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At The Dow Chemical Company, Intellectual Assets are regarded as knowledge with a value and are a key factor in creating wealth for the company. These Intellectual Assets include patents, trade secrets, trademarks and know‐how. The company has devised a six‐step Intellectual Asset model which involves strategy setting; identification and classification of existing Intellectual Assets; valuing these assets; deciding whether to invest in new knowledge through the development or purchase of technology and skills; and assembling the Intellectual Assets into Knowledge Portfolios for each global Dow business. This process is repeated on a regular basis. This paper discusses how the methodology has been developed and implemented at Dow, including the company’s approach to creating a Global Intellectual Asset Technology Centre and multi‐functional and multi‐geographic Intellectual Asset teams. Tools and techniques developed for measuring the company’s Intellectual Assets are generic and may be appropriately applied to any organization.

This case examines the ethical issues raised when businesses contract for the military during time of war. Dow Chemical Company was a military contractor during the Vietnam War and the primary producer of Agent Orange - a defoliant used to clear vegetation. Agent Orange has been linked to a number of serious medical conditions in war veterans and Vietnamese civilians. In 2004, Vietnamese citizens filed suit against Dow for illnesses they believe were caused by exposure to Agent Orange. Dow thought the issue should have been addressed through political and social policy, while Vietnamese citizens and U.S. Vietnam war veterans believed Dow was ethically responsible. As the case moved through the U.S. judicial system, some of Dow's investors grew uncomfortable with how it was handled. Dow CEO Andrew Liveris was left to wonder what his company could have done differently and what they could learn from the Agent Orange episode that might prevent similar problems in the future. This incident appeared to be a relatively distinct case, but in July of 2007 it was reported that the number of private contract employees in Iraq exceeded that of U.S. military personnel. Consequently, it is likely that companies and their stakeholders will have to address similar issues.

Following a number of years of trial and experiment, two American chemical tankers, the S.S. Marine Chemist and S.S. Marine Dow‐Chem, chartered by the Dow Chemical Co., of Midland, Michigan, U.S.A., for carrying chemicals from the Dow Texas Division to the markets of the Atlantic seaboard, have been rendered virtually corrosion proof, both in respect of their hulls and tanks. The hulls and ballast tank interiors have been equipped with modernised cathodic devices while the chemical tanks and pipes have been specially lined. Both tankers are owned and operated by Marine Transport Lines Inc. So effective has been the protection afforded by the magnesium anodes with which the hulls have been equipped that cleaning and maintenance painting of the underwater areas have been practically eliminated.

Various companies, including Dow Chemical, Dow Corning, PMC Specialities, Vanderbilt Corporation and Kusumoto Chemicals, with a long history of service to the paint, printing ink and allied industries, are represented. Products featured include antimicrobials, cellulose ethers, resins, propylene glycol ethers, silicones and a variety of speciality additives designed to meet the demand within surface coatings for improved properties.

The aim is to study how the chemical industry in Tarragona (Spain) uses the internet to communicate with its community on issues relating to chemical risk and the impact of the chemical industry on the environment, health and safety.

A specific methodology was defined allowing the corporate websites of the chemical industry to be studied. A content analysis methodology was used, searching the information that exists on the corporate websites of the most significant trade associations and chemical companies in the Tarragona conglomerate.

The results suggest that there are some common characteristics of the chemical industry strategy in providing information on their corporate websites about the chemical risk and the impact of the chemical industry: a tendency to globalise the information about these issues, the maximisation of the positive concepts such as safety and commitment, and the minimisation of the negative concept of risk.

The study was carried out on a small number of companies, thus the results cannot be considered statistically representative of the entire chemical industry in Spain. In addition, the Tarragona population was not asked for their views on these corporate websites.

The results show the treatment of information concerning chemical risk in the most important trade associations and companies in the sector, the state of information concerning chemical risk on the corporate websites of such organisations, and the risk communication strategy of these companies through the internet. It also presents the design of a specific methodology suitable for analysing the information available on chemical risk on the corporate websites of companies, institutions and organisations of any kind.

Looking ahead and assessing the total environment for business is the most challenging task facing corporate management in these uncertain times. The difficulty of such exercises has increased exponentially in the past several decades. Corporate boards and managements must now deal thought‐fully not only with economic issues, but with complex political and social issues, country by country, wherever their companies do business or wherever they would like to do business.

Knowledge Management is now one of the major driving forces of organizational change and wealth creation. This paper reviews some of the major concepts and approaches as discussed at a recent international congress on the subject. Beginning with an examination of some of the factors propelling the global knowledge economy, the paper then explores knowledge‐based organizational strategy, illustrated by a number of case studies from leading practitioners, including British Petroleum, Glaxo Wellcome, ICL, Nokia Telecommunications, the UK Post Office and Zeneca Pharmaceuticals. The concept of intellectual capital lies at the heart of Knowledge Management. Some companies define intellectual capital in terms of value creation, for others it is value extraction. The two different approaches, illustrated by Skandia and the Dow Chemical Company, are reviewed, along with a new tool for measuring intellectual capital.