Research Paper on:
Case Study: DuPont Kevlar

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at the same time, the unknown factors associated with that particular products success leaves a company with nothing more than guarded anticipation until the economic reality is realized some months  - or even years - later. This is precisely the scenario DuPont faced when Swank approached the companys Executive Committee to ask for three hundred thirty-two million dollars for  a Kevlar plant. II. MAJOR/MINOR PROBLEMS One of the primary problems with this situation is the manner by which DuPont has approached the project from the start. It  would seem the company would have learned a valuable lesson from the Nomex fiasco and instead utilize discovery-driven planning starting with the construction of a reverse income statement. Because  this is not the obvious approach, one can readily surmise how DuPont is not worrying about the most important things. Clearly, discovery-driven planning would lead the company down an  entirely different - and much more beneficial - path of development/investment because of the inherent nature of knowledge over assumption attributable to this approach. III. AVAILABLE COURSES OF ACTION  The most obvious and available course of action is utilizing discovery-driven planning - which "reflects the habitual entrepreneurs propensity to stop over-analyzing and get started, aggressively using the outcomes  of their early efforts to redirect and learn their way to real opportunity" (Gunther McGrath et al, 2000, p. 232) - the benefit of which often means the difference between  success and failure when it comes to conquering uncharted ventures. According to Gunther McGrath and MacMillan (2000), discovery-driven planning removes much of the unidentified components typically associated with assumption  planning, a wide separation of approach where the limited benefit of assumptions blazes the trail for the more comprehensive aspect of discovery, which draws directly from past lessons. "In