Innovate or die

摘要

Dow Automotive chief George Hamilton tells William Kimberley why that has to be the motto for his group and why he's proud to be a USD1.5 billion business with a USD1 billion R&D budget. According to George Hamilton, president of Dow Automotive, you innovate or you die. If you stop or one moment, you are doomed. The problem is that for unter-tier suppliers like Dow Automotive, they are trying to ascend the down escalator. The answer, says Hamilton, is to invest in research and development and this is where his company scores heavily. "We like to say that we are a billion and a half dollar company with a billion dollar R&D," he says, referring to the fact that Dow Automotive is a business unit in the Dow Plastics portfolio, which has an annual turnover of USD15 billion, which itself is part of the goliath USD40 billion Dow Chemicals company, which is where the one billion R&D figure comes from.