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Case Study

Quest International

7 pages

May 2001

Reference: IMD-3-0925

This case presents the situation of Paul Drechsler, who in 1998 has just become the CEO of Quest International. This global food flavoring and fragrances business, which was a part of Unilever for many years, has recently been purchased by ICI, the British specialty chemical company. Paul’s challenge is to improve its financial performance. One of the first issues facing him is the unusual structure of the business, which consists of two “almost global” businesses; “almost” because Asia is run as a separate unit with a strong dictatorial and protective manager. Paul’s first instinct is to eliminate this geographic division but there are many potential risks. Should this be an early item on his change agenda?

Keywords

Settings

1998

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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