Building New Industries

- Building New Industries -

with Rajshree Agarwal, PhD
-

The chemical industry today is confronting significant discontinuities in the face of geopolitical, technological and cultural change - opening unprecedented opportunities for new business segments. These include the Circular Economy such as advanced plastics recycling; Renewable Feedstocks such as bio-plastics, green hydrogen, and sustainable fuels; and Digital Transformation of business models such as e-commerce for chemicals.

Dr. Rajshree Agarwal and I discuss her research into development of new industries as well as key factors of success for new industry players. We look at what her findings suggest about previously-held narratives regarding early entry, disruptive innovation, and innovation in emerging economies. And we'll discuss their implication on chemical trends.

Topics covered include:

• Ecosystem framing for new industries vs. older frames of disruptive innovation
• Activities occurring during incubation periods by both incumbents and entrants
• Mobility of executives throughout the ecosystem
• The importance of collaboration vs. competition in nascent industries
• Profit vs. Purpose as driving forces
• Strategies for incumbents
• Strategies for entrants

Who should listen? Those who:

• are driving corporate strategies targeting nascent business sectors.
• lead start-ups developing new categories of technology.
• seek to champion breakthrough growth within their organizations.

Show Notes

• Slides shown during the interview
• Executive Summary of the discussion

Rajshree Agarwal PhD
Guest Speaker

Director of the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets at
the University of Maryland

Rajshree Agarwal is the Rudolph Lamone Chair of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, and Director of the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets at the University of Maryland. She studies the evolution of industries as fostered by the twin engines of innovation and enterprise.

Dr. Agarwal’s scholarship provides insights on strategic innovation for new venture creation and firm renewal. An author of more than 60 studies, her research has been cited more than 10,000 times, and funded by grants from the Kaufman, Rockefeller, and National Science Foundations. She is currently the co-editor of the Strategic Management Journal.

She is a senior contributor at Forbes, and has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, and Time. Her op-eds have had over 100,000 reads.

Dr. Agarwal has a Ph.D. in Economics from SUNY Buffalo.