A new cooperation to advance the Journal of Business Chemistry
The landscape of the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industry has changed over the past years, not least due to mergers and acquisitions. Most prominent examples are Bayer’s latest acquisition of Monsanto and the rumors about Dow and DuPont merging their businesses. Among the companies, which are not involved in M&A negotiations recently, the tendency to enter collaborations becomes visible. Just like actors in the chemical industry are searching for allies, the JoBC has found a new partner for publishing relevant content around current developments and challenges in the sector.
We are thus pleased to announce that the JoBC will from now on be jointly published by the Institute of Business Administration at the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy (University of Münster) and the Center for Industry and Sustainability (Provadis School of International Management and Technology, Frankfurt/Main). While maintaining our approach of presenting topics at the intersection of management and chemistry, new impulses will guide future contents of the JoBC.
We present our revised concept in the article “The focus of the Journal of Business Chemistry: Good management practices in the chemical industry” to our present and future community. The Editors-in-Chief Jens Leker and Hannes Utikal identify six challenges of the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industry emphasizing its importance as a research object for good management practice.
The interview “Managing growth and profitability in the chemical industry” with Hariolf Kottmann, the CEO of Clariant, focuses on specific management characteristics in chemical companies. Furthermore, the value of the organizational structure for successful management as well as current trend topics such as interdisciplinary and cross-industry collaborations and the ‘smart industry’ movement are discussed.
The article “High speed development of new chemical synthesis and materials at molecular-level: Methods and approaches” by Alexander Kulesza, Kenta Stier, and Marek P. Checinski presents the application of quantum chemical calculations in the chemical industry. The development of new simulation methods and technological opportunities (such as HTS) particularly enables research intensive industries to design their research more efficiently. As a consequence, the companies can achieve suc cessful innovations in less time and by using fewer resources.
Please enjoy reading the third issue of the thirteenth volume of the Journal of Business Chemistry. We are grateful for the support of all authors and reviewers. If you have any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us at contact@businesschemistry.org.
Ruth Herrmann Bernd Winters
(Executive Editor) (Executive Editor)