Product details

This case illustrates the challenges of Peter Wong, CEO of Dow Chemical Greater China, in locally implementing Dow's global sustainability strategy around 2016 when the mainland government has only recently begun to tackle its problems of pollution and corporate responsibility. Dow's 20-year journey to embedding sustainability in global corporate strategy is reviewed in some detail, illustrating the step-by-step process of aligning resources, transforming culture, and building external partnerships to enhance the possibility that sustainability strategies yield financial gains. The case challenges students to make sense of this corporate transformation, and subsequently assess the wisdom of continuing support for commercializing a total dust containment solution when an abrupt drop in the price of coal reduced the solution's financial attractiveness to future purchasers. To make recommendations about further support, students must consider the best ways to measure and interpret a sustainability strategy's impact.