Dow Corning® Transforms Itself by Organizing Offerings Around Customers’ Needs

What happens when a company finds it must reinvent itself in order to meet diverse and changing customer needs? In the case of Dow Corning, the result has been a business transformation story worthy of an MBA case study.

Dow Corning, a global leader in the development and manufacture of diverse silicon-based products and services, has unveiled a business strategy that empowers customers by helping them solve problems and take advantage of new opportunities. Company executives expect the new strategy to further fuel Dow Corning’s market expansion and growth and strengthen profitability of customers’ businesses.

How did Dow Corning reinvent itself? Well, opportunity has always been abundant for this global company.

Silicon is the earth’s most abundant element, comprising some 60 percent of the planet’s crust. A nonmetallic element found in minerals like sand, quartz, and flint, it is the molecular backbone on which Dow Corning’s family of products is based. These include silicone (with an “e”), which was developed in the 1930s and is the material technology on which Dow Corning was founded as a joint venture of Dow Chemical and Corning Glass Works (now Corning Inc.) in 1943. What’s more, silicon-based chemistry is one of the most versatile chemistries in industry today, where the smallest variation in molecular structure can result in dramatically different products.

Perhaps taking the inherent flexibility of silicon-based chemistry as an inspiration, Dow Corning’s management team enacted its own flexible, customer-focused business strategy that has resulted in new choices and solutions tailored specifically to customer needs. The new options include a wide range of offerings that provide whatever combination of products and services customers want, including those that don’t involve material purchases.

Changing the Rules

“We’ve changed the rules for our business,” Anderson explained. “This effort culminates five years of research and customer segment analysis, as well as a complete redesign of services to address customer requirements throughout the lives of their businesses. Simply put, our customers now benefit from an unprecedented price/value relationship that provides what they need to achieve their goals – no matter how much or how little. And that’s all they pay for.

“Dow Corning’s rebirth was the result of candid self-examination. We put everything – I mean everything – on the table. We assessed and then redesigned our offerings to align with each customer’s needs and expectations. It’s like taking a puzzle apart, then putting it back together to create an entirely different picture – in fact, it can be a different picture for every customer.”

According to Anderson, “Going through this process, we learned so much. We learned that we had to redefine and redesign our business strategy, keeping customers’ needs in our direct line of sight. We also learned to mine technology in order to tailor the level of service to each customer’s expectations.

“As a company, we have always innovated new products. This time, we reinvented ourselves. This has been a lot for our corporate culture to absorb, but our staff has risen to the occasion. They see this as a way to transform their roles and to help customers succeed. We are now beginning to see the benefits.”

$100 Million Investment in Global IT Platform

Like many companies, Dow Corning traditionally sold products and services together as a one-size-fits-all package. The new approach gives customers the flexibility of buying the exact combination of products and services they want and are willing to pay for. They can buy product with no technical services or choose a service without buying product.

To support the new business strategy, Dow Corning has invested more than US$100 million in a SAP-based global information technology platform. This provides customers with immediate access to information anywhere in the world.

“It’s not about ‘invent it and they will come’,” says Anderson. “ Our new acti

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Dow Corning
2200 W. Salzburg Rd
PO Box 994
Midland
MI 48686-0994
U.S.A.

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