Dow Chemical

A handful of major players, compete head-to-head just about the world in the chemical industry. These companies are Dow Chemical and Du Pont of the unite States, Great Britains ICI, and the German trio of BASF, Hoechst AG, and Bayer. The barriers to the free period of chemical products between nations largely disappeared in the 1970s. This, along with the commodity nature of bulk chemicals and a severe recession in the early 1980s, ushered in a prolonged period of intense price competition. In such an environment, the company that wins the competitive run away is the one with the lowest costs. Dow Chemical was long among the cost leaders. For days Dows tutors insisted that part of the credit belonged to its matrix organization. Dows organisational matrix had three interacting elements: functions (such as R&D, manufacturing, and marketing), businesses (like ethylene, plastics, and pharmaceuticals), and geography (for example, Spain, Germany, and Brazil). Managers seam titles incorporated all three elements (plastics marketing manager for Spain), and close managers reported to at least two bosses. The plastics marketing manager in Spain might report to both the head of the world(a) plastics business and the head of the Spanish functions.

The intent of the matrix was to discombobulate Dow operations responsive to both local market demand and corporate objectives. Thus the plastics business might be charged with minimizing Dows global plastics production costs, while the Spanish operation might determine how best to sell plastics in the Spanish market. When Dow introduced this structure, the results were less than promising: Multiple reporting channels take to confusion and conflict. The many bosses created an unwieldy bureaucracy. The overlapping responsibilities resulted in cover battles and a lack of accountability. Area managers disagreed with managers overseeing business sectors about which plants should be built where. In short, the structure, didnt work. Instead of... If you want to demoralize a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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