high-quality Danish goods in China, especially among the middle-class consumers.

Jens Visholm, executive vice president of Coop, said the company expects a turnover of three-digit million Danish kroner within a foreseeable number of years through cooperation with Kaola.

"But with just under a billion potential customers -- and 27 million newborns annually -- the potential is much larger," he said, adding that the company is also testing the sales of some of Coop's private labels in China via other channels.

Founded in 1886 in Copenhagen, Irma is owned by Coop, the largest grocery company in Denmark that has a history of over 150 years.