Word: ponts
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...company has spent generously on drug research for two decades, but its first really promising product, an oral flu-preventive pill called Symmetrel, has been a commercial flop since it was introduced in 1967. Reason: Du Pont lacked both expertise and a sales force for drug marketing, and one result was that doctors generally did not prescribe it. Corfam, the first synthetic leather to "breathe," cost $60 million to get into production in 1964, but quick and stiff competition has made it only barely profitable. Du Pont is now improving the versatility of Corfam-in order to expand...
This month, in an important new move, Du Pont expects to complete its first domestic acquisition in a quarter of a century. It will acquire Endo Laboratories, a small Long Island-based pharmaceutical maker (1968 sales: $22 million). Du Pont is obviously buying marketing flair, not volume. "We need Endo," says Roger E. Drexel, manager of Du Font's industrial and biochemicals department. "Without a feedback of marketing information, we reduce our chances of success with a new pharmaceutical product...
Clout and Cash. Du Pont is virtually free of long-term debt, and has the clout and cash to acquire practically anything-its assets amount to $3.3 billion -but the Justice Department would almost certainly oppose any sizable expansion by merger. At the same time, Du Font's ability to grow from within is checked by its management philosophy. Because the company does not believe in competing with customers, it rules out any major "forward integration" into finished goods like textiles. "Backward integration" into oil and the raw materials that it converts into chemicals has not seemed profitable enough...
...Pont has enthroned research and development and staked its future on it: $255 million was spent on it last year. The company has 17 technically proven but so far unmarketed "new ventures" in process. Some are secret, but others include an office copier that uses ordinary paper, a range of plastic building materials, and a new desalination process. Speaking about the copier, Everett B. Yelton, director of the development department, says: "We may just be too late. Perhaps we should have moved faster...
...Pont is not likely to change quickly. Though Brel McCoy is the first president not related to the Du Pont family by blood or marriage, he has been nurtured in Du Pont traditions; his father was a director, vice president and member of the executive committee. McCoy, who has spent 37 years with the company, is typically calm, thoughtful, and a believer in moving cautiously. The tone of the company is still set by the Du Pont family, one of the largest and most cohesive dynasties in U.S. history. Through its Christiana Securities Co., the family can vote a dominant...