Chemicals

66%

of chemicals CEOs think emerging markets will play a bigger role than developed markets in their company’s future growth

15th Annual Global CEO Survey

Chemicals industry insights

Chemicals CEOs are looking to new markets and products for growth. They’re expanding geographically, investing in new technologies, and partnering with other organisations to overcome the dearth of skills and innovate effectively.

Geographic expansion is on the agenda. While CEOs in many other sectors are focusing primarily on developing new products and services, and capturing a larger share of their existing markets, chemicals CEOs are equally interested in new markets as a route to growth.

Chemicals CEOs are spreading their bets

BRIC countries key to growth. 35% of chemicals CEOs are focusing on China, and 24% on Brazil. Most hope to build manufacturing capacity, tap local talent and get access to new customers, rather than setting up research facilities.

Concerns about the economy trump everything else. 85% of chemicals CEOs are worried about the risk of economic volatility. Traditional concerns, like rising energy costs and the risk of over-regulation, come much lower down the list of issues that keep them awake at night.

85% of chemicals CEOs are worried about economic volatility

Finding people with the right skill set is challenging – especially in emerging countries. 36% of chemicals CEOs say hiring people to work in the industry has become harder, and 64% plan to move experienced staff from older to newer markets to help cope.

Quotes

Dr Marijn Dekkers

Chairman, Bayer AG View profile

But what is interesting and what is changing is that among Western companies, the ability to hire, develop, and retain talent in the developing economies has become a major point of competitive differentiation.

Dr Marijn Dekkers

Chairman, Bayer AG View profile

There are always talent gaps around the world. In some cases – where we cannot find the right people locally – we have the flexibility of addressing those gaps by tapping our talent pool in Europe or the US. We send expats these expats overseas for 3 or 4 years to fill management gaps in developing economies and they eventually move back to their home country. This represents a great developmental opportunity for our people and we often encourage these moves because of that. We try to avoid overseas assignments just to fill a gap, but sometimes you just can’t avoid it.

Dr Marijn Dekkers

Chairman, Bayer AG View profile

What’s most important is that you really come up with great innovations that truly benefit your customers - whether they are for patients, farmers, or automotive manufacturers.

Dr Marijn Dekkers

Chairman, Bayer AG View profile

The average age of our workforce in China is 31; in most Western countries, it’s around 45. So you see there’s a tremendous experience gap with respect to our employees in developing economies.

CEO survey: Explore the findings

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Innovating on multiple fronts