For a leading basic chemicals producer, SDG helped develop the Asian entry strategy for one of its major products. At the start of the engagement, an 18-month stalemate between the business leadership and corporate executives had prevented agreement on whether and where to build new capacity, whether to expand existing plants in the U.S., or whether to swap capacity with competitors.

The team employed a system perspective to create and assess the merits of alternative strategies on the business portfolio. SDG developed an innovative industry supply/demand/price model to forecast global and regional prices over 20 years.

Based on insights on the effect of the different alternatives on the overall portfolio, a consensus was achieved to supply the Asia market from new capacity in North America and, in the longer term, to build in Asia half the capacity originally proposed by the business leadership team. The new strategy added 15% to the business unit’s value.