Relationships between people are the basis for providing services
Emílio Odebrecht – Chairman of the Board of Odebrecht S.A.

In the context of the increasingly complex and challenging dynamics of modern entrepreneurship, I would like to underscore a conceptual change that must be made in regard to the art of doing business: increasingly, we are living in a world of services and knowledge.

I am not referring to the concept of services in the ordinary sense of the term. I am referring to another aspect of this business, which is based more on interactions between individuals than between companies. Therefore, I would like to propose that the emphasis of business relations be shifted to interfaces between people – because the basic difference between two companies with the same qualifications will be the understanding they have reached regarding what the Client wants to be and do – the essence of the act of rendering services.

The activities involved in engineering and construction are usually viewed generically as services. Nevertheless, an Engineering & Construction company that wants to stand out from the competition must not only make it its business to “satisfy the Client,” as our Founder, Norberto Odebrecht, always says, but ensure that it is increasingly qualified to identify the present and future needs of the communities it serves or wishes to serve, and do so in a timely fashion. The next step is bringing together the players who can mobilize the resources needed to meet those needs, including the key figure of the Client, whom the company must serve from the political-strategic, strategic-entrepreneurial and entrepreneurial-operational standpoints. In this sense, the execution of the venture (project) per se will not always be the most important factor.

Therefore, the international competitiveness of our Engineering & Construction activities is directly linked to our competence in identifying needs and Clients, and consequently in structuring and developing businesses. This means offering Clients our specific technological expertise and capacity for general management, practicing environmentally and socially responsible entrepreneurship, and ensuring the political, economic and social viability of ventures that the communities need and the Client has either taken charge of or established as a dream they want realized.

When applied to industry, the concept of services can encompass the entire supply chain through close and constant interaction with the Client, research and development support, value-added, shared dreams and partnering, and translates as the creation and application of knowledge for the benefit of that Client.

Braskem teams up with its downstream Clients, partnering with them to develop new businesses in the plastics manufacturing sector with a view to driving the growth of the entire petrochemicals supply chain – both upstream and downstream.

The aim is to ensure that Braskem is seen not only as the best supplier or raw materials but as a supplier of technical and commercial solutions that boost development and add value to the sector.

As a result, our commitment to rendering service can be broadened by transforming our very competencies into services. In other words, the knowledge we share with our Clients will become more than just a means of providing them more and better service if the leading players in a business enable the Client to become the co-owner of that knowledge, which will result in fresh qualifications and expertise for both Client and service provider.

Entrepreneurial organizations cannot grow without the right people, because the growth of organizations is a direct outcome of the growth of the people who comprise them.

Entrepreneurial organizations can only grow if they build the future every day. Therefore, identifying, hiring and grooming people to undertake the commitment to rendering services to our Clients with the highest quality, and take pleasure in doing so – a basic tenet of the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology – is still our most gratifying and enduring challenge.