July 10 2011
Volume 41, Issue 13 - Interview: Airgas 'Returns to Normalcy'
41
13
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This is the pdf of this issue of Modern Distribution Management. Apply the full $34.95 pay-per-view cost of this issue toward an annual subscription, which includes two issues a month plus access to more than eight years of online archives and market data. Call 1-888-742-5060 or email info@mdm.com to subscribe. Subscribers log-in to download this issue.
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Radnor, PA-based Airgas, No. 4 on MDMs Top 40 Industrial Distributors list, spent most of 2010 fending off a hostile takeover bid from manufacturer Air Products, Lehigh Valley, PA. Airgas President and CEO Peter McCausland recently spoke with Associate Editor Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier about the key drivers of growth in 2010, goals for the company now that Air Products has withdrawn its bid, and the growing role of technology in sales.
MDM: Last year seems to have been a pretty good year for Airgas, even with the need to fend off the bid from Air Products. What were the key drivers for growth in 2010?
Peter McCausland: I suppose you’re talking about our fiscal year 2011 that ended this past March 31, since that’s mostly calendar 2010. And it was a pretty good year.
I think the real driver was a resurgence in the U.S. economy, especially among manufacturers. It started with large manufacturers, and toward the end of our fiscal year we saw the recovery begin to spread.
Energy companies and energy markets were showing…
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I’ve been stuck on the topic of online marketing recently and its status in wholesale distribution channels. Here’s why. As distributors continue to rebuild in this growth cycle, many are still using the same business development methods: outside and inside sales functions. …
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Many distributors are wary of charging separately for items such as delivery, small orders or fuel, but experts say that if it’s done correctly, what’s known as price partitioning can be a successful (and even accepted) part of a distributor pricing strategy.
Consumers have long been used to the idea of price partitioning – what the authors of a recent article in the MIT Sloan Management Review called the practice of charging separately for such things as shipping, installation, checked baggage or tire disposal.
The concept is gaining traction among distributors …
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MDM attended the recent Canadian Power Transmission Distributors Association conference in Ottawa, Ontario. Topics discussed at the conference and summarized in this article include the Canadian economic outlook, business opportunities and talent management.
From the economy to recruitment and retention concerns to new opportunities, the topics front of mind for power transmission and bearing distributors in Canada aren’t all that different from those of their U.S. counterparts. How they approach these topics, however, may be.
Speakers addressed these topics at the annual Canadian Conference of the Power Transmission Distributors Association in Ottawa, Ontario, which MDM attended at the beginning of June.
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Modern Distribution Management’s Industrial Inflation Index measures a cross-section of industrial supplies.
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News briefs from June 26 – July 10, 2011.
- Premium
This is the pdf of this issue of Modern Distribution Management. Apply the full $34.95 pay-per-view cost of this issue toward an annual subscription, which includes two issues a month plus access to more than eight years of online archives and market data. Call 1-888-742-5060 or email info@mdm.com to subscribe. Subscribers log-in to download this issue.
- Premium
Radnor, PA-based Airgas, No. 4 on MDMs Top 40 Industrial Distributors list, spent most of 2010 fending off a hostile takeover bid from manufacturer Air Products, Lehigh Valley, PA. Airgas President and CEO Peter McCausland recently spoke with Associate Editor Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier about the key drivers of growth in 2010, goals for the company now that Air Products has withdrawn its bid, and the growing role of technology in sales.
MDM: Last year seems to have been a pretty good year for Airgas, even with the need to fend off the bid from Air Products. What were the key drivers for growth in 2010?
Peter McCausland: I suppose you’re talking about our fiscal year 2011 that ended this past March 31, since that’s mostly calendar 2010. And it was a pretty good year.
I think the real driver was a resurgence in the U.S. economy, especially among manufacturers. It started with large manufacturers, and toward the end of our fiscal year we saw the recovery begin to spread.
Energy companies and energy markets were showing…
- Premium
I’ve been stuck on the topic of online marketing recently and its status in wholesale distribution channels. Here’s why. As distributors continue to rebuild in this growth cycle, many are still using the same business development methods: outside and inside sales functions. …
- Premium
Many distributors are wary of charging separately for items such as delivery, small orders or fuel, but experts say that if it’s done correctly, what’s known as price partitioning can be a successful (and even accepted) part of a distributor pricing strategy.
Consumers have long been used to the idea of price partitioning – what the authors of a recent article in the MIT Sloan Management Review called the practice of charging separately for such things as shipping, installation, checked baggage or tire disposal.
The concept is gaining traction among distributors …
- Premium
MDM attended the recent Canadian Power Transmission Distributors Association conference in Ottawa, Ontario. Topics discussed at the conference and summarized in this article include the Canadian economic outlook, business opportunities and talent management.
From the economy to recruitment and retention concerns to new opportunities, the topics front of mind for power transmission and bearing distributors in Canada aren’t all that different from those of their U.S. counterparts. How they approach these topics, however, may be.
Speakers addressed these topics at the annual Canadian Conference of the Power Transmission Distributors Association in Ottawa, Ontario, which MDM attended at the beginning of June.
- Premium
Modern Distribution Management’s Industrial Inflation Index measures a cross-section of industrial supplies.
- Premium
News briefs from June 26 – July 10, 2011.
