Stretch goals

DuPont s commitment to sustainable development begins with a strong leadership commitment to stay the course through economic cycles, to set stretch goals for each decade and to drive innovation. Specific 2010 goals for energy are to... 

Stretch goals often illustrate the Law of Unintended Consequences attempting to achieve increased production leads to a major failure such that the losses are greater than the hoped-for benefits—many times over. 

Stretch Goals Another 3M policy, intended to stretch the pace of innovation, is the rule that at least 30 percent of annual sales should come from products introduced in the last four years. The policy has recently been refined to establish an even greater sense of urgency such that 10 percent of sales should come from products that have been in the market for just one year (Gundling, 2000). 

Zhu et al. (2011) reported a successful retrofit feasibility assessment for a North American refiner during 2010. The global economy was still in recession but there was increased diesel demand in the market. The refinery wanted to capture the market opportunity, but it was so difficult to obtain loans from investors. The refinery management decided to investigate the possibihty of capacity expansion by 15% in the hydrocracking unit with a stretch goal of 20% at minimum capital cost. If it can be done, they wanted to implement the modifications fast. Therefore, a feasibility project was conducted to look into the possibihty. 

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