Novembre 2000

Jeffrey Peterson
Vice president of DuPont e-Business

"I see two key opportunities resulting from eBusiness: driving transaction efficiencies, and creating new business/product offerings."

by  Gaëlle LAYANI

16 octobre 2000

Before joining DuPont, you held positions in e-business in financial companies. Why did you choose to join a chemical and pharmaceutical company ? Do you think this sector is particularly promissing for e-commerce ?

eBusiness touches every sector of the global economy by enabling a richer means of connecting people (e.g. buyers and sellers). Hence, when I think about eBusiness I see two key opportunities resulting from this connectivity: 1) driving transaction efficiencies, and 2) creating new business/product offerings.
For example, eBusiness drives transaction efficiencies by accelerating, enriching, and simplifying basic transaction information flow. eBusiness also creates new business opportunities by creating a rich conduit or linkage with customers to bring them information and more importantly solutions which directly improve their unique needs.)

http://www.dupont.com

eBusiness opportunities are particularly attractive to information rich industries be they financial or science based like DuPont. A high degree of diversification further increases the benefit derivable from eBusiness. The power of eBusiness to connect formerly fragmented offerings into mass customized unique solution offerings for a customer can create enormous opportunity in the "white spaces" of a diversified company. Hence, when I look at DuPont I see a highly diversified company driven by science. In my mind, there can be no more fertile ground for eBusiness opportunity.

DuPont is launching a very offensive market place and e-health strategy (CheMatch.com, rooster.com, Industria, for example). What are the stakes and objectives of such a strategy for a major company like DuPont ?

DuPont serves an incredibly diverse set of distribution models and value chains. Our structured and proactive eBusiness approach is focused on 1) delivering increased values and new efficiencies into our existing models and chains and 2) creating new models supportive of our transforming markets. At DuPont, eBusiness coupled with Six Sigma is an integral part of our overall sustainable growth business strategy focused on our customers (both internal and external).

DuPont has agreed to create with several other major companies a new business-to-business e-commerce company that will operate an on-line marketplace for the chemical industry worldwide. Could tell us a few words about this market place ? When will it be launched ? Why did you choose to take part in this type of project ?

DuPont is participating in numerous B2B market maker start-ups as part of our global eBusiness strategy focused on delivering new value and efficiencies for our customers and ourselves. DuPont's participation in or creation of these market makers is rigorously evaluated in context of the value proposition to our customers and to DuPont. As the leading supplier and buyer in many of our markets, DuPont is taking a leading role in defining and delivering new values and efficiencies in these markets.

What will be the role of DuPont in the company and in the market place ?

DuPont's role in all of our market maker activities is shaped by a rigorous and clear understanding of the value proposition for each market maker activity. Hence, our role varies significantly. We derive significant and unique competitive differentiation from this approach.

How many savings does DuPont expect from market places in terms of logistics and procurement ?

eBusiness is merely one component of DuPont's sourcing transformation initiative. As such, it is impossible to separate out specific value creation from any one component as they are all inter-related. We are now beginning to see significant benefits and returns from our sourcing transformation efforts.

Is e-commerce a major part of the budget of DuPont ?

With eBusiness woven into the very fabric of the business in DuPont, specific dollar impacts are impossible to extract. Unlike other firms who have implemented eBusiness as a separate activity, DuPont is completely internalizing eBusiness and driving eBusiness thinking into every aspect of every business within DuPont. As a result we have no "big bang" announcements or quantification. Over time eBusiness and Six Sigma will be systemic to all of DuPont.

What impact does the Internet strategy of DuPont have on the company (corporate culture, marketing, R&D) ?

At DuPont we started with our 198 years of science based collaborative culture and weaved in the accelerators of eBusiness and Six Sigma. eBusiness and Six Sigma are integral to who we are and enhance our ability to understand our customer's needs and then shape and define new value offerings and efficiencies.

A more personal question: What are the sites you like most ?

My favorite site will be that site which integrates the specific functionalities and content of the litany of sites that I interact with on a routine basis into my own dynamically personalized view of the web.

Give your opinion.

16 octobre 2000