Managing specialties: how to grow when prices stall.(specialty chemicals) (includes related articles on Laporte and Witco reorganizations)

Chemical Week, December, 1997 by Gain, Bruce; Pfeifer, Sylvia; Walsh, Kerri

Slow product line growth and inability to raise prices are forcing many specialty chemical companies into mergers and cost cutting strategies to maintain profits. American companies face additional pressure from European firms newly expanded from mergers. Profit strategies cited by industry executives include targeting niche markets, increasing operating plant efficiency, divesting noncore businesses, and introducing products to new markets.

Hercules' recent takeover bid for Allied Colloids exemplifies the specialty chemicals industry dilemma (CW, Dec. 3, p. 11). With mediocre growth in many specialty lines and little prospect of price increases, companies cannot expand bottom lines with internal growth. The result has been mergers, acquisitions, and radical cost cutting...

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