Who – the protagonists
Andreas Brakemeier, Head of Product Development of Werner & Mertz, Reinhard Schneider, CEO, and Immo Sander, Head of Packaging Development.
What?
Werner & Mertz is a large family-run business and manufacturer of sustainable cleaning agents based in Germany.
The company is well known for its Frosch brand, with the frog (Frosch in German) becoming the unmistakable trademark of Werner & Mertz as early as 1903. In 1986, the frog turned from red to green as Werner & Mertz entered the market with the first ecologically oriented cleaning agents.
Werner & Mertz competes against the likes of Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Henkel in the industrial and household segments of the detergents, cleansing and washing agents market.
Why?
Since November 2011 Werner & Mertz have pursued the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) concept in its products and packaging to achieve a more holistic sustainability approach.
The concept’s key message was “waste = food”, which meant products including their packaging were designed in ways that they could be re-utilised in perpetual cycles.
Werner & Mertz had spent a lot of time and money following this approach, facing a constant headache of ensuring their bottled products met the Cradle® Certified Product Standard.
However, the major players of the oil and chemical industries pushed for chemical recycling, an energy-intensive class of recycling technologies, which popped up everywhere on the industry and political agendas. They somewhat deemphasised the industry’s need for the type of rigourous redesign-for-recycling of packaging which Werner & Mertz and value chain partners had showcased over the years.
When?
It was March 2022 when Werner and Mertz’s top brass met to map out the company’s next steps.
Where?
Particularly popular in German-speaking countries, Werner and Mertz’s products are also distributed in many countries within Europe, and in North America and Japan.
Key quote
What next?
Andreas Brakemeier, Reinhard Schneider and Immo Sander were contemplating the progress they made with the C2C concept.
The trio were proud that Werner & Mertz was the first mover with this approach, but the news of Henkel following the recycling bottle scheme decreased Frosch’s ability to differentiate in the market.
Werner & Mertz had a lot of hard work ahead of them to stay at the forefront of the C2C trend, while keeping a watchful eye on chemical recycling.
On the reasons for writing the case…
Julia said: “We had written the well-received academic article on Werner & Mertz’s sustainable product innovation: Orchestrating cradle-to-cradle innovation across the value chain: Overcoming barriers through innovation communities, collaboration mechanisms, and intermediation.
“We thought Werner & Mertz's innovation endeavor was so very intriguing that we would like to use it in our own executive teaching. Receiving the case writing scholarship from The Case Centre was the final impulse to start writing the case.”
On the case writing challenges…
Julia continued: “The whole process of writing the case was very challenging. When writing a journal paper, we knew exactly how it worked. But writing our first teaching case was very different. Understanding how the story should unfold in a teaching case, and linking it to the learning outcomes, is important. But the biggest challenge was certainly to decide on the cut-off date of the case.
“There were also highlights. The case writing workshop we attended as part of the scholarship was great. I learned a lot and received good support from the teachers. I also enjoyed working in the peer group. The whole workshop was extremely helpful."
On teaching the case…
She added: “Case teaching is different to other teaching methods. The direct interaction with the students on the case topic is great.”
On how students react to the case…
Julia explained: “We have received tremendous feedback from the participants so far. They enjoyed working with the case and found it inspiring. That is exactly what we hoped for.”
On case writing tips…
Julia concluded: “To be aware that cases are a standalone genre that follows their own rules.”
The case
Who – the protagonists
Andreas Brakemeier, Head of Product Development of Werner & Mertz, Reinhard Schneider, CEO, and Immo Sander, Head of Packaging Development.
What?
Werner & Mertz is a large family-run business and manufacturer of sustainable cleaning agents based in Germany.
The company is well known for its Frosch brand, with the frog (Frosch in German) becoming the unmistakable trademark of Werner & Mertz as early as 1903. In 1986, the frog turned from red to green as Werner & Mertz entered the market with the first ecologically oriented cleaning agents.
Werner & Mertz competes against the likes of Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Henkel in the industrial and household segments of the detergents, cleansing and washing agents market.
Why?
Since November 2011 Werner & Mertz have pursued the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) concept in its products and packaging to achieve a more holistic sustainability approach.
The concept’s key message was “waste = food”, which meant products including their packaging were designed in ways that they could be re-utilised in perpetual cycles.
Werner & Mertz had spent a lot of time and money following this approach, facing a constant headache of ensuring their bottled products met the Cradle® Certified Product Standard.
However, the major players of the oil and chemical industries pushed for chemical recycling, an energy-intensive class of recycling technologies, which popped up everywhere on the industry and political agendas. They somewhat deemphasised the industry’s need for the type of rigourous redesign-for-recycling of packaging which Werner & Mertz and value chain partners had showcased over the years.
When?
It was March 2022 when Werner and Mertz’s top brass met to map out the company’s next steps.
Where?
Particularly popular in German-speaking countries, Werner and Mertz’s products are also distributed in many countries within Europe, and in North America and Japan.
Key quote
What next?
Andreas Brakemeier, Reinhard Schneider and Immo Sander were contemplating the progress they made with the C2C concept.
The trio were proud that Werner & Mertz was the first mover with this approach, but the news of Henkel following the recycling bottle scheme decreased Frosch’s ability to differentiate in the market.
Werner & Mertz had a lot of hard work ahead of them to stay at the forefront of the C2C trend, while keeping a watchful eye on chemical recycling.
Author perspective
On the reasons for writing the case…
Julia said: “We had written the well-received academic article on Werner & Mertz’s sustainable product innovation: Orchestrating cradle-to-cradle innovation across the value chain: Overcoming barriers through innovation communities, collaboration mechanisms, and intermediation.
“We thought Werner & Mertz's innovation endeavor was so very intriguing that we would like to use it in our own executive teaching. Receiving the case writing scholarship from The Case Centre was the final impulse to start writing the case.”
On the case writing challenges…
Julia continued: “The whole process of writing the case was very challenging. When writing a journal paper, we knew exactly how it worked. But writing our first teaching case was very different. Understanding how the story should unfold in a teaching case, and linking it to the learning outcomes, is important. But the biggest challenge was certainly to decide on the cut-off date of the case.
“There were also highlights. The case writing workshop we attended as part of the scholarship was great. I learned a lot and received good support from the teachers. I also enjoyed working in the peer group. The whole workshop was extremely helpful."
On teaching the case…
She added: “Case teaching is different to other teaching methods. The direct interaction with the students on the case topic is great.”
On how students react to the case…
Julia explained: “We have received tremendous feedback from the participants so far. They enjoyed working with the case and found it inspiring. That is exactly what we hoped for.”
On case writing tips…
Julia concluded: “To be aware that cases are a standalone genre that follows their own rules.”
