The current contribution deals with a rare case of technology entrepreneurship and describes not only the foundation of the firm, but also its further development as a mid-size technology venture until 2016 addressing also its success factors.
Bada was founded in 1997 to operate in the polymer/plastics segment of the chemical industry when this was in a period of distinct change.
In the 1990s central issues included where new polymeric materials and grades will come from in the future, specifically needed by various industries for new materials associated with demand for short development times. Furthermore, on the customer side more individualized (customized) products were demanded in ever smaller quantities.
The main direction then was no longer totally new plastics or polymer blends, but development targeting the combination of existing materials – new plastic formulations (recipes) creating “compounds”.
Compounding is a process of adding components, additives and modifiers in small amounts, into a molten basic plastic to generate material with desired properties, particularly color, texture, strength, etc.
Bada focuses on polymer blends (made of two or more polymers), but essentially on compounds for specific materials.
Its product portfolio covers compounds of engineering plastics optimized to suit a variety of applications requiring specific properties and also individually customized materials solutions. Consequently Bada’s fundamental operational principle is customer-orientation.
It addresses much diversified application areas and end customer markets of the electrical & electronics (E&E), automotive, building and construction, furniture, household, medical technology, leisure and sports industries.
However, depending on applications, compound development is subjected to various usage regulations or industry standards requiring certifications before release into the market. Each industry has its own special legal regulations and requirements. For example, in applications for E&E flame-retardant or electrically conductive products are often used; the automotive industry needs fogging-optimized and especially scratch-resistant products.
