Why DuPont chose joint-venture

DuPont explained its rationale for the sale in a Sept. 11 presentation to New York analysts. "The problem is we didn't have the marketing expertise or the ability to get the things through regulatory systems around the world. We didn't have a strong system. The choice was either sell the business, make a big acquisition or find an alliance. And our conclusion was we could maximize stock holder value by not making a big acquisition and all the risk that goes with that. We did not think that we could sell the business for any significant pay off for the shareholders and we were just very thrilled that we were able to entice Merck, who we consider the outstanding pharmaceutical company in the world".