Abstract
In 1902 DSM was founded as the state-owned company Dutch State Mines. This chapter describes its initial expansion in mining and the gradual build-up of chemical activities. When the company and the Dutch government realized in the 1960s that mining was no longer economically viable in The Netherlands, the company embarked on its first transformation to become a Base Chemicals company. In the 1970s and 1980s the company expanded its chemical activities via various diversification routes, albeit with limited success. Growth also stalled in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The chapter concludes with a summary of DSM’S strategic situation at that point in time.
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- 1.
See DSM Press Release of 23 September 2010.
- 2.
See DSM, Staatsmijnen in Limburg: Gedenkboek bij gelegenheid van het vijftigjarig bestaan (1952). Many of the historical facts recounted in this chapter are based on this commemorative volume, published by DSM on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
- 3.
- 4.
Corporate life expectancy may be trending down. Professor Richard Foster from Yale University believes it has decreased by more than 50 years in the last century, from 67 years in the 1920s to just 15 years today. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16611040?print=true
- 5.
Diversification was a trend for many companies in the post Second World War period.
- 6.
See Research tussen vetkool en zoetstof (ed. Lintsen, H., 2000).
- 7.
Quoted in Lintsen (2000, p. 28). Translated from Dutch.
- 8.
Ernst Homburg, Groeien door kunstmest: DSM Agro 1929–2004, Uitgeverij Verloren (2004).
- 9.
DSM Organisatie, brochure by Arie de Jong (Head of Corporate Organization) for the Middle Management Course, 1997.
- 10.
See Arjan van Rooij, The Company that Changed Itself, (2007) who calls this phase “the Large Leap Forward.”
- 11.
For some time in the late 1960s the option to build a refinery near the DSM site was explored together with Shell. However, this project never came to fruition (see Messing, 1988: 125–127).
- 12.
See interview with A. P. Timmermans in Het Financieele Dagblad (9 Oct 1993: 3): “Aardgasbaten bieden DSM garantie-inkomen.”
- 13.
BASF would call this concept of an integrated site Verbund and also make it into a foundation of their expansion and site policies. See Fig. 1.10 for an overview of DSM’s site integration by the early 1990s.
- 14.
Based on De Rooij (2007: 114–125).
- 15.
In 1929 and 1932 the company had, for instance, created two clothing workshops where the wives and daughters of the miners could be gainfully employed. This initiative grew out to produce the retail company Macintosh that is independently listed today on the Dutch stock exchange.
- 16.
The remaining shares were sold in 1996.
- 17.
Interview with H. B. van Liemt in Het Financieele Dagblad (19 June 1993: 16): “De verkeerde taxaties van Van Liemt; DSM–concern gezakt voor beursexamen.”
- 18.
This group of about ten people included divisional directors like Dick van Waes (Chemicals and Fertilizers), Just Fransen van de Putte (Polymers), staff directors like Peter Elverding (Corporate Personnel and Organization) and Paul van der Grinten (Corporate Planning and Development). Paul van der Grinten recalls: “This meeting took place just before I retired. It was, of course, very unusual and a strong wake-up call.”
References
DSM, Staatsmijnen in Limburg: Gedenkboek bij gelegenheid van het vijftigjarig bestaan, Heerlen: DSM, 1952
Geus, Arie de, The Living Company: Habits for Survival in a Turbulent Business Environment. Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 1997.
Hannah, Leslie, Marshall’s “Trees and the Global Forest: Were Giant Redwoods Different?,” in: N.R. Lamoreaux et al (eds), Learning by Doing in Markets, Firms and Countries. National Bureau of Economc Research, 1999.
Homburg, Ernst, Groeien door kunstmest: DSM Agro 1929–2004, Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2004.
Lintsen, H., Research tussen vetkool en zoetstof: zestig jaar DSM Research 1940–2000, Stichting Historie der Techniek, Zutphen: Uitgeverij Walburg Pers, 2000
Messing, F.A.M., De Mijnsluiting in Limburg, Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 1988.
Ormerud, Paul, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics. London: Faber and Faber, 2005.
Rooij, Arjen van, The Company that Changed Itself, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007.
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Jeannet, JP., Schreuder, H. (2015). DSM: From Dutch State Mines to Chemicals Company. In: From Coal to Biotech. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46299-7_1
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