Breaking New Ground

The chronicle of a profitable understanding among nations In 1885, its 20th year of existence, Badische Anilin- & Sodafabrik (BASF) sent a director named Theodor Sproesser to a distant and exotic country: China. The manager was to explore huge new customer bases there for such BASF products as the recently invented tar dyes. The expedition was a success - one that in the next 130 years would multiply to a degree of which no one would have dared to dream: In 2014, as the world's leading chemical company, BASF achieved sales of around 5,5 billion euros in the Greater China region alone. It constructed one of its largest and most state-of-the-art Verbund sites in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Now the innovative chemical products are not just shipped to China but are being developed there directly for the global marketplace. But to get this far, the company had to follow an adventurous path, often needing to cross the chasms of intercultural communication. This book takes the reader along on a great journey through two very different worlds. This book is published with the kind support of BASF SE This is a book by HOFFMANN UND CAMPE Corporate Publishing distributed by the publisher HOFFMANN UND CAMPE Verlags.

Michael Grabicki studied German literature and political science in Hamburg und Göttingen. He completed an internship at a newspaper and then worked as a journalist at "Göttinger Tageblatt." After holding various public relations positions at BASF, he was responsible for its Corporate Media Relations until the end of 2013. During this time, Michael Grabicki repeatedly visited Asia and supported BASF's activities in China with public relations work. The author lives in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine.