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- We moved forward with the restructuring activities we started in 2003. With fewer global business units, a reduced number of functional staff, and better sharing of support between businesses, we can more rapidly implement Dow’s strategy with heightened discipline, greater accountability for results and a sharper focus on prioritization.
- Once again in 2004, we achieved significant productivity improvements, thanks to our new organizational structure and our continued commitment to Six Sigma. Since 1992, employee productivity at Dow has increased by more than 8 percent a year.
- We maintained strong financial discipline, achieving considerable success in controlling what we are able to control and meeting the objectives of our 2004 Action Plan. After two years of being sharply focused on improving our financial performance, our resolve to avoid unnecessary initiatives, control discretionary spending and ensure appropriate allocation of Company resources is now well-institutionalized throughout Dow.
- We worked hard on making ourselves easier to do business with – and we directed considerable effort toward strengthening our relationships with key customers, customers that can help us achieve new levels of value growth through the years ahead. From relatively straightforward initiatives, such as creating a formal Dow executive interface for each key customer, to the expansion of our market- and customer-driven product development activities, we’ve taken a range of measures in 2004 to more closely align the Company with its customers.
- We took several steps during 2004 to further enhance standards of ethics and compliance within Dow, including the continued roll-out of an ethics training program designed to ensure that employees in every location understand their obligations under Dow’s Code of Business Conduct.
- We made further progress in the governance arena – and last year we were one of only 26 companies globally to achieve the highest rating possible for corporate governance from Governance Metrics International, an independent corporate governance rating agency.
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