Running a Saudi Arabian company that turns petroleum into plastic pellets may seem far afield from overseeing the finances of a personal computer company, but as Dell Computer founder Michael Dell knows, there are important similarities.

Brian Gladden

That's why Dell today hired Brian T. Gladden, chief executive of Sabic Innovative Plastics, as his new finance chief as he tries to shave $3 billion a year in costs off his ailing personal computer maker.

Plastics are a key component in laptops and other PC's, so it's likely that some of Gladden's former customers will now become his suppliers. And both plastics and PCs are global businesses dominated by the economics of global supply chains.

"It's an interesting transition, certainly, from an upstream raw-materials business to a consumer-product technology and electronics business, but some of the fundamentals are very much the same," said Howard Rappaport, global business director for plastics at the consulting firm Chemical Market Associates. "There certainly is some overlap there that bodes well for running the business at Dell."

Part of the overlap comes in controlling spiraling costs, particularly as oil prices stay above $120 a barrel. A typical laptop may contain $50 to $150 worth of metal and plastics; one-half to two-thirds of that amount will come from plastics, according to iSuppli, a technology research firm in El Segundo, California.

More important, however, is how the plastic is used. Savvy workmanship with plastics can help a PC company create an impression that its device is more than a bundle of commodity parts. Andrew Rassweiler, an iSuppli analyst, calls this the Apple effect.

Dell's decision to hire a plastics executive may be "a recognition of how the aesthetics of the enclosures and packaging for an otherwise commoditized product" will drive sales, Rassweiler said.

In his former job at a division of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., Gladden oversaw one of the most profitable companies in the chemicals and plastics business, said Rappaport, who consults for the company and others in the industry.

"When you look at the Sabic business model around the world, the emphasis on low-cost, diverse, and lean manufacturing operations is similar in both entities," Rappaport said.