EXXONMOBIL CHEMICAL STICKS TO THE SCRIPT: To keep prospering in the cyclical PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY, the giant invests both in good years and bad

JIM HARRIS, a 30-year veteran of ExxonMobil Chemical, says there’s no way to consistently predict the ups or downs of the petrochemical industry. The best way to prosper over a long period of time, he says, is to steadily build new production facilities and ignore the industry’s profit outlook. “You take a very long view, and you don’t attempt to invest at the peak, don’t try to invest in the valley, but you invest for the long haul and let the chips fall where they may,” he says. Harris is ExxonMobil’s senior vice president in charge of the company’s polymers, synthetic rubber, adhesives, films, packaging, and labeling businesses. Whatever ExxonMobil Chemical has been doing, its recent financial performance has been stellar. In 2007, it earned $4.5 billion in net profit on sales of $36.8 billion. In the first quarter of 2008, chemical earnings declined 17% compared with the quarter one year earlier but ...