Doan returned to Midland and was hired at Dow just weeks before
Willard Dow, his uncle, died in an airplane crash. Ted's father, Leland Doan, was named Dow president. Doan began an open-door policy for employees, placed higher emphasis on research, and held the attitude that their employees were the company's strength. Those policies continued after Doan's departure from Dow. Doan periodically visited the research labs at Dow and was always interested in the work of each employee.
Trioka Trioka is Russian term for a wagon pulled by a team of three horses abreast. Doan formed a management trioka at Dow with board chairman
Carl Gerstacker responsible for finance and marketing; executive vice-president Ben Branch in charge of international business and manufacturing; Doan managed everything else. They met every other week on Monday mornings. Once each year they would retreat for a week to determine company strategy for the next year and evaluate all 300 senior managers. Upon their return, promotions and personnel changes were effected.
Overseas When Dow realized that constructing manufacturing facilities in other countries created demand, they began producing plastics in Germany, Greece, Spain and Italy. The largest investment was in the
Netherlands, at
Terneuzen. That chemical complex opened in 1965. Plants were also built in South America: Argentina and Colombia plus
New Zealand. With extensive operations all around the world, Doan and his managers had a meeting in 1965 where they acknowledged the need to decentralize. They established a headquarters on every continent to manage business. Dow Europe, Dow Latin America and Dow Pacific were established in 1966. Technology centers were also established for 33 key products. ==Retirement==