logistics, credit crisis, financial meltdown, inventory management, plastic packaging
Asian Chemical Connections
Heading for extinction
Unbelievable, incredible – what prehistoric planet do these people live on? Please see below for a rant from a-soon-to-be-extinct species of business leader – the US chemicals executive against Barack Obama. I have my doubts about Obama, but at least he has a brain bigger than a shrivelled pea (unlike certain other holders of the […]
Even Middle East budgets are being cut
Middle East budget cuts, margin slide, financial meltdown, China demand, rising capital costs
Is your company truly globalised?
Globalisation is an attitude of mind as what might now be a slightly descredited economic doctrine. Many companies are international but few – from talking to friends and contacts – are truly global in the sense that they recruit senior managers from all regions (not just the country in which their head office is located) […]
The big challenges
As delegates gather for this year’s European Petrochemical Association meeting in the unreal world of Monaco (unreal for the 99.9 per cent recurring of us who don’t own Ferraris), I thought it was worth summarising some of the issues discussed on this blog over the last few months. We’ve dealt with: *Oil-price volatility and the […]
Historic polyolefin market collapse
polyolefin market collapse, financial meltdown, financial rescue package, oil-supply crisis,
Changing nature of demand
green homes, the Economist, Peak Oil, speculators, changing demand growth
Eggheads are annoying
BASF, eggheads, integration benefits, McKinsey, counter-cyclical investment, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Clariant
History will repeat itself
Peak Oil, carbon credits, carbon capture and storage, collaterised green obligations, property prices, financial meltdown
Go on, stick your head in deeper
Lehman Brothers, Great Depression, SUVs, ostriches, beer