Rohm And Haas Consolidates

<B>Rohm And Haas Consolidates</B>

By Megan Hjermstad

<I>Philadelphia - </I>Almost one year into a global agency consolidation, Rohm and Haas has consolidated with Maritz-GTM partners in 25 of 35 countries in which the specialty chemical manufacturer has locations around the world. In Europe--where the effort began--the consolidation is mostly complete, but there are small offices there that have not yet been brought into the fold.

"To a certain extent, we're stretching the limits on a global program," said Henry Good, director of travel and insurance. "Other companies aren't pushing it quite as far or hard as we're trying to."

Prior to the consolidation, every country was doing its own thing. "Three or four locations within the same country could be using at least four different agencies," said Good. "We wanted to go to global contracts with suppliers, and they wanted to see us with a single agency."

Leveraging its $45 million worldwide air volume--$35 million of which is U.S. based--Rohm and Haas has been able to put several global airline contracts in place. But, "It has been a constant struggle with the airlines," said Good. "They need to think and act globally, but all they can think about is individual geographic profit centers. While we may be a major customer of that airline in several parts of the world, there are other parts where we still use that airline but it's not that big a deal to them. It has been very difficult to get them to sign a contract in such a country."

Good said Air France--now its primary European-based carrier--was far more willing to work toward a global arrangement than the other carriers. Rohm and Haas currently is working on a primary contract with an Asian-based carrier.

Good, who has been responsible for travel at Rohm and Haas for a little over two years, has been disappointed by the narrow mindset of travel suppliers. "I came from the financial side, and banks and insurance carriers think and act globally," said Good. "It has been really frustrating to see the lack of supplier ability to think globally."

Good said that Maritz has been a good partner but is not ready to provide support in certain parts of the world. "They are struggling to some extent, putting a global network in place," he said. "There are several countries we are in where they do not yet have a GTM partner. So we're waiting for them to conclude those partner arrangements so we can proceed."

Good said the biggest challenge is getting acceptance of the global program among employees. "Three years ago, local travel agents--particularly outside the U.S.--had all kinds of money. They were receiving big commissions from the airlines and were offering free upgrades and club memberships. Unfortunately, those days are changing, but it's coming about at a time when we're changing agencies. Had many of our locations stayed with an old agency, they would have lost all those perks they had. They would have been paying fees and everything else, but in fact they never saw that with their old agency. Maritz and I end up taking the brunt of the changes, when in fact it would have happened locally anyway."

Fortunately, Good from the beginning has had total senior management support of the global policy. He reports to a senior travel advisory committee, composed of the president, chairman and three senior vice presidents. In conjunction with the committee, Good implemented a consistent policy, which takes into consideration only financial and legal differences, such as what value of receipts are required for reimbursement by local tax authorities.

Good said that the comprehensive global policy has overwritten cultural differences that may have existed previously. "In many countries--and probably still in many companies--senior management has a different travel policy with respect to class than does the rest of the employees. In Rohm and Haas that is not true," said Good. "Our senior management travels under the same policy as does the lowest plant person. Having that edict coming from the president of the company, who also flies coach here in the U.S., we've gotten past" any culture shock, said Good.

While Rohm and Haas mandated the class of travel and Diners Club as its global corporate card, the company has not mandated the use of specific airlines or hotels.

Rohm and Haas has negotiated local hotel contracts, but is waiting to get its credit card data together before approaching hotel chains for more global contracts.

In 2001, Good will focus on negotiating hotel contracts, selecting and implementing an expense reporting system and improving the functionality of the online booking system.

Rohm and Haas three months ago rolled out the GetThere product in the United States and intends to expand its use worldwide. Good said adoption is slow, but attributed it more to the weaknesses of the IT system than to the GetThere package. "We have a slow, cumbersome system for our people in the field to dial in. An upgrade in the whole thing is imminent and then acceptance will be a whole lot better," he said.

Good believes that over time usage will increase naturally. "Twenty years from now it's going to be 100 percent," he said. "Today, you have to have it because of the young salespeople who are computer savvy, but you still have to contend with the senior person who only uses computers when he has to. If you force him to go online all you do is tie up another person when he has a secretary go online for him. So, we're not going to mandate because we think it will drive up our administrative costs. But it's there, and its use will expand as people become more computer literate and as our system access speed increases.