GETTING BEYOND 'THE PERFECT STORM'

Abstract

IT'S BEEN A DIFFICULT TWO YEARS for some of our businesses, admitted Nance K. Dicciani, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell International's specialty materials group. And like rest of chemical industry, $3.3 billion Honeywell business she has headed for only seven months is experiencing most prolonged downturn since 1930s. Dicciani called downturn the perfect storm, an allusion to a combination of factors coming together all at once to create a disaster—in this case, price declines in key markets coupled with high energy costs and raw material prices. But she sees scenario as providing opportunities for Honeywell's growth. As economy heads toward recovery during second half of 2002, growing markets in Asia, Middle East, and South America will provide some of these opportunities, Dicciani told attendees at Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) stakeholder's conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., a ...