Dow Chemical
Please fill in the blank (This is a very important part of the interview – to know why you are interested):
List 2-3 reason why you are interested in this industry?
___________________________________________________________________________________
List 2-3 reasons why you are interested in The Dow Chemical Company?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
List 2-3 reasons why you are interested in this position?
___________________________________________________________________________________
Company Snapshot
Dow Chemical is the largest chemical company in the United States and #2 in the world behind only
BASF. Dow produces a number of plastics, chemicals, hydrocarbons and agrichemicals in addition to
being a leader in performance plastics. Growth in performance products (performance chemicals and
performance plastics) has provided significant recent returns for Dow as the company focuses on growing
these segments in the future. A sign of this is Dow’s recent acquisition of Wolff Walsrode from the Bayer
Group in 2007. While not conceding the United States market in growth of its basic products, Dow has
turned an eye toward Asia, notably China, in an attempt to establish continued growth in its products.
In recent years Dow Chemical has been divesting itself from joint ventures with DuPont, Cargill and
Honeywell while maintaining its half interest in silicone maker Dow Corning. In 2007 Dow entered one
major joint venture with Chevron Phillips Chemical combining their respective styrene businesses in the
Americas as a 50-50 venture. The new venture should be officially formed by the end of the calendar
year as the companies try to take advantage of Dow’s expertise in the area and Chevron Phillips’s
feedstocks. Dow and Chevron Phillips expect the joint venture to become a model for the styrene
business.
Headquarters:
Employees:
2007 Sales:
2007 NI:
Midland, MI
45,856
$53.513 Billion
$2.887 Billion
Operating Segments
Performance Plastics: Dow Automotive, engineering plastics, epoxy products, fabricated products,
polyurethanes, wire and cable components
Basic Plastics: Polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene
Performance Chemicals: Custom and fine chemicals, emulsion polymers, industrial chemicals, oxide
derivatives, specialty polymers, UCAR emulsion systems, water-soluble polymers
Hydrocarbons and Energy: Benzene, butadiene, butylene, cumene, ethylene, propylene, styrene
Basic Chemicals: Caustic soda, chlorine, ethylene glycol, ethylene oxide, vinyl chloride monomer
Agricultural Products: Dow Agrisciences, fumigants, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides
Property and Casualty Insurance
Current News:
Dow Chemical Reinforces Strategy and Already Sees Success in New K-Dow Joint Venture,
an Industrial Info News Alert [Market Wire]
09/24/2008 07:30:00 AM
Market Wire -- CCN
SUGAR LAND, TX, September 24 / MARKET WIRE/ -Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- The Dow Chemical Company
(NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) is sticking to its old strategy, Geoffery Merszei, Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer, said at the recent 17th Annual Chemical and Ag Science Conference. But the
difference this time is that the company is actually going to execute it, he said. One of Dow's major plans
in action is the formation of K-Dow Petrochemicals, a joint venture with the Petrochemical Industries
Company, a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Industrial Info is tracking 95 active projects in
which Dow or one of its business units is involved in across the world. The projects, totaling $18.84
billion, range from $1 million demolitions to grassroot facilities worth up to $3.6 billion.
Dow Receives FTC Request for Additional Information Regarding Proposed Acquisition of
Rohm and Haas [PR Newswire]
09/05/2008 08:48:00 AM
PR Newswire
MIDLAND, Mich., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) today
announced that it has received a request for additional information, commonly referred to as a "Second
Request," from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") regarding Dow's proposed acquisition of
Rohm and Haas, which was announced on July 10, 2008.
Dow Receives Perfect Score for Corporate Governance
Midland, MI - September 29, 2008
The Dow Chemical Company recently received the highest rating possible for corporate governance
practices from GovernanceMetrics International (GMI), an independent research and ratings agency. Dow
was awarded a perfect overall global score of 10. Only one percent of all the companies evaluated
received a score of 10. This year 42 companies, including Dow, out of the 4,200 companies assessed
received a best-in-class rating.
Key People:
Chairman, President, and CEO
Andrew N. Liveris
EVP and CFO
Geoffery E. (Geoff)
Merszei
Corporate VP and CTO
William F. (Bill)
Banholzer
EVP, Chief Sustainability Officer, CIO, and Corporate Director Shared
Services
David E. (Dave) Kepler II
EVP Manufacturing and Engineering
Michael R. (Mike)
Gambrell
Largest Competitors:
BASF SE
DuPont
ExxonMobil Chemical
(Annual Sales: $69.460 Billion)
(Annual Sales: $30.653 Billion)
(Annual Sales: $27.781 Billion)