ONLINE EXTRA: Fortune Recognizes BASF For Commitment To Innovation

BASF has been named one of the “most admired” companies in the chemical industry by Fortune magazine.

The annual list is compiled based on surveys of business executives and industry analysts. BASF was named the chemical industry world leader in four of nine key attributes – innovativeness, quality of management, financial soundness and global business acumen – and was ranked number two in composite scoring for the industry overall. Dow Chemical Company topped Fortune’s list of the “most admired” companies in the chemical industry.

Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, research executive director at BASF, explained that the company’s innovation strategy has three components: process innovations, product innovations and market innovations. Through process innovations, the company optimizes production processes to achieve cost leadership. Through product innovations, BASF develops new chemical structures and applies established chemistry to new applications. Through market innovations, the company identifies completely new solutions to problems for many different industries, including the structural pest control industry.

“BASF is an innovations factory,” Marcinowski said. “Innovations are to be found in all our business segments. Not just in the laboratory, but wherever our employees work; in production, in marketing and sales, in logistics and in many other functions.

“Innovations can only develop in a setting that combines competence and creativity,” he added. “The brains of the innovation factory at BASF are the 8,000 staff in our three central technology platforms and in our R&D units around the world. BASF is a world leader when it comes to patents. Between 1995 and 2000 alone, BASF filed more than 5,300 chemistry patents – clearly the tope of the league in this respect.”

“We’ve always taken a great deal of pride in our ability to provide innovative solutions to a wide range of problems, regardless of the market being served by BASF,” said Bill Baxter, business manager of the BASF Professional Pest Control Group, “and the pest management industry is no exception. As you can see from the recent introduction of Subterfuge Termite Bait and Phantom Termiticide-Insecticide, we plan to be on the cutting edge of new product development for this industry.”