The article tilted Dow Chem to Turn Pune Unit into R&D Hub provided by the India Supply Chain Council reports about “Dow Chemicals plans to develop its Pune unit into a global research and development centre.” (India Supply Chain Council) The would-be center will focus on a wide range of products that will occupy the Indian and international markets. Dow Chemicals is based in Midland, Michigan, in the US, and the planned $54 billion giant is believed to become the first of its kind outside the USA.
Ramesh Ramachandran, president and chief executive officer, Dow Chemicals International (the Indian subsidiary of Dow Chemicals), states that the center will discover new molecules and develop novel applications for existing ones (India Supply Chain Council). It will focus on energy conservation and water, as well as low-cost housing. The center’s main field will be projects in process engineering and optimization, numerical analysis, and applications development.
The authors of the project expect the Pune center to become comparable with the best research institutions around the world and to play the role of the epicenter of future discoveries in the world of chemistry.
It is planned that the center will place in a job about 500 scientists and researchers from all over the world. Especial attention will be drawn to the Indians that want to come back to India.
It is a common thing that the plans to develop a significant chemical center invoked a chain of protests by local residents. In the article under consideration, it is stated that company executives started to arrange this problem by talking to community representatives and explaining that the current plans will not cause any risk to the environment and livestock.
Ramachandran explains
“Dow did have a connection with Union Carbide, which was in the eye of the storm following the Bhopal gas tragedy, but the company now had nothing to do with Union Carbide whose assets and business had been sold to three separate entities a long time ago.” (India Supply Chain Council)
The company got in touch with the state government and expects to get an amicable settlement soon. Ramachandran claims that the work stoppage will not disturb the company’s implementation schedule significantly (India Supply Chain Council).
Much of the creative work needs to be undertaken to realize the company executives’ plans. This work will lead to increasing the stock of knowledge in the field under analysis that, in its turn, will help to devise new applications. More applications mean more success in the chemistry industry market both on the local and international levels. Thus, marketing success is significantly dependant on the research and development that the company is characterized by.
The relevance of the present article to the global marketing and R&D problem consists in the fact that Dow Chemicals has identified the gap in the Indian chemicals market and, by launching the new Pune center, plans to develop new products to fill those gaps. Developing new products requires R&D, and the work of the center that is planned to build will be based on the adoption of new technologies and ideas into the process of chemical production. The center’s work on developing new molecules and novel applications for existing ones are expected to reduce the costs that are needed to settle the problems that might arise while adapting to local conditions. The company executives’ task is to avoid possible tension that exists between the need to reduce costs and the need to be responsive to local conditions, which raises costs.
Works Cited
“Dow Chem to Turn Pune Unit into R&D Hub.” India Supply Chain Council. 2008. BS Reporter. 2008. Web.