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If you look at Diversey over the last decade, it's had various different management teams, how does that impact the culture of innovation in the institution?

Of course, it’s the management team that influences culture. That is very true. I think, in the case of Diversey, what influenced it most was the fact that it was bought and sold a number of times. That affects the strategic agenda often and the strategic agenda will affect innovation. The private equity head wanted to sell it in sort of 2-3 years time. That’s a short horizon time-span for innovation. Innovation as a strategic driver for growth becomes less important, because, by the time it starts paying off, in 2-3 years, they will have sold the company again. I think that determines a lot of how people look at innovation. The second cause is the management team. Most management teams will be convinced that innovation is an important activity because they are convinced that they will become obsolete at some point in time. Now, it depends a little bit on what market segment you are in and how urgent that is. That will impact innovation as well. In general, the larger organisations will have some form of innovation.

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