“Chapter 13 Case: Strategic Mission-Driven Sustainable Business:

Prompt: Review the case entitled “Chapter 13 Case: Strategic Mission-Driven Sustainable Business:  “Stonyfield Yogurt” in the Sustainable Business Case Book.  Analyze the case responding to the following questions:

1. List three to five main contributing factors in Stonyfield’s success. Discuss how these factors led to Stonyfield’s success. What, if any, specific aspects of Stonyfield’s contributing factors, sustainability mission, strategies, and approaches have the greatest potential for transferability to other businesses?
2. Throughout the case there are several examples where a sustainability action has positive and negative implications. Discuss the powdered milk and PLA cup decisions in terms of features and benefits.
3. Are Gary Hirshberg’s “hard-headed” conclusions little more than moral platitudes or are they really hard-earned, practical, positive (e.g., what is), and normative (e.g., what should be) lessons on how to globally scale sustainable products benefit of the plant, people, and profits? Find two or three examples of how other companies have applied Hirshberg’s conclusions on a global scale to benefit the planet.
4. Corporations are important elements of the communities in which they operate. As a corporate citizen, an organization should be moved to interact with and contribute to its local, regional, national, and global communities, especially as related to environmental, health, and business issues. Describe Stonyfield’s resulting corporate partnerships. Note operational strategies, tools, or methods used to foster corporate citizenship within the local and extended corporate community. Explain how sustainability principles are demonstrated by management and encouraged throughout the organization.

note: For Gitz