This Week in Consulting
Wednesday, June 12th, 2019
Catalyzing The New: Driving chemical industry growth in an era of epic disruption.
THIS WEEK’S MUST READ
“We hear a lot about disruption in established industries—and the impact of new players with new platforms like Amazon in retail, Airbnb in hospitality, Uber in transport and Netflix in entertainment. So far, this type of sweeping change has yet to be seen at scale in chemical markets .”
Despite healthy appearances, the chemical industry is on the brink of disruption. But while these profound changes might shake the status quo, it will also create tremendous opportunities—and value—for those who dare to seize them.
This Week’s Must Read is an insight piece from Accenture exploring four major areas of potential disruption and how they will affect the Chemical Industry.
Read on to Find out More: “Catalyzing The New: Driving chemical industry growth in an era of epic disruption“, Rachael Bartels, Paul Bjacek, Bernd Elser and Vijay Sarathy, Accenture
THIS WEEK’S VIDEO:
Has the global economy already entered recession?- Paul Hodges, chairman of International eChem, presents, in this very short video, the relationship between economic growth and chemical production. “What we have been saying over the last 6 weeks is that we are arriving in global recession or are about to enter it.” Says Hodges, and the first signs with downturn in auto sales, housing and electronics are already there.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
- Dynamic pricing: Using digital and analytics to take value pricing in the chemical industry to the next level– Dynamic pricing has been used in many other industries, think transportation or entertainment, for quite a while. But the chemical industry is also a good candidate for dynamic pricing: the progress in digital and advanced analytics allow now to design tools to tailor prices at a much finer granularity that was previously possible. “These tools are offering ways to add new potential and effectiveness to value-pricing approaches.” The piece explores not only the methodologies, but also the organization, process and human components to embrace dynamic pricing. | Arnau Bages-Amat, Jochen Böringer, Yutaro Kakimoto, and Georg Winkler, McKinsey
- Strategies for China’s Increasingly Competitive Chemicals Market– China is the world’s largest market for chemicals, growing at 4% to 5% annually (around 3% growth for the rest of the world). But many companies are facing complex challenges in China and wonder how to proceed. The piece describes 3 major strategies proved successful in China’s fast-paced market: Advanced talent strategy, local innovation models, and digital platforms. The authors also predict a shift from commodities to specialties, creating huge opportunities (and risks) for chemicals companies. | Yin Chen, Thomas Luedi, Bain & Company
- German Chemicals Industry: Caught in a Climate Trap?– Climate change is a trendy subject, whether you believe it to be a serious threat to our economies and ways of living or not? Last year, for several weeks, the River Rhine had too little water that is partially paralyzed the adjoining chemicals industry. How does the German chemicals industry deal with the consequences of climate change? And what does it itself do to protect the climate? | Joerg Schmid, Camelot Management Consultants
- Global basic chemicals outlook– In the past four years, the global basic chemicals industry has seen steady demand growth, and above-reinvestment level profitability. However, the beginning of 201 has shown a decline in profitability that might be compensated by a strong economic growth and supply-side interruptions. Are Chemical companies ready to capture the opportunity and the related profits? What will be the impact on related industries that use these basic chemicals such as consumer goods? | Mark Eramo, IHS Markit
TRENDS
On the same theme,here is a selection of conferences that you might find useful
Chemical Watch Expo 2019: Global Chemical Regulations- The Chemical Watch Expo is a two-day event held in Brussels. It combines expert workshops with a vibrant expo, giving you the opportunity to get up to date with the latest regulatory developments and seek out future service providers, all in one place.
Chemical Biology 2019 : Summit invites abstracts related to the new scientific research in all the fields of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery & its related aspects. Registrants are invited to submit an abstract for consideration for oral and poster presentation.
CONSULTING INDUSTRY NEWS
- Suplari Named a 2019 Gartner Cool Vendor in Sourcing and Procurement Applications: Among he key findings in the report, Gartner states that “the marketplace for procurement and sourcing applications is full of large suite vendors, but specialists are pushing innovation and delivering enhanced offerings with AI capabilities.” Suplari uses AI to create built-in and custom Insights Applications. | Cision PRNewswire
- Specialist metals firm appoints Grant Thornton administrators: Grant Thornton has been appointed to oversee the administration of specialist metal producer Metalysis. The company had recently been heralded by the UK’s Business and Industry Minister as emblematic “the strength and potential of the North”, but collapsed due to liquidity issues at the start of June 2019. | Consultancy.uk
- Infosys collaborates with Microsoft to accelerate digital transformation: Infosys announced a collaboration with Microsoft to deliver smart buildings and spaces (SB&S) solutions for the architecture, engineering, construction, facilities management and real estate development markets. | Channellife
- Wipro Consumer Care continues to explore organic, inorganic growth strategy: Wipro onsumer Care & Lighting is also leveraging its Ayurvedic soap brand Chandrika to cash in on the current trend of organic products in FMCG segment and has plans to introduce more in the market under the brand name. | ETRetail
DIRECTORY
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About Consulting Quest
Consulting Quest is a global, performance-driven consulting platform founded in 2014 by former members of top 10 consulting firms with the objective of reinventing consultancy performance. With a worldwide presence and a range of proprietary performance measurement tools, we help companies navigate the consulting maze. We work with Consulting Clients to increase their performance through consulting and Consulting Providers to help them acquire new clients and to improve their performance.
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Hélène Laffitte is the CEO of Consulting Quest, a Global Performance-Driven Consulting Platform and author of “Smart Consulting Sourcing”, a step by step guide to getting the best ROI from your consulting. With a blend of experience in Procurement and Consulting, Hélène is passionate about helping Companies create more value through Consulting.
