Fourth Phase
The Next C3X Top Management Survey
Top management panel Chemical Customer Connectivity Index (C3X) is going to the next round with the objective of getting to the bottom of what is currently at the top of the European chemical companies' and their customers' agenda. At www.chemanager-europe.com/c3x , the survey offers executives the opportunity to put their customer-orientation knowledge to the test.
For a healthy performance and sustainable and profitable growth, customer orientation is indispensable. Understandably, fighting the crisis led many market participants to first and foremost focus on their own operations and somewhat distracted them from their customers' needs. Yet, with the overall economy and the chemical industry partly recovering, it is time for chemical companies to give center stage again to their customers. Has the crisis caused any confusion at the customer interface? Which ad-hoc reaction schemes to the crisis have worked, and which ones have failed? Are current customers financially healthy or are there still risks related to their balance sheets that might result in after-crisis bankruptcy or delayed payments?
Last autumn, both chemical suppliers as well as their customers highlighted the importance of being able to react with flexibility, especially during times of crisis.
"Even though the European chemical industry seems to be on a good path to recover from the economic turmoil, market conditions are very likely to remain volatile", said Dr. Tobias Lewe, partner in the Chemicals and Oil Practice at A.T. Kearney. "It is therefore crucial that companies further work on making their processes and production cycles more flexible. If agility remains a lip service, companies deprive themselves of the opportunity to outplay their competitors should the economy take another turn for the worse." This also begs the question of how chemical supplier portfolios might become more geared towards low volatile customer industry value chains, such as health or lifestyle.
Starting on May 27, the management consultancy A.T. Kearney, CHEManager Europe and the Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster will look into these issues in the fourth round of the top management panel C3X.
Next to the recurring questions on customer interface priorities, innovation and sustainability, this round will contain a special section devoted to the topic of agility, risk and portfolio management. What are right reaction schemes in the future? Which methods of cooperation between supplier and customer have increased flexibility? How can the risk exposure of chemical suppliers towards high volatile customer industry value chains be better managed or reduced? These are among the questions that will be addressed by the survey.
Joining The Panel
Until June 30, executives of chemical companies as well as executives of customer industries such as automotive, consumer goods, pharma and pulp and paper, can register as members of the C3X top management panel at http://www.chemanager-europe.com/c3x and take part in the survey. Therewith they can make a vital contribution to improve both parties' understanding of the issues that are crucial at the interface to the customer in the European chemical industry.
Answering the questions on our portal will not take longer than 10-15 minutes. All of the information will be treated in strict confidence and only anonymized information will be included in the overall evaluation.
As an incentive, participants will receive the survey results in an exclusively edited form. The results of the survey will be published in the September issue of CHEManager Europe.