# Keynote Case Study: BASF — A 150-Year Company Was Preparing for What Came Next
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## Article Content
A 150th anniversary naturally invites an organization to look backward. BASF used the moment to look forward. During its anniversary year, I addressed international petrochemical executives on the transformative trends defining the future of the industry. The company theme asked a powerful question: How can you make tomorrow better than today? That question went directly to the heart of the keynote. Petrochemicals sit inside an enormous number of industries. Automotive. Construction. Consumer products. Packaging. Energy. Agriculture. Advanced manufacturing. When those industries change, the materials and chemical industries supplying them have to change too. That meant the future of petrochemicals could not be understood only by watching petrochemicals. It required looking outward. At new manufacturing technologies. New materials. Changing consumer expectations. New energy systems. New forms of mobility. And the accelerating pace of product innovation. Six themes framed the discussion: Materials Innovation. New materials were creating new product and manufacturing possibilities. Manufacturing Acceleration. Faster product cycles were placing more pressure on suppliers to innovate quickly. Changing End Markets. Automotive, construction, consumer and energy markets were all undergoing significant change. Technology Convergence. Scientific and digital advances were increasingly interacting with traditional industrial processes. Global Competitive Speed. Competitive advantage was shifting toward organizations able to respond faster to changing markets. Continuous Reinvention. Longevity depended on repeatedly adapting a strong industrial foundation to a new future. The anniversary context made the message especially relevant. A company does not survive for 150 years by refusing to change. It survives because generation after generation finds a way to align its capabilities with new markets, new science and new customer needs. The challenge is to make that adaptability deliberate rather than accidental. BASF's history was an asset. But the future would still have to be earned. The organizations that last are not those that protect the past. They are those that continually use the past as a platform for the next reinvention.

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Source: https://jimcarroll.com/2015/03/keynote-case-study-basf-a-150-year-company-was-preparing-for-what-came-next/