New Deloitte report finds that megatrends in the global chemical industry can help companies achieve future growth
A new report by Deloitte, The chemical multiverse: Preparing for quantum changes in the global chemical industry, reveals actionable ways that chemical companies can leverage cultural and market changes in their product lines in order to swiftly capitalize on the future needs of the marketplace.
These cultural and market changes, called “megatrends,” present tremendous opportunities for chemical companies. Current megatrends identified in the report include demographic change, quality health care, new patterns of mobility, convergence of technologies, globalization, new patterns of consumption, resource scarcity (energy, water, and food), climate change/green, and urbanization. The chemical multiverse analyzes the impact megatrends play in the industry landscape and offers practical solutions for companies to use to strategically position themselves to take advantage of those trends.
According to the report, chemical companies cannot ignore the importance of capitalizing on megatrends, which will create disruption and opportunity for chemical companies over the next decade. “Companies focused on pursuing megatrends will generate growth in new markets, therefore triggering unprecedented shifts in the industry,” said Tim Hanley, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited Global Chemical industry group leader.
Megatrends are one important dimension the report presents — but the future success of chemical companies also depends significantly on the strengths and limitations of its current market position, or “starting point.” The chemical multiverse offers new approaches that companies can use to determine those strengths and limitations, and to conduct in-depth momentum analyses.
With traditional industry segmentation — commodity, integrated, and specialty — proving to be inadequate, a new way of analyzing or assessing companies in the industry is needed to understand challenges to performance. Deloitte developed five distinct categories for the industry using a proprietary and comprehensive analysis.
“This method of reclassifying a company better identifies a company’s current position within the industry, and provides insight into both its future options and the implicit strategic actions,” says Duane Dickson, Principal, Consulting, Deloitte United States.
The report states that a company can improve from its starting point by analyzing which strategic drivers can best improve organizational performance during the shortest time, and then executing against them. Carefully considering the impact of drivers will help a company to develop its programs and make smarter resource allocations. The chemical multiverse also identifies a number of scenarios and solutions that are particularly relevant to the challenges facing the chemical industry in the decade ahead. The ultimate goal of any of the solutions identified is for companies to strengthen their performance, achieve a stronger market position, and help create a more vibrant industry.
The report includes a performance analysis of 228 chemical companies, charted over a 12-year time span. The success stories culled from the study consistently involved companies that made structural changes, managed their portfolios with discipline, understood and concentrated on their business models, and continued to innovate and grow.
“Chemical companies that acknowledge their current position and adopt flexible strategic approaches to a variety of scenarios stand the best chance of successfully reshaping the industry over the next decade,” says Hanley. “If new strategies and solutions are employed, the chemical industry could very well be characterized in 2020 as one that is largely self-funded, has profitable and globally balanced supply, and lives by the survival of the fittest.”
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