fibers. Their growing presence
will, in turn, have ramifications
for several chemicals.
For instance, the rise of nan-
otechnology has a role to play in plastics,
paints, cosmetics and many other fields of
chemistry. Similarly, the rise of organic
electronics will underline the appeal of
polymeric materials, which are electrical
conductors or semiconductors that enable
a wide range of devices, such as clothing
with embedded electronics, e-paper and
wallpaper that also provides lighting.
SURVEY: 42% of chemical companies expect M&A in 2011
Despite an economy that remains sluggish overall, a majority of
senior executives in the chemical industry expect their companies to be back to pre-recession revenue levels by the end of
this year, and four out of ten expect their companies to be involved in some sort of merger and acquisition activity within
the next 12 months. However, the bad news is that it’s not at
all clear that chemical companies are effectively employing the
right operational tools and methods, including business-ana-lytics ones, to achieve the kind of growth they want to achieve
now that they’re finally getting back to “even.” That’s according to a survey of 88 chemical company CEOs, presidents and
other senior-level executives released by AlixPartners LLP, the
global business-advisory firm.
“When the economy turned south a couple of years ago,
chemical companies, especially
compared to companies in many
other industries, responded quite
well by cutting costs and driving
leaner operations,” said Bob Sullivan, managing director of AlixPartners and co-lead of the firm’s
Global Chemical Industry Practice.
“And of course, there are still
benefits to be realized on that
front, as there always is in any in-
dustry. But the name of the game
now is the top line—everything
from improving pricing, to improving customer relationships,
to improving employee productivity. That’s where chemical
companies are going to sink or swim from here on out. How-
ever, at this point it would appear that many are content to
just tread water.”
The survey found that 53 percent of companies expect to
reach pre-recession revenues by the end of 2010, and 42 per-
cent of respondents said they think it’s either “very” or “some-
what” likely their companies will be involved in a major
acquisition, merger or takeover in the next 12 months—and
for executives from large chemical companies that number
was 54 percent. Moreover, approximately three out of five re-
spondents said that their companies’ performance in profit
growth has increased over the past three years. However,
those companies without formal growth targets were less
likely to report an increase; 55 percent of companies with no
or informal growth targets reported an increase in profit
growth, versus 62 percent of companies with formal, meas-
urable growth targets.
28 | Coatings World
www.coatingsworld.com
March 2011