Building a Sustainable Brand in Specialty Chemicals (Carve Out from a Big Corporate)

Cognis was a leading global supplier of specialty chemicals in the home and personal care, functional performance, and nutritional ingredients markets. The company was carved out as the former chemical division of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA in 1999, acquired jointly by three private equity funds in 2001, and sold in 2011 to BASF. In its 12-year lifetime, the management established a corporate culture—“We know how”—to mobilize, bond, and develop all stakeholder relationships. This article will highlight and illustrate key components of this journey along the organizational and leadership pillars of “sustainable purpose,” “traveling organization,” and “connecting resources” (Wollmann et al., Three pillars of organization and leadership in disruptive times – Navigating Your company successfully through the 21st century business world. Cham, Springer, 2020). Each component represented a significant building block of the company’s financial success, its reputation in the marketplace, and most importantly its strong bonding among its employees. However, “the magic glue,” the differentiating DNA building element, is the combination of the three pillars via awareness, initiation, creation, and continuous learning. The mutual reinforcement between the pillars created a strong brand (identity).