180 Inverting the Paradox of Excellence
7.1.2 TransformeD prioriTies aT DuponT
DuPont, a 27-billion-dollar company with 60,000 employees, began life in 1802, manufacturing
gunpowder and explosives. Since then, it has reinvented itself many times—rst by moving into
dyes, resins, and paints in the early twentieth century and later becoming an energy company with its
acquisition of Conoco in 1983. Still the second largest chemical manufacturer in the United States,
it redened itself once more in the early 1990s as “the world’s most dynamic science company,
creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, and healthier life for people everywhere.”
DuPont is now pursuing business opportunities in agriculture, nutrition, and bio-based ...