MAW's Profile

Thank you for the article. As mentioned by earlier commenters, your passion for winter sports and the effects that climate change has one them remains throughout the piece. Unfortunately, I would think that many ski resorts would first resort to machines that artificially produce snow. As someone mentioned above, these machines are not quite energy-friendly and might do more harm than good. I am curious about the exact P&L impacts that a shorter ski season has had on a ski resort. My immediate thought is to think of ways, even during the ski season, that these resorts can boost revenue by investing in the experience of the visitors – potentially making the experience more luxury and inclusive of other recreational activities for the whole family. Another consideration throughout the year is how the resorts can take on multiple functions for more diversified streams on income such as being retreats locations, just as our section visited a resort for a retreat.

Thanks for sharing this piece, Yarden. It is refreshing to see how a player in the beauty industry, and a major one at that, is taking a leading role in sustainable practices as it is quite uncommon. While L’oreal’s efforts are commendable, I am deeply curious about the more detailed effects to the P&L that these initiatives have and continue to pose for them. Admittedly, I am somewhat skeptical of high-margin industries taking leadership roles in terms of sustainability as it often requires a willingness to bear high upfront costs with little to no return, at least not in the immediate future. After all, $35M is only 0.14% of a $25B-revenue company, so I do think that much more concerted efforts can be done, which you pose towards the reader at the end of your article. I am curious if some of the costs of these new sustainability measures have been shifted to consumers or borne by the company. Also curious how capital-intensive some of the changes to their manufacturing plants are and how they communicated these changes to their executive leadership, assuming that such sustainability measures would not lead to immediate returns, if any.

Thanks for a rather insightful piece, Tarunika! It is fascinating to learn more about the still somewhat nascent but growing wine culture and industry in India. Simultaneously, it is unfortunate to hear how the effects of climate change are already taking a toll on what appears to be a relatively new and high-potential field.

Two thoughts come to mind after reviewing your article. First, I think more consideration could be given the opportunity to penetrate other areas within India. As you mentioned, such a geographical move of production and distribution pose initial challenge. However, I wonder if the shift could be gradual and ultimately lead to new market share and profits. From the piece, I am unsure if production is solely captured in the central and southwest or if distribution and consumption are concentrated there as well. If not, I can see Sula positioning its production and sales in other areas of India that potentially have high foot traffic and Millennials, such as New Dehli.

The second issue that comes to mind are the social effects of moving production away from its current location. You mention the significance of Sula’s role as an employer in its current region and the relationships it has cultivated with the harvesters. From our review of cases pertaining to India, it appears that many Indian companies take social impact and value into mind as it relates to customers and employers. I would assume that this is a cultural value. Thus, it is pertinent to consider how willing Sula is or isn’t when it comes to relocation in light of climate changes issues.

Thanks for the insightful article, Daniel. I definitely had not heard of this company nor the technology that they employ. It is very clear that industry standards coupled with national regulations has been in favor of this company. I would normally think that this would be a hurdle for such an innovative technology that they sell, to not have the buy-in from the automobile industry and across countries/regions at that.

I definitely support your argument that an innovative move and new market share capture would be for the company to create a similar technology for electric cars given the growth of these products. Naturally the car industry will begin to shift more to electric vehicles or at least to vehicles using alternative fuels. I am most curious about Ingevity’s own internal manufacturing and production processes. You briefly allude to this in your piece, but it would only be doing justice to the field for Ingevity to invest research and development to capturing escaping fuel from the energy production process in plants, starting with their own.

Thanks for the article, Fangfang. In your analysis you mention how two-thirds of the world’s cocoa originates from four countries in West Africa. With Mars as one of the world’s largest chocolate producers, I’m curious about how many of their production facilities are located within these countries and what business relationships they have with the governments, communities, and cocoa industry there. I think these considerations are of critical importance to Mars’ sustainability initiatives as the IKEA cases showed us how such operational change would require industry and likely government support. Research I discovered online identifies that Mars has at least a strong presence in Cote d’Ivoire as the company has committed to building about 75 Cocoa Development Centers in the country. I would assert that converting to more sustainable practices would require the buy-in and support from employees in those countries and government regulations. It would be interesting to know how sustainable manufacturing practices are currently used or viewed within the industry heads in West Africa.