In the academic year 2023-24, INSEAD faculty published 28 case studies which were tagged as ‘sustainability’. This doubles the number from the academic year 2022/23.
Discover the 12 ‘sustainability’ research highlights from the 2023/2024 academic year.
Manufacturing and Circularity
Suzano’s Innovability Transformation: The Next 100 Years
Based in Brazil, family-run Suzano is a global leader in pulp and paper that is looking to diversify beyond its core activities and become part of the green economy. As the company celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2023, attention turns to framing a vision for the century to come. The case, by Professors Felipe Monteiro (INSEAD) and Ivanka Visnjic (ESADE) and Anne-Marie Carrick, Betania Tanure describes Suzano’s efforts in innovation and how “innovability” permeates the entire company, creating new business opportunities for the future. It shows how Suzano combines efficient execution with sustainable practices while continuing to be competitive globally.
Plus Pack (A): Strategic Choices at Turbulent Times and Plus Pack (B): Strategic Choices at Turbulent Times
Plus, Pack, founded in 1914, evolved from a small tinware factory into a leading packaging manufacturer under the stewardship of the Haustrup family. Professor Stanislav Shekshnia and Elizabett Yashneva examine how the fourth generation owners transformed corporate governance at Plus Pack and how the renewed board of directors oversaw the strategy development process. The company, headquartered in environmentally-sensitive Denmark, faced the challenge of balancing sustainable growth, market competitiveness and profitability in a slow-growing market. The case exposes the complex dynamics between the family-owners, the board and management during the two-year-long strategy exercise, as well as providing insight into the workings of boards with employees’ elected representatives.
DSM: Turbocharging Sustainable Resins (A) and DSM: Turbocharging Sustainable Resins (B)
Professor Craig Smith, INSEAD Director in Residence Ron Soonieus and Lisa Simone Duke’s case DSM (A) and (B) tell the remarkable story of Helen Mets, EVP of DSM’s Resins & Functional Materials business (DRF). It explores how she generated considerable value for DSM by pursuing a radical sustainability strategy, steering DRF to a 12.4x multiple when it was sold to Covestro. DSM (A) discusses DSM’s path to greater sustainability, highlighting the environmental issues caused by the chemical industry and, in particular, its impact on the environment with chemicals of concern, GHG emissions, and waste. Case (A) closes with Met’s dramatic step of announcing the new strategy in public at the European Coatings Show. Had Mets gone too far in making the announcement public? Could DRF live up to its promises? How would the industry respond?
DSM (B) picks up immediately with Mets leaving the stage having made the announcement in April 2019. A few months later, Covestro, a competitor and customer of DRF approached DSM to acquire DRF. The case shows that Covestro was particularly interested due to DRF’s focus on sustainability and that the acquisition price was much more than if DSM had tried to sell DRF prior to its sustainability strategy.
Michelin and the Global Tire Industry in 2021: Competing With a Sustainable Strategy
In April 2021, Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux outlined his “2030 Vision” for Michelin based on balanced value creation for “people, planet and profit”, making sustainability a cornerstone of his strategy. Professor Karel Cool and Laurent De Clara discuss the market and industry dynamics, changes in the car and tire industries in response to demands to cut CO2 emissions, and Michelin’s strategy in tire sector and beyond in the coming decade.
Khaloom: Reinventing Handweaving for Circular and Socially Fair Fashion
Professor Amitava Chattopadhyay, Anne-Marie Carrick and Andrew Lee explore Khaloom, a Bangalore-based textile design and production house that makes authentic handwoven fabrics from recycled and organic yarns. The case describes Khaloom’s efforts to reinvent handweaving based on circular and socially fair principles. Its long-term goal is to impact the handloom industry in India by creating formal employment opportunities with decent working conditions, upskill its weavers to make consistently high-quality fabrics, and integrate recycled materials.
Polygreen and Tilos: The World’s First Zero-Waste Island
Professors Atalay Atasu and Luk Van Wassenhove, Xabier Barriola and Elin Williams
Explore how the Greek oil-spill specialist Polygreen diversified into municipal waste management and turned the Aegean paradise of Tilos into the world’s first zero-waste island. The case follows the implementation of a business model based on the principles of the circular economy. The project progresses from the selection of the location to negotiating a “free” contract with the municipality, to rebuilding a whole new team and raising awareness in a community where sorting and recycling are not the norm.
IT
NEC - India (A): The Opportunity in the Indian Growth Story
NEC - India (B): Making it Happen
NEC - India: The Opportunity in the Indian Growth Story (Abridged Version)
This multipart case study, with an abridged version, was written by Professor Paddy Padmanabhan, Guoli Chen and Jean Wee. The case study focuses on NEC-India, which had been operating for over 70 years and had a unique role in NEC’s business. The NEC Corporation is headquartered in Japan and is a leader in IT and network technologies with more than 125 years of history.
In Case A (2017 - 2020), NEC-India responds to HQ’s mandate to focus more on creating value for Indian customers by aligning its technology and assets with local needs by becoming an MSI. Students are asked to assess its performance relative to the level of growth in India’s GDP and national IT spending. In Case B (2020 - 2023), the new CEO Aalok Kumar takes the reins, diagnoses the situation at NEC-India, and undertakes actions to renew and transform the organization. It illustrates the “Phoenix Encounter”, a strategic framework designed to help leaders and organizations navigate disruptive environments and thrive. Case C describes the vision of the NEC-India leadership team for 2024-27.
Food and Beverage
Salmon Evolution’s IPO (A): Architecting Brand Growth from Startup to Scaleup
Salmon Evolution’s IPO (B): Leveraging ESG for Sustainable Growth and Market Success
Salmon Evolution’s IPO is a two part case study by Professor Frederic Godart and David Dubois, as well as Katia Kachan. Salmon Evolution, a Norwegian on-land salmon farming company. With growing global demand for Atlantic salmon driven by health and environmental concerns, on-land farming was seen as an innovative solution to the limitations of traditional aquaculture. Salmon Evolution’s strategy was to leverage this rising demand for sustainably produced food and position its salmon as a premium product. The case study focuses on the strategic use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles by Salmon Evolution during its initial public offering (IPO) and subsequent growth phase.
English Tea Shop Organic: Competitive Advantage through Sustainable Solutions
The English Tea Shop Organic (ETS) brand has created a sustainable ecosystem that supports suppliers’ livelihoods as well as its competitiveness in the market. In 2021, it embarked on a second 10-year plan, aiming to become a sustainable, employee-owned business with a purpose-driven brand, and by 2022 30% of the company was employee owned. Professor Amitava Chattopadhyay, Ravi Fernando, Anne-Marie Carrick and Alixandra Barasch
describes the challenges faced building a brand that appealed to ethically minded consumers, while helping farmers grow organic tea and make a sustainable living.
Sogrape: The Art and Science of Blending in the World of Wine
Professor Felipe Monteiro and Anne-Marie Carrick describe how Sogrape has grown to become Portugal’s largest wine company, with 35 own brands, 500 agency brands, 1,200 employees worldwide, and turnover of €333 million in 2023. Sogrape sees itself as a catalyst for positive societal change and a protector of the natural environment in constructing a more sustainable and inclusive future. In the face of contemporary challenges for the global wine industry – notably the effects of climate change and demand for more sustainable production methods – Sogrape has set a target of being carbon neutral by 2042, has invested in grape varieties that are more resilient, and is considering new geographies for expansion.
Beyond Sustainability: Innovation, Regenerative Design, and Affection at Blue Hill
Professor Nathan Furr and Andrew Shipilov, and Susannah Harmon Furr
follow the journey of Dan Barber, one of the world’s leading chefs. Having understood the limitations of the “substitution” model of sustainability, he redesigns his restaurant as an innovation lab for the food industry, seeking to win stakeholders’ hearts and minds and embed it in the local ecosystem. The case provides an inside view of the innovation process and how, in collaboration with the local ecosystem, Dan reimagines the architecture of the food industry – its economics and operational activities – to create a “regenerative system”.
Foreign Language Cases
Haier Europe: Bringing RenDanHeyi for All (Portuguese)
Professor Felipe Monteiro and Anne-Marie Carrick bring case focuses on Haier Europe in Portuguese. Haier Europe is a branch of Haier Smart Home and part of the Chinese Haier Group. The case explores how it applies RenDanHeYi, a unique management model that explains the group’s extraordinary rate of growth amidst fierce competition, with an intense focus on the local customer and keeping costs low.
Partnerships
From Philanthropy to Collaboration: André Hoffmann Launches InTent
This case, by Hoffmann Institute Executive Director Katell Le Goulven, INSEAD Dean of Degree Programmes Mark Stabile and Brian Henry , is about the decision-making process that led André and Rosalie Hoffmann to establish InTent, a non-governmental organization that forges action-based partnerships that fight for sustainable solutions for business, people and planet. The InTent platform now counts 29 partners that include notable NGOs like the WWF, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Club of Rome, and the Nature Positive Initiative. Also prominent within the InTent community are academic organizations like INSEAD’s Hoffmann Institute that sponsor programmes to accelerate nature-positive change. In partnership with the SDG Tent, InTent makes their voices heard at major events, including one of the most closely watched gatherings of world leaders, the annual World Economic Forum in Davos.
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