dupont

Businessmodel of DuPont

Customer Segments

Dupont offers a broad range of products and services through its diversified operating segments. The Company’s segments collectively serve customers across the following sectors:

  • Agriculture, including crop producers, and farming businesses;
  • Automotive, including automotive manufacturers and aftermarket service providers;
  • Building and Construction, including construction firms, specialist contractors, property development companies, and infrastructure development companies;
  • Electronics, including consumer electronics manufacturers and photovoltaic product manufacturers;
  • Energy, including energy producers, oil and gas companies, and power transmission companies;
  • Food and Beverage, including food and beverage producers and marketers;
  • Government and Public Sector, including various local, state, and federal government bodies and public bodies;
  • Health and Medical, including healthcare providers, medical device manufacturers, and medical supply and packaging companies;
  • Marine and Mining, including industrial marine companies, shipping companies, and various mining entities;
  • Packaging and Printing, including various commercial packaging and printing companies;
  • Plastics, including plastics producers and polymer science companies; and
  • Safety and Protection, including military bodies, police and fire forces, and industrial businesses. Dupont’s principal market is its native US, which accounts for the largest portion of its business. The Company also serves a substantial number of customers across three other regional segments: Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Asia Pacific; and Latin America.

Value Propositions

Dupont provides value to its customers in the following ways:

  • Its reputation and standing, with the Company established as one of the largest diversified conglomerates in the US, having a long history of providing high-quality products and services, and serving a number of high-profile clients;
  • Its broad portfolio of products and services, with the Company providing an extensive range of customers across its six reportable business segments, and serving clients from a broad spectrum of industries;
  • Its international reach, with the Company serving customers across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, in addition to customers in its core markets in North America;
  • Its commitment to innovation, with the Company committing a substantial portion of its funds to the development of new and innovative solutions, seeking to provide cutting edge services to its clients; and
  • Its specialist personnel, with the Company employing highly-trained technical staff from a range of disciplines across its six diverse operating segments. ### Channels

Dupont operates a website at www.dupont.com, through which it provides information on its various products, services, locations and target industries. The Company additionally operates websites for a number of its operating subsidiaries and divisions, which provide more detailed information on specific products and services. Dupont does not appear to operate any significant online sales channels or portals.

Dupont makes sales through its various sales and marketing teams, which are organised by geographic region, operating segment, and division. These sales personnel operate out of the Company’s various offices and facilities across the US and Canada; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Asia Pacific; and Latin America. The Company also operates its own manufacturing and distribution facilities across its operating regions.

Additionally, many of Dupont’s products are sold through a network of third party intermediaries, including independent producer-distributors, specialist distribution companies, wholesale distributors, and retailers. The Company also serves customers through its numerous subsidiaries and joint ventures.

Customer Relationships

Dupont does not provide products and services to customers on a self-service basis. The Company primarily serves its customers directly through dedicated in-house sales staff. These sales personnel typically work closely with customers in order to fully cover the individual needs of each customer. The Company typically provides services under multi-year supply and distribution contracts, with a view to establishing long-term relationships.

Each of Dupont’s operating segments provides ongoing support to its customers, operating their own distinct customer and technical support teams. These support staff are able to provide personalised assistance over the phone or online. The Company also provides an online contact form on its website, through which new and existing customers can make more general enquiries.

Dupont and its subsidiaries also operate various social media accounts through which it can interact with customers, including with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Key Activities

Dupont operates principally as a science and technology company. Its operations comprise 10 core businesses organized into six reportable segments: Agriculture, Electronics and Communications, Industrial Biosciences, Nutrition and Health, Performance Materials and Safety and Protection.

The Company develops, manufactures, and sells a diverse portfolio of products, including corn hybrids and soybean varieties, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides in the Agriculture segment; photopolymers and electronic materials in Electronics and Communications segment; enzymes and bio-based materials in the Industrial Biosciences segment; cultures, emulsifiers, texturants, natural sweeteners and soy-based food ingredients in the Nutrition and Health segment; engineering polymers, and packaging and industrial polymers in the Performance Materials segment; and nonwovens, aramids and solid surfaces in the Safety and Protection segment.

Key Partners

Dupont works closely with a range of companies across its multiple operating segments. These partners can be categorised broadly as:

  • Supplier and Vendor Partners, comprising suppliers of various raw materials, consumables, and resources that are utilised in the manufacture of the Company’s various products, as well as supplier of services and tools that are utilised more broadly across the enterprise;
  • Channel and Distribution Partners, comprising various distributors, wholesalers, and sales agents that extend the Company’s in-house sales and distribution capabilities;
  • Development Partners, comprising various technology, scientific, and specialist companies that assist in the development of various Dupont products and solutions;
  • Community and Sustainability Partners, comprising various non-profits, charitable organisations, and educational institutions with which the Company collaborates on various social, community, and sustainability projects;
  • Strategic and Alliance Partners, comprising a range of companies and organisations across multiple sectors, with which the Company maintains close relationships and collaborates on joint projects. Dupont counts a number of high-profile companies among its partners, including Honeywell, Globe, Procter and Gamble, Tate and Lyle, and USAID.

Key Resources

Dupont’s key resources are its technologies and intellectual properties, its supply chain and materials, its manufacturing and distribution facilities, its sales and marketing channels, its IT and communications infrastructure, its partnerships, and its personnel.

Dupont utilises a number of proprietary technologies in its products and solutions, which the Company protects using patent and trade secrecy laws. These properties are key to its operations. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified numerous patent applications filed in Dupont’s name, including applications entitled ‘Method of manufacturing non-firing type electrode’, ‘Blue luminescent compounds’ and ‘Aqueous ink-jet inks containing branched polyurethanes as binders’.

Dupont additionally owns and or leases a number of physical properties that are key to its activities, notably including its network of manufacturing, processing, marketing and research and development facilities.

Cost Structure

Dupont incurs costs in relation to the procurement of supplies and materials, the operation of its manufacturing and distribution infrastructure, the operation of its sales and marketing channels, the maintenance of its IT infrastructure, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

In 2015 Dupont accrued cost of goods sold in the amount of $15.11 billion. The Company’s selling, general and administrative expenses totaled $4.62 billion, while its research and development costs amounted to $1.90 billion.

Revenue Streams

Dupont generates revenue through the production and sale of a diverse range of products to customers across multiple industries and jurisdictions. This includes the development and sale of:

  • corn hybrids and soybean varieties, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides;
  • photopolymers and electronic materials;
  • enzymes and bio-based;
  • cultures, emulsifiers, texturants, natural sweeteners and soy-based food ingredients;
  • engineering polymers, and packaging and industrial polymers; and
  • nonwovens, aramids and solid surfaces. In 2015 Dupont recorded net sales of $25.13 billion, down on the $28.41 generated by the Company in 2014. The Company’s Agriculture segment is its largest revenue generator, recording net sales of $9.80 billion for the year.
Written on October 25, 2017