PolyOne Hosts Thought Leader Clayton Christensen at Inaugural Innovation Symposium

CLEVELAND, Oct. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL), a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, recently hosted Dr. Clayton Christensen – Harvard Business School professor, author, and architect of disruptive innovation – during the Company's first Innovation Week event, held October 10-13, 2011. Dr. Christensen addressed members of PolyOne's leadership team with insights from several of his books, including The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's DNA.

Taking place over four days, Innovation Week included working sessions aimed at fostering new ideas, recognizing and sharing best practices, and increasing ingenuity. It was held at the Company's Avon Lake, Ohio headquarters.

"This event provided an opportunity to inspire and educate our global organization by improving and expanding our customer-centric innovation skills," said Stephen D. Newlin, chairman, president and chief executive officer, PolyOne Corporation. "During the week, we combined Design for Lean Six Sigma training, creativity skill building, and expert knowledge from Dr. Christensen to accelerate growth through innovation."

"Successful companies today are the ones that invest in innovation focused closely on the goals their customers are trying to achieve," Dr. Christensen explained during his presentation. His research has been applied to national economies and start-ups as well as a number of Fortune 50 companies.

About Dr. Clayton Christensen

Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Technology & Operations Management and General Management faculty groups. He is best known for his study of innovation in commercial enterprises. His first book, The Innovator's Dilemma, articulated his theory of disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovation helps create a new market and value network, and then disrupts an existing market and value network over a few years or decades, eventually displacing established competitors.

About PolyOne

PolyOne Corporation, with 2010 revenues of $2.6 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. Headquartered outside of Cleveland, Ohio USA, PolyOne has operations around the world. For additional information on PolyOne, visit our Web site at www.polyone.com.

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SOURCE PolyOne Corporation