Fletcher Challenge Methanol: a case in corporate strategy

Abstract

In 1988 Fletcher Challenge took ownership of Petrocorp (the Petroleum Corporation of New Zealand) as an under-bidder when the New Zealand Government put it up for tender. After a series of restructuring initiatives to manage its new investment, Fletcher Challenge sought to add value to methanol products in order to counteract the volatile commodity cycle of methanol in the international marketplace. Fletcher Challenge went from having no presence in the methanol industry to becoming the world's largest producer in less than five years.