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FOR BASF, BIG IS STILL BETTER: Restructuring and becoming 'transnational,' the huge, integrated company still believes in huge, integrated plant sites

In 1932, two German industrial firms-chemicals producer BASF (Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik at that time) and electricity company AEG—began a collaboration that culminated in the first tape recorder, introduced in 1935 at the Berlin radio exhibition. Last month, BASF signed a letter of intent to exit the magnetic tapes business by selling its magnetic products operations to Turkish electronics company RAKS. The business isn't a big part of BASF—only about 3% of total sales in 1995 of the company that topped C&EN's Global Top 50 list this year. But the decision to shed some of its history is a dramatic indication that the German chemicals giant is grappling with the thorny challenge of reshaping itself to capitalize on the strengths in its tightly integrated portfolio. "Magnetics were originally close to our core competencies—pigments, coatings, and plastics," Jurgen Strube, chairman of BASF, tells C&EN. "But in the 1980s, the business changed dramatically. It is ...