Organization of the BASF Group
The BASF Group consists of 11 operating divisions, which are grouped into six segments as follows:
- Chemicals: Petrochemicals, Intermediates
- Materials: Performance Materials, Monomers
- Industrial Solutions: Dispersions & Resins, Performance Chemicals
- Surface Technologies: Catalysts, Coatings
- Nutrition & Care: Care Chemicals, Nutrition & Health
- Agricultural Solutions: Agricultural Solutions
This segment structure enables us to steer our businesses according to market-specific requirements and the competitive environment. We provide a high level of transparency around the results of our segments and show the importance of the Verbund and value chains to our business success. The operating divisions, the service units, the regions, research and development and the corporate center are the cornerstones of the BASF organization. This organizational structure lays the foundation for customer proximity, competitiveness and profitable growth. BASF aims to differentiate its businesses from their competitors to enable BASF to perform even more strongly in an increasingly competitive market environment.
More information on the BASF Group’s steering concept:
For more information on the products and services offered by the segments, see:
- Chemicals
- Materials
- Industrial Solutions
- Surface Technologies
- Nutrition & Care
- Agricultural Solutions
- For more information on the segment structure, see Note 5 to the Consolidated Financial Statements
The divisions bear strategic and operational responsibility and are organized according to sectors or products. They manage the 49 global and regional business units and develop strategies for 70 strategic business units.
Five service units provide competitive services for the BASF Group:
- Global Engineering Services
- Global Digital Services
- Global Procurement
- European Site & Verbund Management
- Global Business Services (finance and controlling, human resources, safety, intellectual property, communications, procurement, supply chain and in-house consulting services).
BASF’s regional and national companies represent the Group locally and support the growth of the operating divisions with local proximity to customers. For financial reporting purposes, we organize the regional companies into four regions: Europe; North America; Asia Pacific; and South America, Africa and Middle East.
Our specific research and development units are integrated into the divisions, and activities with broad relevance for our businesses are bundled in a research division. This division is globally positioned with research centers in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. With this setup, we are focusing our research activities even more strongly on our customers and their needs.
The Corporate Center supports the Board of Executive Directors in steering the company as a whole. This steering includes central tasks from the following areas: strategy, finance and controlling, law, compliance and insurance, tax, environmental protection, health, safety and quality, human resources, communications, investor relations, corporate audit and the Net Zero Accelerator unit.
Corporate legal structure
As the publicly listed parent company of the BASF Group, BASF SE takes a central position: Directly or indirectly, it holds the shares in the companies belonging to the BASF Group and is also one of the largest operating companies. In the BASF Group Consolidated Financial Statements, 260 companies including BASF SE are fully consolidated. We consolidate nine joint operations on a proportional basis and account for 21 companies using the equity method.