Customer Relationships in a Tough Economy - Against the backdrop of an increasingly uncertain economic climate marked by low confidence and a widespread fear of another emerging recession, A.T. Kearney, CHEManager Europe and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster are launching the sixth edition of their top management panel, Chemical Customer Connectivity Index (C3X). Chemical companies and their customers across all regions show increased alertness and are intensively looking for ways to secure or even improve their competitive position.

The survey examines the interface between chemical companies and their customers and mirrors how they respectively perceive their interaction. This year, a special focus is set on collaboration across the entire value chain, including integration of steps and relocation of operations. The special section will also look into how market players manage the increasing volatility in chemical markets. The survey is available at www.chemanager-europe.com/C3X.

While in 2011 the vast majority of chemical company and customer industry representatives were already convinced that the pace of growth would slow, they now find themselves confronted with an ever more challenging market environment burdened by the deepening debt crisis and stagnating economies.

"Chemical companies in Europe face mounting pressure to secure their competitive position. On the one hand they face a rather worrisome outlook for the eurozone, and the worst may still be to come. On the other hand they need to counter competition from Middle and Far Eastern players and an increasingly difficult access to raw materials. In order to stay at the top of the game, it is time for companies to more fundamentally question their business model and scrutinize their value chain. Fully exploited, industry customer value chain collaboration may in the utmost case revolutionize the way companies today operate their business," said Dr. Tobias Lewe, partner in the Chemicals and Oil Practice at A.T. Kearney.

Starting March 8, top management panel C3X is again looking at the issues that top the agenda of chemical companies and their customers. Beyond recurring questions on customer requirements and customer interface priorities, this issue will deal with the general cyclical outlook and explore how the industry manages volatility. Moreover, a special section will explore customer value chain collaboration.

This special section will address aspects such as: What types of collaboration - such as joint product or technology development with suppliers or customers - can be observed today and which may become more important? How does collaboration affect sales? It also will cover industry value chain relocation, for example to India or China, and will deal with ways to achieve the right collaboration model, for example M&A.

Joining The Panel

Until April 2, executives of chemical companies as well as executives of customer industries such as automotive, consumer goods, pharma, and pulp and paper, can join the top management panel at www.chemanager-europe.com/C3X and take part in the survey. Participants will help improve the relationship between chemical companies and their customers.
Answering the questions will take 10-15 minutes. All information will be treated in strict confidence, and only anonymous data 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 June issue of CHEManager Europe.