Published by:
MIT Sloan School of Management
Length: 8 pages
Share a link:
https://casecent.re/p/114818
Write a review
|
No reviews for this item
This product has not been used yet
Abstract
As Kimberly-Clark began down the path toward sustainability, it was confronted with layers of miscommunication between itself and environmental activists - not to mention a lack of real understanding among many of its customers and suppliers. Tom Falk, chairman and CEO of K-C, says that all that began to change as the company got better at listening. Falkis basically a lifer at Kimberly-Clark, the global manufacturer of essential consumer products. He's been with K-C for 29 years, and was named CEO in 2002 and chairman in 2003. Sustainability has become as interwoven into the company's culture as safety, says Falk. 'We have to operate with the same set of safety rules everywhere, and we have the same set of environmental rules and standards everywhere,' he says. The company is widely acknowledged to be a leading global manufacturer...in terms of quality, efficiency and sustainability. The US Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, gave the company its ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award for two years in a row for its comprehensive approach to energy management. K-C issues an annual sustainability report (an interactive feature allows anyone to build a customized version of the report. According to its 2011 report, by the end of 2011 the company was sourcing 99.9 percent of its fiber from certified suppliers, was down to 21 percent of its waste sent to landfills (the goal is to reach zero waste by 2015) and was getting 13% of its net sales from environmentally innovative products. The company details its sustainability efforts and progress at its website. In a conversation with MIT Sloan Management Review's David Kiron, Falk talks about the company's initial resistance to its own outside sustainability advisory board, how it learned to have constructive conversations with stakeholders who push for the company to act faster and K-C's own shift toward 'raising our gaze to a more aggressive set of goals.'
About
Abstract
As Kimberly-Clark began down the path toward sustainability, it was confronted with layers of miscommunication between itself and environmental activists - not to mention a lack of real understanding among many of its customers and suppliers. Tom Falk, chairman and CEO of K-C, says that all that began to change as the company got better at listening. Falkis basically a lifer at Kimberly-Clark, the global manufacturer of essential consumer products. He's been with K-C for 29 years, and was named CEO in 2002 and chairman in 2003. Sustainability has become as interwoven into the company's culture as safety, says Falk. 'We have to operate with the same set of safety rules everywhere, and we have the same set of environmental rules and standards everywhere,' he says. The company is widely acknowledged to be a leading global manufacturer...in terms of quality, efficiency and sustainability. The US Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, gave the company its ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award for two years in a row for its comprehensive approach to energy management. K-C issues an annual sustainability report (an interactive feature allows anyone to build a customized version of the report. According to its 2011 report, by the end of 2011 the company was sourcing 99.9 percent of its fiber from certified suppliers, was down to 21 percent of its waste sent to landfills (the goal is to reach zero waste by 2015) and was getting 13% of its net sales from environmentally innovative products. The company details its sustainability efforts and progress at its website. In a conversation with MIT Sloan Management Review's David Kiron, Falk talks about the company's initial resistance to its own outside sustainability advisory board, how it learned to have constructive conversations with stakeholders who push for the company to act faster and K-C's own shift toward 'raising our gaze to a more aggressive set of goals.'