10 - Sustainability's next frontier: DuPont and Monsanto

Summary

What steps should DuPont and Monsanto next take in their sustainability journeys? Should DuPont, a more diversified company than Monsanto, focus more exclusively on food and agriculture? Should it become more like the mission-based Monsanto, whose focus was almost exclusively in these areas? Which products should DuPont and Monsanto make? Which markets should they serve?

No matter which products and markets they chose, they would have to defend themselves. What were the implications of DuPont's and Monsanto's product and market choices for society? To what extent would the next steps in their sustainable journeys affect their growth and profitability? To what extent should these companies dedicate themselves to playing a leading role in eliminating world hunger? DuPont and Monsanto had to decide what they should do next.

DuPont's and Monsanto's sustainability journeys

In its 2013 sustainability report, DuPont wrote that its journey had evolved from environmental compliance, to reducing its operational footprint, to market-driven efforts to produce sustainable solutions for the world. It identified its future business opportunities in terms of sustainability goals: (i) harnessing renewable energy sources; (ii) protecting ecosystems; (iii) reducing fossil fuel dependence; and (iv) safeguarding the environment. These goals were meant to motivate the company's employees to exercise their technical prowess in researching and solving the problems of society.