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Region: North America

Lubricant Formulations

The Twilight of Group I: How changes in lubricant formulations are driving fundamental shifts in base oil supply and pricing

The move toward lower viscosity, higher VI, lower volatility automotive engine oils demanded by modern vehicles per U.S. ILSAC GF-5 (and, prospectively, GF-6) and European ACEA standards has caused blenders to move to higher-performance Group II+ and Group III, and away from Group I, base oil stocks as they reformulate their recipes. While the initial impacts of these reformulation trends are being felt in the OECD countries, global advancements in engine oil formulations are inexorable.

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From Cracks to Crankshafts: How the shale gas boom is shifting natural gas conversion and lubricant base stock manufacturing

From Cracks to Crankshafts: How the shale gas boom is shifting natural gas conversion and lubricant base stock manufacturing

The boom in shale gas resource acquisitions and development in North America over the past three years has brought a formerly niche play into the spotlight. Once primarily the province of under-capitalized independent producers who refined horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology to tap into the once-marginal tight gas reservoirs in Appalachia, the Central U.S. and Western Canada, the massive reserve has now sparked attention from the major industry players. ExxonMobil, through its acquisition of XTO Energy in 2010, other supermajors, and a host of gas-short Asian players have since taken positions in the U.S. and Canadian shale gas play, with total capital commitments exceeding $100 billion.

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Mastering the M&A Dance

Mastering the M&A Dance: How to Turn “No” Today into “Yes” Tomorrow

With companies accruing hordes of cash in the wake of the market crash, private equity continuing to raise more money, and companies scratching at every opportunity to gain a competitive advantage, most companies approach M&A candidates with an immediate need to strike a deal while the iron is hot.

Under intense pressure to meet aggressive growth objectives and lock up deals with the hottest prospects before their competitors do, most companies aim to expand their portfolio with new business that will accrete value now, or at least in the very near term within two to three years. If their offer is declined or rebuffed by a potential candidate, most quickly move on to find another target with high-growth potential. They simply do not have the time to continue the courtship, and most fail to revisit those prospects after some time has passed.

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Change and Uncertainty in the Global Lubricants Industry

Change and Uncertainty in the Global Lubricants Industry

First published in Petroleum Review April 2013 Licensed for print and electronic distribution to Kline Management Consulting and sites owned by Kline Management Consulting exclusively.
© This information is the intellectual property of the Energy Institute. Any unauthorised copying, republication or redistribution of Energy Institute material, either in print or electronically, wholly or in part, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Energy Institute. The Energy Institute logo together with the EI letters (logo) are registered trade marks of the Energy Institute. For additional information on the Energy Institute, please visit www.energyinst.org

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Brand Building for Industrial Lubes: Lessons from Consumer Marketers

Brand Building for Industrial Lubes: Lessons from Consumer Marketers

Skyrocketing crude oil prices. Increasing standardization of product attributes. Significant overlap among product offerings. As these forces converge to create a perfect storm driving commoditization and competition in the industrial lubricants market, lubricant marketers are beginning to rethink their once-effective product-centric sales approach.

Seeking new strategies to differentiate their company and their products to maintain market share, many lubes marketers are finding that brand building isn’t just for tennis shoes and soft drinks anymore.

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Integrated Pricing Strategy: Achieving a Sustainable Advantage

Integrated Pricing Strategy: Achieving a Sustainable Advantage

Achieving a sustainable pricing advantage is becoming progressively difficult, yet increasingly more important as global economic pressures, depleting resources and raw materials, energy price volatility, and regional anomalies cause major shifts in the value chain economics across all industries.

The problem is that mastering a sustainable pricing strategy to achieve competitive differentiation requires any organization to adopt a dynamic and integrated approach. However, the complexities of this concept force some two-thirds of all manufacturers to cling to a cost-plus strategy, despite its well-known shortcomings as a reactive posture that leaves money on the table and ignores market and customer dynamics.

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Sustainable Growth in B2B Markets

Know Thy Customer: Five Ways to Use Customer Insights to Build Sustainable Growth in B2B Markets

It’s been called the first Commandment of Marketing: know thy customer. Few would argue that understanding your customer is critical for driving sustainable growth. While it’s a driving force in the B2C market, far few companies in the B2B environment are known to live by this principle, and as a result, many are perpetual “victims” of market forces, struggling to keep their heads above water amid rough seas.

Even in the B2B space, creating meaningful, effective, and intimate relationships with customers is the key to fueling sustainable growth. Why? Customer needs are at the very heart of identifying growth opportunities. They are alpha and omega of every industry: key customer needs create demand, unmet needs drive innovation, and changes in preference and technology influence market maturity and eventual decline.

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Multifunctional Professional Beauty Products

A Swiss Army Knife in a Tube – Multifunctional Professional Beauty Products

Multifunctionality has its beauty. The consumer has demanded versatility, and beauty product marketers are responding. Borne out of both an economic impetus with consumers seeking to reduce their expenditure and the simple pragmatism of retailers optimizing finite shelf-space by rationalizing their inventory, the market’s embracing of mass non-professional branded multifunctional beauty products is attracting a growing number of professional brands keen to remain competitive.

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Ownable Space: "The Other White Space"

Ownable Space: “The Other White Space”

Ownable space centers on a company’s right to win in a given market, grounded in “heritage” competencies or competencies you purposely go after. There are three basic approaches that can be utilized to identify your ownable space opportunities:

Claim your ownable space: going after unmet customer needs or market areas that are underserved, using your right to win as the competitive lever
Create your ownable space: use your competencies to drive and build market opportunities in a way that uniquely leverages your core strengths
Capture your ownable space: stretch and extend the limits of your capabilities to take market share away from competitors
Some of the best success stories today are of companies that are aggressively pursuing ownable ways to grow their businesses in markets characterized by intense competition, if not spirited rivalries. For example:

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