. What are Du Pont's competitive advantages in the TiO2 market from 1972? How permanent or defensible are they? What should Du Pot do to maintain its competitive advantages in the future? As the document suggests, Du Pont has been a dominant company in the TiO2 market because it is the only company with the technology for mining ilmenite chloride, which ultimately led to a decline in its selling price . lower cost than its competitors. Since chloride technology is less expensive than other technologies and Du Pont is the only company managing the installation, these two factors give Du Pont major advantages over other companies. But it won't be long before we lose the privilege of these advantages, unless Du Pont thinks of a new strategy to retain them. In this case, two strategies were introduced and considered by Du Pont: a growth strategy that calls for aggressive expansion to control the market and limit the ability of competitors to expand. The other is called the maintenance strategy which targets 45% market share by gradually increasing investments. Each of these strategies carries different types of risks that Du Pont should consider.2. Given the forecasts provided in the case, estimate the expected incremental free cash flows associated with Du Pont's growth strategy and maintain the strategy for the TiO2 market. How much risk and uncertainty surround these future cash flows? Which strategy looks more attractive (i.e. using the DCF method (e.g. NPV))? The estimated free cash flow for the two strategies is $391 million for the growth strategy and $365 million for the sustain strategy. (Please refer to the Excel sheet for the calculation breakdown). I believe both strategies have the same demand uncertainty, p...... middle of paper ...... and many other factors.4. What strategy should Du Pont pursue?Du Pont is organized into ten industrial departments. The department responsible for TiO2, the Pigments Department, is the second smallest of the ten departments. The revenues of this department in 1971 were $180 million, which represented only 4.68% of Du Pont's revenues. Although there is considerable risk associated with the growth strategy, the committee is willing to grow this department as it is one of Du Pont's smaller departments and the company is performing very well financially in its together. This leads us to the conclusion that the growth strategy must be continued. Du Pont can afford to take a risk on this strategy given the low impact of this department on associated finances, not to mention that the returns from the growth strategy are higher than those from the maintenance strategy...