Productive segment

U.S. International Trade Commission Report, Synthetic Organic Chemicals, U.S. Production Sales, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. and estimated product segments, 1991. 

Use of biotechnology in the oil industry is almost unknown. As a whole, only a few initiatives related to use of biofiltration for gas treatment has reached refining operations. In the exploration and production segment of the oil industry, MEOR has been known and employed to a certain extent in secondary or tertiary recovery of oil. 

Fig. 1. Photomicrograph of the analyzed samples, a) transition from unaltered sulfides (segment AB) to sulfide-free oxidation products (segment CD). The segment BC corresponds to the transition zone, b) layered hardpan with rhythmic alternation of goethite-rich (segment AB) and hematite-rich (segment BC) layers.

The group of firms or units within firms that employ a particular technology can be termed a productive segment. For example, all the firms that polymerize vinyl chloride would constitute a productive segment. 

Interviews were conducted with 10 firms. (Because some firms spanned more than one productive segment, we were able to gain information about all twelve productive segments.) Interviews of about two hours duration were conducted by two members of the study team with one to four people from the firm. The discussions were informal and flexible in order to allow the interviewees ample latitude to enlighten us about the aspects of the regulations covered, the industry, and the technical responses which they considered particularly significant. In all cases, the interviewees performed one (or both) of the following functions in the firm ... 

In order to enhance production flexibility and to take advantage of different feedstock pricing patterns, chemical plants in some productive segments or product lines are designed to use a variety of alternative process inputs to produce a variety of products. Although economically attractive in a narrow production sense, such... 

As mentioned above, one interesting aspect of the chemical sector is that the industry as a whole is highly fragmented. The top ten companies in chemicals (excluding pharmaceuticals) account for only 18 percent of the total market, well below comparable values in other industries, such as automobiles, where the top ten firms account for 85 percent of sales, or pharmaceuticals, where the top firms account for more than half of all sales (Fig. 1.6). While the overall consolidation level is low, several product segments have already consolidated. The top ten manufacturers of acrylic acid, for instance, account for 85 percent of their market. The top ten manufacturers of crop protection products account for 87 percent of their market, and the top ten in paints and coatings for 42 percent. 

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