Overview

Leadership Institute I is the first stage of the Dow employee leadership development programme, targeting employees those have demonstrated the potential and interest to progress beyond their existing development stage. A typical session was this workshop held in Hong Kong, which had 36 people from 10 countries including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan representing Purchasing, Legal, HR, Supply Chain, R&D, Finance, Manufacturing, and Marketing & Sales.

Dow's commitment to new plants and operations throughout the region is not just investment but helping to raise and maintain local industrial standards and expectations. A high standard of safety is a core Dow value, and this was demonstrated by a joint emergency response drill at our Zhangjiagang site in China involving not only our own employees but also the local community, including neighboring plants the fire department and hospital. This was the first such joint exercise for the Yangtze River International Chemical Industry Park and similar exercises have been undertaken at our plants at Ningbo, China, and Nankang, Taiwan.

Overview

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Dow is a leading science and technology company which provides innovative chemical, plastics, and agricultural services to many essential consumer markets.

Dow Chemical began in the Pacific in the 1950s when the Company started to develop business in the region and opened the first sales offices in Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia. Dow was the first foreign company to obtain a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1973. Today Dow and its associated companies employ approximately 3,700 people across 13 countries throughout the region, with 35 manufacturing sites in 11 countries. Direct sales revenue in Asia-Pacific for 2003 was over $US 3.5 billion, equivalent to about 12 percent of Dow’s global revenue.


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Growth Through Investment
As the world’s leading chemical company, Dow is committed to the Pacific region and is continuously investing and seeking out partnerships in the region for value growth.

Two of the most recent major ventures have been the OPTIMAL group of companies in Malaysia in association with PETRONAS, and the completion of three new plants at our Zhangjiagang site in Jiangsu, China.

This commitment was given a major boost with the announcement late in 2003 of a major new geographic growth strategy which includes plans for long term investment in people, markets and assets in China, the Middle East, and other developing regions of the world.

Announcing the creation of the new Greater China Region based in Shanghai, Dow President and Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Liveris said: “To grow our business in places of enormous potential like China we require an organisational model which provides a stronger geographic structure, dedicated leadership and a region-specific growth strategy. The model we now have in place for that country will be adopted in other emerging economies, empowering the Geographies to take the lead, working seamlessly with the functions and businesses to ensure Dow’s interests across the region as a whole are best served.”

Innovation Contributes to Consumer Market
Dow produces many innovative products and technologies to help improve the quality of living. For example polystyrene is commonly used in IT equipment, consumer electronics, and large appliances, and Dow works closely with original equipment manufacturers throughout Asia-Pacific to enhance their products. Similarly, locally manufactured polyurethane foams are used in auto seating for increased comfort; Dow AgroSciences fungicides help grow stronger food crops and give higher yield; and new award-winning resin technology has created breakthrough advances for faster and more powerful computer chips.

Diversity and People
Dow’s operations in Asia-Pacific encompass highly diverse cultural, political, social and economic systems across six time-zones. As well as our ongoing commitment to support projects in the communities where we operate (see the section titled Corporate Social Responsibility) we also have an impact through employment, through local purchasing and through our contributions to help improve community standards and local business.

Over 98 percent of Pacific employees are local nationals, of whom 69 percent are male and 31 percent are female. Dow leadership at all levels is committed to improving the gender balance to reflect the job environment in which we operate and to increase the representation of females in leadership roles. A good proportion of local leadership is Pacific nationals, and our focus is to continue to develop and promote local nationals at every opportunity.

Dow is genuinely committed to investing in people. In Asia-Pacific, for instance, despite cost challenges during 2003, we delivered about 150 classroom general training sessions in six languages and we installed new interactive audio/video technology at major sites to provide the latest capacity for “virtual” training. In addition, Dow supplements face to face and virtual workshops with web-based training, thanks to the technology platform Learn@Dow.now. Wherever possible we also develop local talent through local or overseas training at various Dow sites and sometimes through granting overseas training assignments for high potential individuals. This programme is already paying dividends with the return of well-trained managers and future leaders.