The Business Condition

The root causes for the reversal of the industry s fortunes and the persisting harsh business environment are unfavorable developments on both demand and offer sides. The net result is underutilized fine-chemical production capacities, estimated at 40% for the pharmaceutical industry and 30% for the fine-chemical industry, and eventually a serious offer-demand imbalance. Last but not least, the currency exposure is another element of concern. Costs incur in Euros sales are in US dollars. 

Fine Chemicals The Industry and the Business, by Peter Poliak Copyright 2007 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

Company Actnal Sales ( million) Year Expected Year CAGR (%/year) 

Because of the exponential growth of the Indian companies, a logarithmic scale has been adopted for the Y-axis. The graph shows first of all the different growth patterns of the Western and Asian companies. Sales revenues of all three European companies had peaked in 2001, went through a trough between 2001 and 2005 and have not fully recovered. 

As the new players from Asia in general are still small compared to the big European companies and have relatively small production capacities only, their 50% share of the exhibitors at CPhl does not correspond to 40% of the global production capacity. Furthermore, their capacity utilization in terms of /m per year generally has not yet reached European standards. 

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Assessments of commercial biomass power technologies indicate that opportunities exist, particularly for niche market applications, when the business conditions are right. Federal legislation can have a large impact on these... 

As discussed in Chapter 1, the aim of this book was to highlight all the areas that have to be regarded to realize the vision of a biobased economy as a sustainable industrial future based on renewable resources often is termed. The subject of the chapters was inspired by the scientific framework and the business conditions with an influence on the development of a biobased economy. Let us recapitulate the arguments from the specialist. 

One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer or to his property is subject to liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer, or to his property, if (a) the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product, and (b) it is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold. 

The NRC Committee s estimates of catalyst use for 1972, 1974, and 1975 were 40—80% higher than the BOM s, and the former s estimates for overall use, including ceramics, electronics, and unspecified uses, were 3—39% higher. Data pubHshed by the BOM through 1980 show a precipitous decline in total annual use from ca 311 t in 1974 to ca 82 t in 1980. The decline appears to have been caused mainly by unfavorable business conditions and conservation efforts, but part of the apparent decline may stem from incomplete collection of data. 

Cost of business interruption. The cost of business interruption is significantly influenced by various commercial factors. For example, if you are not producing at fiill capacity it may be possible to make up lost production at other facilities or when the plant comes back into operation. The business interruption costs will only be the additional costs of production, transportation and any lost sales. As these conditions can vary from month to month it may be more appropriate to adopt a standard method of calculating business interruption costs for PSM and ESH purposes. One commonly adopted approach is to estimate the tonnage of production lost and calculate the cost as being the difference between the sale price and all manufacturing, storage and transportation costs. 

Insurers trade in a competitive market. Because insurance is such a competitive business, insurers do not have unlimited freedom to act. They occasionally have to accept less than the optimum in terms of safety. However, an individual insurer can always refuse the business if it is judged that the conditions are bad - and this is done from time to time. 

As previously stated, a business can be held legally liable to pay compensation (damages) for injury or damage caused by its activities, and a successful action against it may result in large financial demands upon the business. Liability insurance ensures that, subject to satisfactory compliance with specified conditions and procedures by the insured, funds are available for a business if it is held... 

A mle for all industrial WT boilers is that they should receive as good a quality of MU water to the FW system as local conditions dictate and the business can economically support. However it is not unusual in some parts of the world to find large field-erected industrial... 

A weekly publication of the American Chemical Society. It is an excellent publication giving the news that affects the chemical industry, including marketing, sales and business information. In its annual Facts and Figures for the Chemical Industry, it gives the financial condition for over 100 different... 

According to Shepherd,2 The minimum conditions for effective competition are reasonably clear, both from theory and business experience . Shepherd2 states that any of the following conditions is sufficient to ensure that competition is effective first, at least five comparable competitors second, no single company with a dominant position (the share of the market leader should be no greater than 40 per cent, and there should be no substitute product in the close vicinity) and third, freedom of entry into the market and the various market segments. 

The financial commitment I d just made to purchase a building obviously compounded my stress. But in the beginning, not knowing what I was faced with, I assumed my condition would improve soon, and I could make the payments on the property. My credit was excellent, and I used credit cards to pay for medical bills and living expenses. I kept thinking surely by next week I m going to feel better and I can get back to work and work my way out of this financial mess. But that day didn t come for years. I quickly ran up thirty thousand dollars in debt, and had to sell the building and close the business. 

Industrial processes must be run at optimal conditions to be economic. This means more than simply manipulating the reaction conditions to maximize the extent of the reaction. Business people, and the professionals they hire to advise them, must consider other factors as well. These factors include the rate of the reaction, safety, the location of the plant, the cost to huild and operate the plant, the cost of acquiring reactant materials, the cost of transporting products, and the cost of hiring, educating, and maintaining plant workers. 

In many respects we have outgrown the traditional definition of the chemical industry. Changes in worldwide business conditions are having their impact on all of industry, and I shall look at what this means for companies with chemical products and for the people who work for them—especially scientists and engineers. 

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