ABCL petrochemical company was founded in the late 1960s and manufactured three commodity products - P, A, and T. It was initially very profitable through the 1990s. However, economic liberalization in the 1990s removed import protections, increasing competition.
The document discusses how ABCL originally had a functional structure with departments for finance, purchasing, operations, and R&D. It argues this structure needs modification due to new objectives like introducing higher value products and improving processes.
A proposed new structure groups functions into departments for finance, R&D, operations, marketing, and selling & distribution. This departmentalization is expected to help with cost reduction, quality improvements, technological advances, competitive marketing strategies