Subject: Company Confusion

From: [email-masked] (Joe Golab)
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 18:20:28 -0600

This is a good question ... about Dow, DuPont, etc.  I am employed by Amoco
Chemical Company and I can respond about how it works.  To all the MBA'd
scientists/engineers/technicians out there ... if I do not use the absolutely
correct business terms for what I mean, I consider myself lucky so don't
bother to flame me.

Amoco Chemical Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amoco Corporation.
Other subsidiaries of the corporation are: Amoco Production, Amoco Oil, and
Amoco Technology.  For example, Amoco Oil refines crude oil and sells it as
gasoline at those Amoco stations you might see on the road.  Each company is
lead by the strategic direction/mission of the corporation.  On the other
hand, each company has its own president and board of executive officers who
are directly responsible for the day to day running of the company and
ultimately on its "return on investment" to the corporation.  Amoco Chemical
has annual sales in the billions of dollars (American).

The Chemical company is in turn split up into six distinct business units.
Each of these is tied to a major product line and are pretty autonomous
(although their strategies follow the company's general mission).  For
example, one of our business units, "Fiber and Films" recently acquired
Phillips Fiber and Fabric.  I know that (to the uninitiated) this reads
like a lot of management overhead but in reality Amoco is a pretty flat
organization.

Amoco has two major research centers one in Naperville (Illinois, USA);
the other in Tulsa (Oklahoma, USA).  The one in Tulsa is pretty much a
computer/geophysics shop and the major "tenant" is Production.  The
Naperville center is much more what one would think an R&D center is all
about; Chemical, Oil, and Technology each have a building on site (or
campus) and a bunch of PhDs work here.  Much of the work is application
driven and improvement oriented, although "new product" research is done.
The people who work for Amoco at headquarters (in downtown Chicago) don't
do any R&D (in the classical sense of the term) and are mainly business
types, i.e. executive officers, accountants, marketeers, etc.

As a computational chemist, my job function is fairly new here.  My major
task is to do what is necessary (within a budget) to provide quick,
efficient, and effective access to theoretical methods that provide
practical guidance for experimental work that is either too expensive,
"dangerous", etc.  This means that I work with non-theoreticians for the
most part - other chemists who speak the "language/company lingo" of years
of experimental work on company issues - as part of a problem-solving team.
This means that most of what comes out of my mouth is "so much gobbeldy-gook"
to them (although some theorists have told me that as well) and I end up
translating "the molecule is moving according to its normal mode vector"
into recognizable English (it's vibrating for cripes sake!).  For example,
telling people that a transition state has "one and only one negative
eigenvalue in its Hessian" will make you _think_ that you are doing a great
job until an experimentalist asks you what equipment s/he has to buy to
test for "the negative ion value".  BTW, I don't mean to imply that when
you get to industry your "research days" are over; I do mean to imply that
an industrial scientist/engineer/technician does work that is somehow
related to the overall mission of the company and impacts the "bottom line"
in a positive manner.  Over time, I have found that one naturally picks
projects that allow some research while doing either of the former.

For job searching assistance, here is my advice (for what it is worth).  At
Amoco, the corporation solicits job applications.  This means that if you
send a scientist at Amoco your resume, s/he will most likely forward it to
the appropriate HR (human resources) person at corporate.  You should
include a (single) page in addition to your resume, emphasizing why you
can make a contribution to the company's R&D program (for example).  Mention
any unique (in your opinion) capabilities you have and how they might fit
a (perceived) need in the company.  I admit that this means you will have
to read about the company or talk to someone "inside" but if its a job you
want its worth it.  Speaking as an industrial chemist, the work is
challenging and enjoyable.  At the risk of inviting a BUNCH of Email I will
not have time/patience to read, I invite inquiries for more information.
Good Luck!

DISCLAIMER: All of this stuff is an opinion of my own conceiving.  Any
            resemblance to company policy is entirely coincidental and
            completely in the mind of the reader.

-- 
:Joe
 [email-masked]