Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies
Dow
The Midland, Michigan chemical maker that Herbert H. Dow founded in 1897 to pull bromine out of underground brine (from memory, verify), which grew into the largest US commodity-chemicals producer — polyethylene, ethylene oxide, polyurethanes, silicones and coatings materials, made in giant integrated sites on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, in Alberta and in Europe. Dow's manufacturing story turns on feedstock advantage and integration, and on capital timed to the chemical cycle. Its best decisions bought cheap molecules or the companies that turned them into specialties near the bottom of a cycle — the US shale-ethane crackers of 2012–17 and Freeport's TX-9 above all. Its worst ones bought liabilities with assets (Union Carbide and Bhopal in 2001; the silicone-implant claims that put Dow Corning into Chapter 11 in 1995) or committed capital just before demand turned (the 2008–09 Rohm and Haas financing scramble; the Path2Zero cracker in Alberta, paused in Apr 2025 and restarted at a lower budget in Jan 2026). In 2025 Dow lost ~$2.4bn, halved its dividend, announced the closure of three upstream European assets and then, on 29 Jan 2026, ~4,500 job cuts; by Q3 2026 its operating EBIT had recovered to $887m on higher prices and self-help.
At a glance
- Founded
- Dow Chemical Company incorporated 1897 by Herbert H. Dow in Midland, Michigan (from memory, verify; one 2026 report describes a 126-year history, consistent with 1897)
- Headquarters
- Midland, Michigan
- Ownership / structure
- Public (NYSE: DOW). Dow Inc. is the holding company created by the 2019 separation from DowDuPont; The Dow Chemical Company (TDCC) is its main operating subsidiary (company)
- Leadership (2026)
- Karen S. Carter, CEO from 1 Jul 2026 (previously chief operating officer, >30 years at Dow); Jim Fitterling, executive chair from 1 Jul 2026 (CEO since 2018, chair since 2020); Richard Davis, independent lead director (Dow announcement, Apr 2026, reported)
- Segments
- Packaging & Specialty Plastics (ethylene, polyethylene, elastomers); Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure (ethylene oxide and glycols, polyurethanes, chlor-alkali and vinyl); Performance Materials & Coatings (silicones, acrylics and coatings materials) (company)
- Scale
- FY2025: net sales ~$40bn (−7% from ~$43bn); GAAP net loss ~$2.4bn (loss available to Dow Inc. common stockholders $2,623m; EPS −$3.70); operating EBIT ~$0.4bn (from ~$2.6bn); cash from operations ~$1.1bn (from ~$2.9bn); restructuring, goodwill impairment and asset-related charges $1,856m (10-K and release, Jan 2026). Q3 2026 (22 Oct 2026): net sales $11,267m (+13% from $9,973m); operating EBIT $887m (vs $180m); GAAP EPS $0.62, operating EPS $0.71 (vs −$0.19); free cash flow ~$1.1bn (8-K)
- Workforce
- ~34,600 employees before the Jan 2026 restructuring (reported)
- Main sites (selected)
- Freeport and the Texas Gulf Coast (Freeport, Seadrift, Deer Park, Texas City — selection from memory, verify); Plaquemine and St. Charles, Louisiana (from memory, verify); Midland, Michigan; Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta; Terneuzen (Netherlands), Tarragona (Spain), and the central German sites of Böhlen and Schkopau (from memory for the European list except Böhlen and Schkopau, verify); Sadara, Saudi Arabia (JV with Aramco, from memory, verify)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Herbert Dow's bromine and the price war with the German cartel (1897–1900s); Dow Corning's breast-implant bankruptcy (1995–2004) and Dow's buyout of Corning's half (2016); Union Carbide (2001) and the Bhopal legacy; Rohm and Haas (2009) and the K-Dow collapse; the US Gulf Coast shale crackers (2012–17); Dow–DuPont merger and separation (2017–19); Path2Zero's pause and restart and the 2025 dividend cut; European closures (2025–27) and "Transform to Outperform" (2026)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1897
Herbert Dow and Bromine
Founding and process technology (electrolysis of brine), followed by a price war with an incumbent cartel
1995
Dow Corning Breast Implant Bankruptcy
Product-liability case at a joint venture, resolved through the JV's Chapter 11; then restructuring of the JV into full Dow ownership
2001
Union Carbide and Bhopal Liabilities
Acquisition (all-stock merger) bringing scale in ethylene, ethylene oxide and polyethylene — and inherited legacy liabilities
2009
Rohm and Haas
Acquisition (cash) to move into specialty materials, funded partly by a joint-venture sale that collapsed; financing in a crisis; later arbitration
2012
US Gulf Coast Shale Crackers
New plant (greenfield cracker at an existing site) and feedstock bet on US shale ethane; derivative units and a restarted Louisiana cracker (from memory, verify)
2017
Dow DuPont Merger and 2019 Separation
All-stock merger of equals, internal reorganisation and spin-off of Dow as a focused materials-science company
2025
European Closures and 2026 Restructuring
Footprint consolidation (permanent closure of three upstream European assets) followed by a company-wide restructuring and job cuts
2025
Path2Zero Delay and Dividend Cut
Capex deferral on a flagship new plant and a 50% dividend cut to conserve cash in a downturn; restart of construction at a lower budget