From “The Way Forward" Conference: Jim Fitterling, CEO of Dow, and Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture

Digital Transformation and Crisis Acceleration

• Accenture's "Decade of Delivery" Thesis: Julie Sweet identifies 2020 as the pivotal year where the vision of "every business is a digital business" (first proposed in 2013) translated into action, with top 10% digital adopters outperforming the bottom 25% by 2x prior to the crisis.
  • The "Chasm" Effect: The pandemic accelerated the performance gap between digital leaders and laggards overnight.
  • Case Study: A global retailer expanded curbside delivery capabilities from 100 stores to 1,400 stores within 48 hours.
  • Market Context: With 84% of retail sales historically conducted in brick-and-mortar locations, the sudden shift to online channels exposed companies lacking digital infrastructure.
• Dow's Cloud and Data Infrastructure:
  • SAP Global Instance: Dow operates a unified SAP system across 30+ manufacturing countries, enabling real-time visibility into global trade and transportation modes.
  • Cloud Migration: Transitioning to cloud-based solutions allowed Dow to shift its entire global workforce to remote work in days without system failure.
  • E-Commerce Growth: Dow retooled its website (Dow.com) into a customer-centric e-commerce platform, driving a >100% increase in traffic during the pandemic.
  • Revenue Scale: The company generates over $3.5 billion in direct sales annually through its digital platform.
• Behavioral Shifts vs. Remote Work:
  • Core Driver: Sweet argues the crisis represents a fundamental shift in consumer behavior and purchasing patterns, not just a temporary change in work location.
  • B2B Digitalization Gap: A critical vulnerability identified in the industrial sector is the lack of digitized sales channels, forcing traditional B2B firms to struggle with remote selling.
  • Data Necessity: Pre-crisis predictive models are now obsolete; companies must utilize new data to understand rapidly changing customer needs.

Innovation, Automation, and Workforce Strategy

• R&D Acceleration via Modeling:
  • Virtual First: Dow now conducts the initial wave of product research via computer modeling rather than physical lab work.
  • Coatings Industry: Digital tools have reduced paint formulation development cycles from 2–3 years to approximately 3 months by crunching data rather than waiting for physical durability tests.
  • Consumer Tech Integration: Smartphone cameras and AI enable real-time color matching and design, allowing customers to digitize paint selection.
• AI and Job Resilience:
  • "Shared Success" Strategy: Automation is framed as a tool for resilience (e.g., remote plant inspections via VR) and innovation, not just cost-cutting.
  • Reskilling Imperative: Sweet emphasizes that reskilling must be a systematic, multi-stakeholder effort involving corporations, governments, and educational institutions.
  • Chicago Initiative: 17 companies in Chicago, including Aon and Accenture, collaborated to create 1,000 apprenticeships in 18 months.
  • Talent Gap: Cloud migration has exposed a shortage of in-house skills, necessitating urgent upskilling programs for existing IT departments.

Geopolitics, Supply Chain, and Security

• China Operations and Resilience:
  • Pandemic Response: Dow's China operations achieved zero cases post-reopening by adhering to strict PPE and social distancing protocols, citing cultural discipline and pre-existing pandemic plans.
  • Supply Chain Adaptation: The crisis highlighted the strategic value of "multiple sourcing points" and flexible logistics to navigate disruptions from trade wars, hurricanes, and pandemics.
  • Future Outlook: Dow's Fitterling predicts geopolitical trade tensions will become the primary source of supply chain disruption, surpassing pandemic impacts in the long term.
• Market Investment in China:
  • Resiliency Signal: Accenture clients observe China's rapid economic recovery, viewing it as a resilient market for accelerating penetration via partners like Alibaba.
  • Scale Comparison: Alibaba's "Double 11" sales event generates more revenue in a single day than the combined total of U.S. Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• Cybersecurity Risks:
  • Cloud vs. Security: Moving to the cloud and e-commerce without "security by design" has exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains.
  • Investment Gap: Only 30% of CIOs/CISOs list securing supply chains as a top priority, despite the expanded attack surface.
  • Dow's Protocol: Dow treats cybersecurity with the same rigor as process safety, conducting annual "cyber drills" and hackathons to identify weaknesses.

Technology Infrastructure and Sustainability

• 5G Deployment:
  • Latency Requirement: 5G is essential for industrial applications requiring zero latency to connect manufacturing and logistics.
  • Foundation Dependency: 5G acceleration is contingent on a prior investment in cloud foundations and data management; leaders with these core investments will widen the performance gap.
• Sustainability Goals (Dow):
  • Carbon Neutrality: Dow committed to carbon neutrality by 2050 and specific reductions by 2030.
  • Energy Mix: The company aims to install 750 megawatts of alternative energy, becoming a top-25 global user in its sector.
  • Plastic Waste Targets:
    • 2035 Goal: 100% of plastic packaging materials produced will be fully reusable or recyclable.
    • Recycling Target: Dow aims to incorporate 1 million metric tons of post-consumer recycled plastic into virgin materials annually by 2035.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

• Accenture's Structural Changes:
  • Transparency: Accenture has published demographic data by race since 2015, holding itself to a standard of accountability.
  • External Goals: New mandatory external targets have been set for the representation of Black and Hispanic Americans at leadership and overall levels.
  • Training Evolution: The company is replacing unconscious bias training with mandatory training specifically focused on identifying and addressing racism.
  • Leadership Metrics: Women now comprise 45% of Accenture's 500,000-person workforce.
• Dow's Racial and LGBTQ+ Stance:
  • Human Decency: Fitterling emphasizes that protecting workers from discrimination is a baseline requirement of human decency, citing the inability to "hide" racial identity as a unique burden.
  • Policy Advocacy: Dow supports the recent Supreme Court ruling protecting LGBTQ+ workers from employment discrimination while acknowledging gaps in housing, healthcare, and adoption laws.
  • Crisis Leverage: Both leaders argue the current societal moment offers a unique window of opportunity to implement permanent structural changes regarding racial justice.