(Royal DSM N.V.: IT Enabling Business Transformation; CS #809-078)

Due on: 29/3/2012

1. What Challenges and opportunities do senior executives at DSM N.V. face in 2000?
In 2000, DSM senior executives were provoked with a dilemma to either continue on supporting the past business services that DSM used to offer – the core petrochemicals business – or make an eventually courageous investment in the future via growing the life sciences and performance materials businesses. Subsequently, when they decided to go for the latter and alter the company’s portfolio through divestitures and acquisitions in food and pharmaceutical sectors, DSM primary objective was to make the company concentrate on growth opportunities. In addition,
Instead, it must include business oriented employees with service provision skills. He thought of the best possible solutions for these businesses and implemented these in cooperation with the specialists from the business units and external partners. 3- Controlling the demand to the ICT supply organization:
That implies the initialization of a DSM IT governance steering committee. This steering committee should be accountable for projects allocation. It decides the methodology in which DSM projects are identified and paid for. This steering committee includes two member of the Board of Directors, the CIO and four managing directors of business groups. The latter rotate periodically.

Another challenge Hanenberg faced was the disposal of Petrochemistry from DSM. The “carve out” of Petrochemistry is based on a detailed study of all needed activities in order to remove the ICT for Petrochemistry from the DSM ICT. Also, he was tested when the incorporation of Roche Vitamins took place. The logic behind the Roche take-over contained DSM understanding that Roche Vitamins was controlled as a pharmaceutical industry, an industry where the management hardly pursues operational excellence; nonetheless, focuses particularly on innovation and growth to achieve top of the market. DSM would like to improve the operational excellence of the purchased division, thus the deployment of ICT was