Executive Summary
Clariant International Limited is a Swiss chemical company formed in 1995. Through the acquisition of other chemical companies such as Hoechst and Sud-Chemie, Clariant has established itself as “one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies.” Clariant is involved in multiple markets, including, but not limited to, consumer care, biotechnology and industrial applications. Clariant is split into 6 separate global divisions, which contain, in total, 19 different businesses.
The purpose of this case study is to answer the questions; what the cost to implement each of the strategic options facing Clariant Corporation? What revenue growth is necessary to break even and to maintain or improve profitability? And what non-financial criteria might be used to evaluate strategic options Clariant faces issues with its marketing departments structure. The current model is hampering Clariant. We have found that a change in structure is required to deal with the issue. The theory used to deal with the issue is the national accounts system and customer relationship management.
Findings
In September 2000, Vincent Thompson, vice president of operations said that Clariant had failed to develop its full potential in meeting its sales and profit margin growth based on these two critical performance trends. For example, Functional Chemical (FUN) had negative 3.9% growth in 1999. In 2000, sales growth had dropped further to negative 12.0%. What’s more, Masterbatches sales growth in 1999 was 12.9% while in 2000; it had fallen to negative 1.1% (appendix 1.1) The chemical industry has failed to meet its growth objectives for over 30 years. As a result, Thompson felt that Clariant should pursue overall structural changes to both the sales and marketing functions. Three factors need to be considered; first, economies of scale, second, cost reduction and