The aims of this course are to introduce issues which affect business decisions encountered by management in the chemical industry. Topics include domestic and export markets, market growth, the lemming effect and product life cycles. The distinction between issues and problems using PVC and the chlorine debate is discussed. Factors affecting plant life: scale up, retrofitting, competing technologies etc. Environmental and compliance issues including green chemistry. The petrochemical industry and in particular the polymer manufacturing industry is used to illustrate the main areas. Industry speakers and site visits are used to maintain relevance and topicality.
In addition, there will be a project component on an individual study basis. The individual study project is to be chosen in the areas identified by codes C-Business Management/Inf. Tech and G-Design (at least 3 to 4 students per project) (see School for details).