SASOL coal research and development : a strategic perspective

Abstract

In 1997 Sasol Coal started a Renewal process that brought a renewed focus on attaining cost leadership in its mining operations. This brought about the restructuring of the Projects and Research department to complement this leadership strategy. The first step is to asses and plan for the changing requirements of the department's clients (the mines). Each project represents a potential profit centre and therefore the financial viability of each project should be calculated and measured using Full Time Equivalent units as a base value. The use of a Quad analysis helped to create offensive, defensive and improvement strategies and the action steps necessary to achieve them. It also indicated the vulnerabilities and temptations that should be avoided when setting up the strategies. The action steps taken from the Quad analysis formed the basis of the changes suggested for the department's management structure; therefore the structure followed the strategies. The structure was organised along functional lines with a matrix structure used for reporting in projects. A facilitator for each mine was suggested in order to work more closely with the clients and to oversee the implementation and co-ordination of all the project work for that mine.