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Expert is a management consultant specializing in the specialty chemicals markets of polymers, resins, plastics, paints, coatings, adhesives and composites. Expert has a deep knowledge of the value chains in which these products are produced, sold and used. Commercially he can speak about overall industry structure, competitive dynamics, market conditions, pricing trends, cost trends, regulations and customer behavior. Expert is a chemical engineer and can also speak about the process technology for these materials as well as the performance attributes and how specialty chemicals are positioned from a cost/benefit perspective.

Expert has 30 years of industry experience, 22 years as a business manager with DuPont and Quaker Chemical, and 9 years as an independent consultant.


A major university in the Southeast US developed a new resin based upon castor oil and soybeans, all renewable resources. The university wished to create a start-up company to commercialize the technology but did not have the ability to assess the market opportunity nor determine its commercial value. As a result, Expert was chosen by the university to work with the professors who developed the technology to analyze the commercial opportunity, develop business model options and to write a full business plan. Of particular interest to the client was determining the optimal business model - whether to sell resin or to sell paint made from the resin.
The project included:
• Consumer Research to determine consumer interest in paint made from renewable resins, validate the tradename and test the price point.
• Industrial Research and interviews with major resin producers to judge interest and to investigate the value of bio-renewable resin, either for merchant sale by the university and/or technology license to resin producers.
• Development of three alternative business models, including financial analysis for each, to assess the net present value of expected cash flow and determine the best model. From this analysis a valuation was developed for the business along with an exit strategy.
• Development of a detailed Business Plan which included sales, marketing, and operations.
The client implemented the recommendations and successfully entered the market as a paint producer. Ultimately, the client used the financial models from the project to attract private investors and exit the business.
A Fortune 50 chemical company developed a family of polyurethane dispersion resins and was preparing for commercial development of a business in the coatings and adhesives markets. Of particular interest was the market for coatings used to finish leather for automotive seating, fashion wear, purses and shoes. The market is well-established yet believed by the client to be attractive, and the client wished to validate their understanding of the opportunity and to develop a high-level assessment of the viability of entering this market.
The project with Expert included:
• Industrial Market Research to determine the market size and growth rate, segmented by end-uses (automotive, fashion, shoes).
• Competitive intelligence of key competitors with estimates of their cost structure and profitability and overall competitive strategy including end-use and geographic focus, cost structure, profitability and product technology.
• Detailed technical interviews of potential customers to determine the strength/weakness of the existing suppliers, switching costs, role of specifications and likelihood to switch.
• Analysis to determine the best segments to target based upon opportunity size, ability to quickly penetrate and lowest competitive barriers
The client successfully entered the leather coatings market by avoiding the markets where entrenched competitors had an advantage and by creating new applications for the technology.
A major Fortune 100 chemical company developed a new nano-sized mineral smaller than the wavelength of visible light yet larger than the wavelength of UV light – a perfect material for screening the harmful effects of UV on materials of construction such as plastics and paints. The client needed to assess the commercial opportunity including market size, economics versus incumbent UV screeners, customer acceptance and to develop a high-level market entry strategy.
The project with Expert included:
• Industrial Market Research to identify and profile the existing incumbent UV screeners including pricing, efficacy, market size, and key competitors.
• Value Chain Analysis to assess the value that incumbent screeners deliver throughout the value chain along with an estimate of the value created by the new nano-mineral screener.
• Detailed technical interviews of potential customers to determine the advantages/disadvantages of the new nano-mineral including switching costs, likelihood to switch, role of end-user specifications and general barriers to market entry.
• Analysis to determine the best segments to target based upon opportunity size, ability to quickly penetrate and market access.
The client was able to identify the end-uses with the highest probability of success as well as identify additional technical work needed to better understand their value proposition
A major chemical producer was negotiating the licensing of a novel conductive polymer technology that had shown potential as an anti-corrosion additive for paints and coatings. In order to complete the negotiations, the client needed a valuation of the technology based upon its potential to displace incumbent corrosion additives. The client engaged Expert for a project to assist in the valuation.
The project included:
• Industrial market research to determine the market size and growth rate of incumbent corrosion additives, segmented by end-uses (industrial maintenance, automotive).
• Value chain analysis of the anti-corrosion paint and coating market to understand the value realized by paint formulators and end-users by both incumbent additives and the new conductive polymer.
• Competitive intelligence of key competitive producers of conductive polymers to assess their progress in entering the corrosion additive market with estimates of their cost structure, profitability and overall competitive strategy including end-use and geographic focus, and product technology.
• Detailed technical interviews of potential customers to determine the strengths/weaknesses of the existing suppliers, switching costs, role of specifications and likelihood to switch.
• Cash flow models of several market-entry scenarios used to calculate net present value and ultimately place value on the technology license.
The client ultimately negotiated a favorable license agreement and entered the market within six months.