Rohm and Haas announce company restructure

Rohm and Haas Company have announced a set of strategic initiatives designed to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. Collectively, these efforts will help the company build on their most successful technologies and enable them to respond more quickly, and appropriately, to market needs around the world. These initiatives include: Reorganisation: A strategic realigning of the company into three business groups Emerging markets: Increased allocation of resources to emerging markets, such as Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, commensurate with opportunities for profitable growth Innovation: A sharper focus on aligning innovation efforts with the specific, often local, needs of customers around the world. This includes a further unleashing of coatings and electronic materials technologies, as well as those that can help address emerging materials needs for energy, clean water, food and health care Talent: A fresh sense of urgency to retain, deploy and recruit the best talent across the globe; rejuvenated efforts to nurture people who can adapt products and services to local market needs, and enhanced accountability at all levels Portfolio: Stronger, more proactive portfolio management, along with a relentless focus on operational excellence and continual improvement. 'Now is the right time to launch these initiatives. We have the depth of talent and financial strength to implement an organisational structure that facilitates future growth', said Raj L. Gupta, Chairman, President and CEO of the $8 billion specialty materials company. 'During the past seven years, we have transformed Rohm and Haas through portfolio changes, and have increased profitability with both process and information technology improvements. And, since 2003, we have rewarded our shareholders with strong revenue growth and a more than doubling of earnings, resulting in total shareholder return of 13.4% during that time. 'But while good, this is not good enough', Gupta continued. 'We believe we can do better. We see and understand the dynamic changes in the global marketplace, and are taking the steps required to be nimble, responsive - and financially successful - in a fast-changing world.' At the highest level, the new organisational structure is the first step towards implementing these initiatives. It consolidates the existing company into three more logical and efficient major business groups - Electronic Materials, Specialty Materials and Performance Materials. Each group has its own charter, yet all are expected to take advantage of economies of scale that larger organisations provide in terms of supply chain, manufacturing excellence, and so on. 'Rohm and Haas have been quite successful in competing head-to-head with multinational firms', said Gupta. 'However, we believe the competition in the future will emanate from smaller, regionally based firms. We are structuring ourselves to ensure we have the flexibility - and ability - to compete locally for talent, and for a larger share of customers, especially in emerging markets. Our local business organisations will have increased independence and accountability for getting closer to customer needs and driving profitable growth.' The organisational structure outlined below will be effective January 1, 2007, after the company finalises organisational changes and reconfigures financial systems for reporting purposes.