Bayer’s New Business Model: Magnitude of Change

Six months after becoming chairman of the board and CEO of Bayer, Bill Anderson and his team are sharing more details about the change in the way their leadership team is structuring the Bayer business. 

What Does This Mean For How Bayer Does Business

Named by Anderson, Dynamic Shared Ownership (or DSO as it’s called internally) aims to bring the business closer to its customers—with a common structure across all divisions. 
“This is a fundamental redesign of our company; a reimagination of how a multinational company can operate,” Anderson says. 

He adds the new operating model empowers mission focused work and will result in superior financial results. 

“We realized we needed radical change. This is not a theoretical management philosophy, it’s a tangible, material overhaul of every way a company operates.” Anderson says. 
The current Bayer structure has about ten levels of management between the customer all the way through the decision-making process. DSO reduces the layers and brings the business management closer to the customer. 

When Are The Changes Coming? 

The new operating model is being deployed now across various divisions and geographies. For the crop science business in the U.S., the first teams are piloting its structure in Wisconsin and Illinois currently, with complete roll out coming this year. 

There will be a network of hundreds of customer and product teams operating in a cross functional capacity. 

“These teams operate as small, nimble micro businesses focused on value creation and working in close collaboration with each other,” says Michael Lurie, chief catalyst at Bayer. “I've really never seen an organization where the conditions for success are as good as they are at Bayer–it’s a combination of a clear case for change.”

How Will The Crop Science Division Work with Dealers And Farmers?

An example shared by Lurie is in crop science where a customer team would be aligned with farmer customers and dealers in a geographic area. 

Anderson says the day-to-day details for the crop science business in the U.S. are still being developed. 

“We're still finalizing the specifics, but farmers should expect–and farmers already expect from Bayer–a high level of professionalism of knowledge and service. More and more, their needs are really at the center of what we're doing and we're really customizing the way we serve them. They should feel like the organization is designed around them and what they need for their farms, and that's our goal.”