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Market MoversLessons from
a Frontier of Innovation
A companion piece to Developing Value:The business case for sustainabilit y in emerging markets
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2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IFC Team
Richard Caines
Maria Gallegos
Rachel Kyte
Vanessa M anuel
Piot r Mazurkiewicz
SuSTaIna bIlITy Team
Kelly Crui ckshank
Ivana Gazibara
Kavita Prakash-Mani
M ichael Sadow ski
Jodie Thorpe
Peter Zoll inger
ProjeCT advISory GrouP
Melissa Brown, Execut ive Dir ector,Association or Sustainable andResponsib le Investment in Asia(ASrIA)
George Dallas, Managing Director,Standard & Poors
William Frater, independent, ormerSenio r Analyst o Frat er AssetManagement
Dr. Subi r Gokarn, Execut ive Directorand Chie Economist , CRISIL
Dr. Aileen Ionescu-Somers, DeputyDirecto r, Forum or CorporateSustainabili t y Management, IMD
am anCo HoldInG InC.
Andreas Eggenberg, o rmerExecut ive Director, AmancoAgricultural Solut ions
Juan Luis Gomez, ormer BusinessAnalyst, Amanco Agricult uralSolu ti ons
Jorge Ramirez, Financial DirectorRoberto Salas, CEO
beIjInG deqInGyuanaGrICulTural TeCHnoloGyCo. lTd.
Liu Xumin, Environmental Manager
Wen Nanying, Human Resour cesManager
Zhang Wenjiang, Financial M anager
Zhong Kaimin, Chair man and CEO
jubIlanT orGanoSyS lTd.Shyam Bang, Executive Director,Manu acturi ng and Supply Chain
Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman andManaging Director
Ashok Ghose, Chie o EnvironmentHealt h & Saety
P. Ravishankar, President , HumanResources
R. Sankaraiah, Executive Director,Finance
Rajesh Srivastava, President , FineChemicals and CRAM S
m aS HoldInGS
Ajay Amalean, Managing Director,
MAS Corpo rate Solut ions
Mahesh Amalean, Chairman
Ravi Fernando, Director, Corporat eBranding and St rategic CSR
Kamani Jinadasa, Manager,Womens Empow erment and GoBeyond
Dave Ranasinghe, Joint ManagingDirecto r, MAS Intimates
Sharmin i Ratw att e, Directo r, MASInvestments
Deepthi de Silva, Directo r, Group
Human Resources
In addition, we gratefullyacknowledge the comments, inputand company nominations from:
Rajni Bakshi, freelance writer
Jeremy Baskin, Programme forIndustry, University of Cambridge
Cecilia Bjerborn, IFC
Andrea Castro, FundacinPROhumana
Aimilios Chatzinikolaou, IFC
Anne Copeland Chiu, IFC
Mara Emilia Correa, GrupoNueva
Deborah Feigenbaum, IFC
Nicholas Flanders, IFC
Andre Fourie, National BusinessInitiative
Miguel Angel Gardetti, Instituteof Studies for Corporate
SustainabilityLouise Gardiner, IFC
Lucie Giraud, IFC
Dr. Aditi Haldar, Confederation ofIndian Industry
Jonathan Hanks, Incite
Paul Kapelus, African Institute forCorporate Citizenship
Ritu Kumar, Actis
Dana Lane, IFC
Joan Midthun Larrea, GlobalEnvironment Fund
Clarissa Lins, Brazilian Foundationfor Sustainable Development
(FBDS)Mike Lubrano, IFC
Malini Mehra, Centre for SocialMarkets
Viraf Mehta, Partners in Change
Mario Monzoni, Center forSustainability Studies, FundaoGetulio Vargas
Julio Moura, GrupoNueva
Khurram Naayaab, Partners inChange
Fei Pei, IFC
Tarcila Reis Ursini, Ekobe
Sarah Ruck, IFC
Enrique Sanchez-Armass, IFCRobin Sandenburgh, IFC
Kalim Shah, IFC
Bernard Sheahan, IFC
Sameer Kumar Singh, IFC
Simon Winter, TechnoServe Inc.
Finally, we are deeply gratefulto Lijian Zhao, who stepped into help us with the case studyresearch and to Tim Hindle, whoso eloquently turned our thoughtsinto words.
mkt ms
IFC and SustainAbi lit y have been the stew ards o the Market Movers project, bu t we are indebted to many
ot hers, not ably our project advisory gr oup, t he int erviewees rom the case study companies and ou r colleagues,wi thout whom t he cont ent w ould have been less rich, i not impossible to wr ite. It is thus wi th enormous
gratitude that we w ould like t o acknowledge:
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Market Movers
Corporate pioneers are using sustainabili ty t o createbusiness opport unit ies in emerging economies
How can business combine long-term success with sustainability
wit h demands for a healthy environment and a just society? Few chiefexecut ives would admit that t his question w as not near the top of their
agenda. And i t is not just of concern t o boardrooms in London and NewYork. According to a World Economic Forum CEO survey, sustainabilityhas emerged as a challenge for companies globally, wit h some of the
most innovative practices undertaken in developing countries.1
Market M overstells the sto ries of a number of fi rms in emergingeconomies that have managed to f ind business value in st rategies
based on sustainability. The firms are driven by world-class businessleaders and range across the globe, f rom Beijing t o Sao Paulo in manycases operat ing in some of the most challenging environments in w hich
to foster commercial success. The report goes on to draw some lessonsfrom their experiences and to make recommendations as to how other
emerging-market businesses might create value f rom sustainabil it y.
While we recognise that any measure of the value added either totheir bot tom line or to society by businesses sustainabil it y st rategies isnecessarily imprecise, it is none the less real for that. In all our cases there
is a close correlati on bet ween sustainabil it y and business success, evenif there is no ir refut able evidence of causation betw een t he tw o. The
entrepreneurs who bu ilt up t hese companies invariably att est to it .
This report is a companion p iece to Developing Value: The BusinessCase fo r Sustainabil it y in Emerging M arketspublished in 2002 by theInternational Finance Corporat ion (IFC), SustainAb ili ty and t he Ethos
Inst it ute. It was the fi rst large-scale study t o examine specif ically t herisks and opportunities of sustainability for businesses across emerging
economies. At that time, there was a widespread assumption that goodgovernance and corporate responsibi lit y were the almost exclusive
preserves of western corpor ations. Yet t he report found t hat manybusinesses in emerging economies were gaining benefits (such as highersales, reduced costs and l ower risks) f rom bet ter corporate governance,
improved environmental practices, and investment in social and economicdevelopment.
Throughou t the case research w e have used t he same concept ualunderpinnings as in t his earlier report . Unlike that report , however, wherewe focused our analysis on specif ic acti ons and investments, here w e look
at enterprises as a whole, seeking examples where sustainability has beenint egrated int o business st rategy. The aim i s to show by example thatsustainability strategies can work almost anywhere in the world.
FOREWORD
Perceiving social responsibility
as building shared value rather
than as damage control or
as a PR campaign will require
dramatically different thinking
in business. We are convinced,
however, that CSR will become
increasingly important to
competitive success.
Michael Porter and Mark Kramer (HarvardBusiness Review, December 2006)
A note on language
Discussions around sustainability
and business strategy are
frequently confused by the
language being used. In Market
Movers, we have provided a
glossary (see page 46) to help
reduce any such confusion.
But in general we use the term
sustainability to refer to a
business approach that creates
value by embracing opportunities
and managing risks derived
from environmental, social
and governance issues. Many
investors, however, prefer the
acronym ESG. So we use that
term also, as and when it seems
appropriate.
Market Movers
1 World Economic Forum , Respond ing to the Leadership Challenge: Findings of a CEO Survey on Global Corporate Citi zenship, 2003.
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Market Movers
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4
Foreword 3Part I Executive Briefing 6
Recipes for success 8
A note for investors 10
In closing 12
Part II Cases in Detail 13
Introduction 13
Amanco: Pipe dreams 14
Deqingyuan: A lot more than chicken feed 20
Jubilant Organosys: Sweet solutions 26
MAS: Going beyond 32
Part III Tools and Guidance 38Step 1: Analyse your business 38
Step 2: Identify risks and opportunit ies 39
Step 3: Develop a strategy 40
Step 4: Plan and implement the strategy 40
Step 5: Monitor and review progress 40
Step 6: Communicate 41
Appendix One:Research approach 44
Appendix Two:Glossary 46
Market Movers
Sustainability has made [us] a market leader, and
a market leader will not only survive out of crisis,
it will thrive out of crisis.
Zhong Kaimin, chief executive of Deqingyuan
Twenty-first century companies need to integratethemselves much more closely with what is
happening in society in general. Those that dont
will be relegated to Jurassic Park.
Julio Moura, president and CEO of GrupoNueva
RichardLord
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Markt Mvrs
Market M oversis not necessarilyint ended to be read from cover tocover. It is divided into t hree sect ions,
and although they are interrelated,
each can be read independently,based on the readers interests andneeds.
Part I (Execut ive Briefing) providesthe main messages and analysis.
Whi le it cont ains the essence of thereport , it i s not a simple summary of
what follows. The analysis presentedin it is not repeated elsewhere.
Part II (Cases in Detail) profiles thefour companies that are the bedrock
of the report. It identif ies how sus-tainability contribut ed to their busi-
ness success, and it points to some ofthe ingredients of that success.
Part III (Tools and Guidance)provides practical guidance to helpcompanies ident if y, understand
and analyse sustainabil it y issues,
and to see how they are relatedto business success. It aims to helpcompanies communicate their
approach and st rategy t o investors,business part ners and ot hers.
Our main target audience is Ceosand sni r xcut ivs in emer-
ging economies. The repor t aimsto h elp them understand t he
cont ribu ti on sustainabilit y canmake to st rat egy, risk managementand innovation . This audience w ill
probably be most i nt erested inPart I and some of the cases in
Part II (see Figure 1, Index t o casestudies).
We also hope that the case studiesin the report w ill be relevant f orthe f inancial communit y invs-
t rs, lndrs and t hir agnt s
(such as analysts and consul tant s).This group w ill be most i nt erestedin Part I and sections of Part III.
Final ly, we ho pe t he cases w il lprovide support to susta inabi l i ty
spcial ists, who are charged w it hhelp ing companies to discuss,
invest igate, measure and commu-nicate elements of sustainability,
and w ho someti mes str uggl e togain the understanding of thew ider business comm uni t y. This
group w ill l ikely be interestedin the whole report.
Hw t us this rprt
FIGURE 1: INDEx TO CASE STUDIES
Sector
pipes &
construction
chemicals &
pharmaceuticals
apparel &
textiles
agribusiness
Amanco
Deqingyuan
Jubilant
Organosys
MAS
Holdings
HQ
Sao Paulo
Noida, Uttar
Pradesh
Colombo
Beijing
Operations
14 countries
in Latin
America
India
US
mainly Sri
Lanka & India
China
Illustrates
innovation
integration
differentiation
leadership
Business Case
brand value through sustainability governance
market creation through economic development
cost savings through environmental efficiency
operational efficiency through environmental efficiency
licence to operate through community development
access to capital through transparency & governance
strong client relationships through high labour standards
employee productivity & lower turnover through good
workforce management
licence to operate t hrough socio-economic development
sales & market access through good environmental standards
brand value through good environmental standards
access to capital through good corporate governance
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Market Movers
PART I ExECUTIVE BRIEFING
INSTANCES OF ExCELLENCE
BOx 1: BUSINESS IN EMERGING ECONOMIES
Since 2002, the signi f icanceof emerging economies hasgrow n rapidly. According toThe Economist, the collecti vegross domest ic product (GDP)of emerging economiesrecentl y exceeded that ofdeveloped economies fo r thefi rst t ime in over a centu ry.
What i s more, not only has
the amount of fo reign directinvestment int o developingcountries grown enormouslyin recent years, but so t oohas the amount f lowing out.Foreign direct i nvestmentfromdevelopingcountries
amounted t o $120 billi onin 2005; up from $16 billionin 2002.3 Witness the recentacquisit ion of the Anglo-Dutch group Corus, one of t heworlds largest steel producers,by Indias Tata Steel follow inga fierce bidding war wi thanother emerging economyrival Brazil s Companh iaSiderrg ica Nacional (CSN).
Thanks to more free trade andcheaper telecommunicati ons,corporations from emergingeconomies are increasinglybeing integrated into theglobal economy. CVRD, a
Brazilian mining companypri vatised in 1997, is nowthe second largest min ingcompany in t he wo rld. Theresult is that such corporati onsare increasing ly aff ected bychanging expectat ions aroundglobal business. They of tenare, or have ambit ions tobe, quot ed on one or moreof the worlds leading stock
exchanges, for example. Theyknow they have to observecontinually rising standardsof disclosure and governanceif they are to gain access tothe planets deepest poo ls offinance.
Companies f rom emerging econo-mies are increasing ly making theirpresence felt in the global businesscommunit y. Not on ly are they ac-quiring more and more companiesin the developed wor ld, but t heyare also pursuing strategies thatare highly competit ive wit h t hoseof established businesses in westernmarkets. India, for example, is well
know n f or i ts progressive fi rms indiff erent areas of the know ledgeeconomy, including IT and pharma-ceut icals, while Brazil has becomea global leader in biofuels. On theevidence of th is report , companiesfrom emerging economies are alsointegrating sustainability in their
business strategies in innovative waysthat stand comparison w ith those tobe found anywhere else in the world.
In a recent art icle in the HarvardBusiness Review,2 Michael Porterand Mark Kramer argue that t oomuch of the debate about corpo-rate responsibility pits businessagainst society as if they were
separate entit ies, when clearly thetw o are int erdependent. The es-senti al test guid ing sustainabili ty isnot whether a cause is wort hy, butwhether it pr esents an opport unit yto create shared value that is, ameaningf ul benefit for society thatis also valuable to t he business.
There are comp anies in emergingeconomies that have been observ-ing t hat t est f or years befor e it w asspelled out i n t he Harvard BusinessReview developing original busi-ness st rategies that gain compet it iveadvantage by being environmentallyand socially responsib le. These com-panies are creating value both fortheir business and for society, and
this report presents some examples.The impl ication is not that t hesecompanies are representat ive of allcompanies in emergi ng economies,but rather that ot her companiescan, if t hey tr y, repli cate aspectsof thei r success.
6
Fou r com panies; fi ve in gredi ent s and count less valuable l essons
2 Michael Porter and Mark Kramer, Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility, Harvard Business Review,December 2006.3 All fig ures in t his report are in US dollars except where ot herwise indicated.
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Mrket Mvers
BOx 2: FOUR CASES IN POINT
At t he heart of Market Moversare four case studies (see PartII), four very different examples
of a successfu l combinat ion ofprof it abilit y and sustainabili ty in
emerging economies.
amnc, a Latin American
pipe maker, has developed anapproach based on innovative
products and services, includinga range designed specifically
for low -income customers. This,coupled wit h a reputation for
an ethical business approach,has built Amanco in to a strongbrand and helped create new
markets w ith substant ial pot en-tial for growth.
Beijing-based deqingyun
took on one of the worlds mostsevere business challenges theproduction of healthy eggs for
the Chinese market. It led theway, banking on t he idea thatChinas increasing ly health-
conscious consumers would paya premium for a quality brand.
And it succeeded. Its brand em-phasis on health and safet y hasbeen popular and its eggs are
now being sold as far af ield asHong Kong.
M aS is a Sri Lankan apparel
manufacturer whose rol l-callof blue-chip customers includes
Victorias Secret , Gap, Marks &Spencer and Nike. In a marketreplete w ith low -cost rivals, MAS
differentiated itself based on itsexemplary employment prac-
tices and turned its employeeprogramme into a brand (called
Women Go Beyond). This per-suaded several western f irms tochoose it as a strategic partner.
jubi lnt orgnsys was abulk chemicals producer thatseized the oppo rt unit ies pre-
sented by th e opening up ofIndias econo my in t he 1990s
to shif t i nt o specialit y chemi-cals and pharmaceuticals. Inth is new market i t discovered
th at i ts emphasis on environ-mental m anagement and local
commun it ies was a pow erfulcompet it ive weapon. The com-
pany integrated the prod ucti veuse of wastes and eff luent s
int o product development andmanufacturi ng, and therebyreduced operating costs, built
up relati onships w it h localcommun it ies and att ract ed
partn ers wi t h simil ar concernsf rom Euro pe and t he US.
CourtesyofAGD
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Maket Moves
There is no simple formula f orensuring t hat a sustainable businessst rategy w il l be more successful
than any other strategy. However,
the aim in analysing our chosencase studies was to understand therelationship betw een sustainabi lit y
and business success, and tounderstand why these four chosencompanies were successful in their
strategies.
In analysing the case studies,the link between each companys
environmental, social and gover-nance effo rt s and it s businesssuccess was explored. This analysis
was based on a series of factors thatinf luence a firms f inancial result s:
saes an m aket access revenue, sales, market share,
access to new markets
recipes f o success
8
Through the research, a numberof ingredients of success were
also identi fi ed. These were f acto rsthat contribut ed to t he strongresul ts in all f our case studies and
helped t hem overcome some of theconstr aint s that many emerging -
economy companies face. Other
companies may find these can helpwith business strategies that createvalue both for t hemselves and fo rsociety. The five ingredients are
summarised below.
leaeship. The role of the chiefexecut ive or chairman i s of ten
crucial in pushing through astrategy based on sustainability.While t hat i s true in any country,
it may be parti cularly true inthe f amily-run f irms common in
emerging economies, where abusiness leader who has a clear
vision, backed by rigorous marketanalysis, can be a powerful force.Zhong Kaimin, the f ounder of
deqingyuan , had a very simplevision: t o provide good, healthy
eggs, fir st f or hi s fami ly and f riendsthen f or t he people of Beijing. But
that simpl e vision is leading t osomething f ar more prof ound inChinas poult ry business.
There is no simple formula for
ensuring that a sustainable
business strategy will be more
successful than any other
strategy.
meant t o be exhausti ve t heydo not detail every benefit thatth e compani es have fou nd. Rather
th ey provide a quick reference of
the m ajor aspects of each case.An image of t his matr ix is alsorepeated w it hin each indi vidual
case study in Part II to help orientth e reader.
opeat iona ef f iciency theimpact on a companys costs
access to capita access to
debt or equity capital, the cost
of capital isk managem ent an i cence
to opeate the cont rol of loss,damage or disruption, ensuringongoing acceptance of the
companys operat ions
taent an hu man capi t a theknow ledge, skill s and talent of
employees and contract labour
ban vaue an eputat ion
public perception of a company,it s products and it s brands.
Figure 2 summarises the mostimport ant business cases t he
w ays in w hich sustain abili typerformance influences business
dri vers and st rategy in each of t hefour case studies. These are not
FIGURE 2: SUMMARy MATRIx OF BUSINESS CASES
Environmental
Performance
Sales &Market Access
OperationalEfficienc
Accessto Capital
Risk Mgmt &Licence toOperate
Talent &Human Capital
Brand Value &Reputation
DQy
Amanco
JOL
Amanco
MAS
JOL
MAS
MAS
DQy Amanco
DQy
JOL
Social
Performance
Governance
Performance
DQy = Deqinguan JOL = Jubilant Organoss
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Mrket Movers
overcome communit y distrust. Byengaging w it h it s neighbours, listen-
ing and acting on w hat it hears,and involving and empowering the
communit y, Jubi lant has helpedcreate an environment of goodw illand understanding and avoided
pot enti al business disrupti ons. Thiscollaborative approach w ith the
communit y has also strengt henedrelationships with the local govern-
ment and eased the process ofobtaining environmental clearances,
which require communit y consultation.
These ingredient s could const it ute
a perfectly good l ist for generalbusiness success in both developed
and emerging economies. After all,sustainability, simply put, is sound
business planning w hich anti cipat esand strategically manages changesin a companys operat ing environ-
ment (which i ncludes changes in
environment al, social and econom icconditions). However, the emphasisin emerging economies may be
diff erent. For one t hing, manyfi rms in emerging economies are
fami ly-run, and it may be easier f orenligh tened leaders to pursue a
long-term goal w it hout shareholdepressure to achieve short-termfinancial targets. Moreover, the
pot ential fo r innovation i s greater(almost by definit ion) in emerging
economies than it is in developedones, where commercial progress
is more l ikely t o occur i n smallsteps than in big leaps and bounds.And t he lack of inf rastructur e and
systems common in developedcount ries means that companies
may have to seek ot her advantagesin o rder t o compete. For example,
where legal frameworks are weak,the value of trusted r elati onshipsmay be higher.
Companies that build strong relationships with their constituencies
suppliers, customers, employees are at an advantage.
In tegrt ion. Sustainabili tyelements were often embedded incorporate strategies from t he very
beginning. In the case of jubilnt ,
fo r example, at t he same time asthe company was moving up thevalue chain, developing a range of
speciality chemicals and researchservices, it was improving its costcompet it iveness with a number of
highly int egrated manufacturingfacilit ies that allowed fo r the
productive use of by-products,effluents and wastes.
Innovt ion. The companies studieduse sustainability as a source of
innovation. amnco , for instance,wanted to move away from being
a commodit y-type producer in orderto increase profits. Its sustainability
strategy allows it to d iff erentiateitself f rom t he crowd by usingenvironment al and social problems
as a source of ideas. Once a challengeis ident if ied, the company applies
creativity to develop new productsand services to address it , such as
financing f or irr igat ion systems forlow -income f armers.
dif ferent it ion. Successfulcompanies have the courage
to be different. M aS took onthe daunt ing task of producing
highly sophist icated garment s ina country where they had neverbeen manufactu red before. It
also chose to bui ld it s facto ries inthe countryside, away from t he
most h igh ly skil led labour. Thisst rategy succeeded because M AS
identi fi ed (and then met) the mainneeds of it s employees and t he
local communit ies factors whichdif ferentiated M AS in t he eyes ofit s major client s.
qulity of reltio nships. Companies
that build strong relationships w iththeir constituencies suppliers,
customers, employees are at anadvantage. Successfully operatingin poor rural areas of India, for
example, requi red jubilnt to
ColinJ.Warren
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BOx 3: VIEWS FROM ELSEWHERE
Since Developing Value5waspub lished in 2002, there has
been a substantial amount ofwork on the business case forsustainability. The finance sector
has been part icularly active, ledby asset managers and i nvestors
involved in in it iat ives such asthe United Nations Environment
Programme Finance Init ia-tive (UNEP-FI), the Principles
for Responsible Investment orthe Enhanced Analyt ics Init ia-tive. Overall, there is a trend to
recognise more f ully t he mate-riali ty of ESG issues and begin
to t ake them int o account inlong-term investment decisions
and a need for companies toimprove communication withinvestors on sustainabil it y and
the business case.
The investment bank GoldmanSachs, for example, has found
that ESG issues are l ikely t o bematerial f or competit iveness
and reputation, and thereforecan have an impact on t hecompanys valuat ion . In Brazil,
ABN Amro Real considered en-vironmental and social concerns
in the forestry industry andconcluded that t hey are mate-rial and can impact corporate
f inancial results. The Associationfor Sustainable and Responsible
Investment in Asia (ASrIA) also
concludes that ESG factors mayimpact investment valuation
dynamic, and that as investorsbecome better versed in ESGanalysis, companies wil l become
more strategic on these issues.6
Beyond investors, academics atHarvard, Yale, IMD in Swit zer-
land and INCAE business schoolin Costa Rica7 have also identi -
fied a business case for sustain-ability. They tend to see sustain-abili ty as a source of innovation
and comparative advantage,and t hey emphasise the recipro-
cal relationship betw een com-panies and society a relation-
ship which creates opportunitiesfor mutual benefit or sharedvalue, as Michael Port er and
Mark Kramer put i t in t heir ar-ti cle in Harvard Business Review.
IMD is perhaps the most cau-
t ious in th is respect support -ing t he noti on of a business
case for sustainabil it y, but warn-ing that it is secto r-specif ic andthat stakeholder support for
sustainability efforts is unreli-able. It also emphasises that
the more that sustainabili ty isembedded as part of businessstrat egy, the more diff icult it is
to measure i ts eff ects. That isbecause it is hard to separate
sustainability- and non-sus-
tainabili ty-related benefit s afinding borne out by the case
studies in this report.
However, despit e t he increasing
number of papers highlightingthe rising import ance of emerg-
ing economies and emerging-economy corporat ions,8 the last
f ive years has seen relat ivelylit t le analysis of the business
case fo r sustainabil it y in emerg-ing economies.
Cont ribut ions from the Brazil-ian Foundation for Sustainable
Development, IFC, INCAE andUNEP-FI have generally found
that the business case forsustainabili ty t ends to hold inemerging as well as in devel-
oped economies. An OECD pa-per on CSR in emerging-econo-
my companies also reaches thisconclusion while emphasising
that the specif ic drivers maybe dif ferent. The paper f inds,
as does this report , that com-panies in emerging economiesmay oft en be practising sustain-
abilit y wit hout calling it such.But it also w arns that the gap
between leaders and laggardsin emerging economies may begreater than i t is in developed
countries.9
5 SustainAbility, International Finance Corporation and Ethos Institute, Developing Value: The Business Case for Sustainabil it y in Emergi ng M arkets, 2002.It was itselfbased on an earlier publication: SustainAbility, Buried Treasure: Uncovering th e Business Case f or Corpo rate Sustainabil it y, 2001.6 UNEP-FI, Show Me the Money: Linking Environmental, Social and Governance Issues to Company Value, 2006; Nyenrode Business Universiteit and Boston College,Knowing t he Price, but also t he Value? Financial Analysts on Social, Ethi cal and Environment al Inf ormat ion, 2005; Goldman Sachs, Global Energy: Introducing the Gold-man Sachs Energy Environmental and Social Index, 2004; UNEP-FI, The Materi alit y of Social, Environmental and Corporate Governance Issues to Equit y Pricing, 2004;United Nations Global Compact , Who Cares Wins, 2004.7 Dan Esty and Andr ew Winston , Green t o Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy t o Innovate, Create Value, and Build Compet it ive Advantage,Yale University Press, 2006; European Academy of Business in Society, Measuring Corporate Responsibility Linking Financial and Social Values, www.eabis.org/research/MeasuringCR/ (15 September 2006); Porter and Kramer, 2006; Oliver Salzmann, Aileen Ionescu-Somers and Ulrich Steger, The business case for corporate sustainability:literature review and research options, European M anagement Journal, February 2005; Ulrich Steger (ed.), The Business of Sustainability: Building Industry Cases forCorporate Sustainabi lit y, Palgrave MacMillan, 2004.8 Antoine van Agtm ael, The Emerging Market Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Free Press, 2007; Boston Consult ingGroup, The New Global Challengers: How 100 Top Companies from Rapidly Developing Economies Are Changing the World, 2006; Jeremy Baskin and Kathryn Gordon,Corporate Responsibility Practices of Emerging Market Companies: A Fact Finding Study, OECD Worki ng Papers on Int ernational Investment ,2005; Goldman Sachs,Dreaming with the BRICs: The Path to 2050, 2003.9 IFC, The Promise of Private Equit y: Environment , Society and Corpo rate GovernanceNew Crit eria f or Success in Private Equit y Investm ents, 2006; UNEP-FI, Sustain-abilit y M anagement and Report ing: Benefits f or Financial Instit uti ons in Developing and Emerging Economies, 2006; Baskin and Gordon, 2005.
Market Movers
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Market Movers12
In closing
There is no decree that industrialprogress in emerging economies has
to f ollow t he path it has followedelsewhere. Globalisation the ever
faster and f arther movement ofpeople, products, ideas andinformation is helping business
to leapfrog over stages in t heprocess in remarkable (and
unpredictable) ways. Places likeBangalore and Shanghai are fl yingthrough a totally new trajectory of
development f rom that f ollowedby Manchester or Tokyo.
Similarly, there are companies
in emerging econom ies that are
int egrating sustainabilit y intotheir business strategies in unlikely
ways, thus creating value bot h f orthemselves and for the societies
in w hich they operate. Thosecompanies are led by people who
appreciat e that business needs agood society as much as society
needs good business.Market
Moverst ells the sto ries of aselected few of them.
The four companies we prof ile are
very diff erent from each ot her,ranging from some which startedoff wi th an explicit sustainabilit y
agenda to those wh ich came torealise t hat sustainabili ty simp ly
made sound business sense forthem at a particular time in their
development. In all cases, though,
their f ocus has been on managingissues material to core business,
as part of the overall businessapproach. Small , discreet act ions
to t ackle specifi c concerns can addvalue but sign if icant result s are
most l ikely to arise from st rategicventures.
As market interest and expectat ionsgrow, robust sustainabili ty perfor-
mance is being viewed as a markof quality management and often
a precondit ion for doing businessin t he eyes of a growing range ofinvestors, business partners and
customers. By understanding,measuring, managing and then
discussing the business value ofsustainability with these stakehold-
ers, in terms that are relevant t o
them, f irms in emerging economiescan be competi ti ve wit h t he very
best anywhere in t he world.
There are companies in emerging
economies that are integrating
sustainability into their business
strategies in unlikely ways.
Small, discreet actions to tackle
specific concerns can add value
but significant results are most
likely to arise from strategic
ventures.
MarkFallander
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Market Movers
Sustainabi l i t y perf orm ance
What you measure is what you get
Amanco has been a pioneer inmeasuring t he impact of it s TBLst rategy, bui lding on t he ideas ofRobert Kaplan, a Harvard profes-sor of account ing w ho in the 1990sdeveloped a method of extendinga companys measure of its perfor-mance beyond t he fi nancial. Onthe understanding t hat what youmeasure is what you get , he set outa concept he called the BalancedScorecard.10 This added ot heryardsti cks of company perf ormance,such as customer sat isfact ion andlevels of innovation, t o t he classic
prof it and loss account . The ideaaroused w idespread i nt erest.
Amanco has extended t he idea ofthe Balanced Scorecard to embracebot h social and environmentaldimensions. It has begun to producewhat it calls a Sustainabil it y Score-card (see Figure 6 on page 41), andits efforts stimulated Kaplan himselfto co-author a Harvard BusinessSchool case study ent it led Amanco:Developing the Sustainabil it y
Scorecard.11 It is a constant chal-lenge for companies to measure theimpact of the sustainabili ty elementof their strategies, and Amanco hasgone as far dow n t his road as any.
Amanco first introduced its Sus-tainability Scorecard in 2003 andit has been cont inuously refi nedever since. Init ially it f ocused on t hesocial impact on employees and t hecommunit ies around it s factori es.But i t has since been expanded to
include business w it h low-incomecustomers, fi ght ing corrupt ion inthe sector, and indicators on acci-dent prevention and eco-eff iciency.
It is dif fi cult t o measure the impactof every aspect of Amancos sustain-ability strategy. The specific benefit
of eff ort s to lead t he debate onwater resour ces and t ransparency,for instance, cannot be quanti fied.But Jorge Ramirez, the companysfi nancial directo r, is convinced t hatthe extensive media coverage that
these initiatives receive has a posi-tive effect on consumers awarenessand att it ude towards the company.There is less doub t about the ben-efit s of t he companys eff ort s toreduce waste and to low er accidentrates. These are all measured andmanaged, and have a posit ive impacton costs.
The BoP segment, although still small,already generates over $4 mill ion inrevenues and t he company believes
the BoP idea has high g row th po ten-tial, projecti ng t hat income from itwill double year-on-year. Since theinit ial project in Guatemala, thecompany has developed new ideasincluding a pilo t f inancial servicesprogram fo r the residential bui ldingand installati on segment in Brazil,launched in 2005. The programprovides credit cards to low -income
customers who lack access to t hebanking system enabling themto purchase build ing materials.Amanco has also set up a pro-gramme to t rain plumbers fromlow-income groups, certifying
those who successful ly completethe programme as Doctores deConst ruo, a br and w hich addsvalue for the plumbers. For Amanco,th is is also part of develop ing t hecompany as an alternat ive to t hemarket incumbents in Brazil, whowere already working w ith thewell-established plumbers. Theonly way to success is wi th surpri se
doing something differently,says Salas.
To some extent Amancos dist inc-tive culture is self-sustaining. Thecompany att racts the sort of em-ployees that want to make it w ork,and who gain satisfacti on f rom t heidea. Amanco has frequent ly beennamed as a Top 100 employer inBrazil , and in 2007 Amanco Ecuadorwas cit ed as the fi ft h best emp loyerin all Latin America.12
Market Movers
CourtesyofAmanco
10RS Kaplan and DP Nort on, The balanced scorecard: measures that dri ve performan ce, Harvard Business Review, JanFeb 2002.11Ricardo Reisen de Pinho and Robert Steven Kaplan, Amanco: Developing the Sustainability Scorecard, Harvard Business School Case 9-107-038, January 2007.12Citat ions by the Great Place to Work Institut e, ww w.greatplacetow ork.com/ (27 August 2007).
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Market Movers16
BOx 4: INNOVATION
Conclusion
21st cent ury business
The companys fort unes are closely
allied to those of t he region. The
growth of Latin Americas GDPper capita over the past 25 years
has been poor lower t han fo r allemerging-economy regions except
sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, statespending on inf rastructure has
fal len sharply in al l count ries exceptColombia as fiscal controls havebeen tigh tened. Most spending on
wat er and sanitat ion in t he regionremains publicly financed.
The company has already been
through some hard times. Duringthe economic crisis between 1999and 2003, Amanco had t o close
a number of p lants, although
the company provided extensiveretraining and outplacement
services to help laid-of f employees
fi nd new w ork. To succeed inthe 21st century, Julio M oura,
president and CEO of formerowner GrupoNueva, has said
that companies need a dif ferentapproach t o t hat of the last century.
In essence, they need t o int egratethemselves much more closely w it hwhat is happening in society in
general. Those that dont, he says, will be relegated to Jurassic Park.
The big opport unit ies over the nextten years, he believes, will come
from the things that society is mostconcerned about . Among whichhe includes climate change, poverty,
conf lict and globalisation.
Amancos new ow ners seemdetermined to continue wit h the
sustainability strategy that made
the company so attractive whenit came on the market. Mexichem
has conf irmed that it int ends tocont inue w ith t his approach and
has created a special board ofdirectors for Amanco, to reflect
the companys wide geographicalspread and support it s sustainabil it ygoals. But there will be diff erent
challenges in nurt uring such astrategy for a quoted company,
wi th t he short -term horizons thatare imposed on it by it s investors,
as opposed to those that werefaced by Amanco w hen it wasprivately owned.
Like any business, Amancoseeks to i ncrease prof it s.
However, th e company i s
constr ained by the f act t hatpipes are a commoditisedproduct, wit h t radit ionallylow margin s. Amanco has
solved t his challenge bydeveloping a value proposition
based on providing tailored
w ater solut ions to d iff erentconsumer segments. Social and
environm ental prob lems such
as w ater l eakage or f armerslack of access t o f inancing areth e source of ideas, and t henAmanco app lies creativit y,
research and developmentto t ry to solve them. Amanco
th us tu rns t hese probl ems int o
opport unit ies innovatingprodu cts and services t o meet
needs at a compet it ive price.
Innovatio n in productionpr ocesses to r educe resou rceand energy consumpt ion hasalso helped t he company keep
prices dow n and cont ribut edt o increased pro fi t s.
Courtesy
ofAmanco
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Market Movers
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Mt Ms
key
data
Company profile
18
FoundedAmanco Holding Inc. was
fo rmed in 1994 th roughthe merger of several pipesystems companies owned
by Swiss entrepreneur StefanSchmidheiny.
ownerSHIP STruCTure
Wholly owned subsidiary ofMexichem since March 2007 previously part of GrupoNueva
SeCTor
Pipe systems, constructionproducts and geosynthetic
systems
HeadquarTerSSao Paulo
oPeraTIonSPlant s operat ing in 14 Latin
American countries
M arkeTS
More than 55,000 points ofsale in 29 countr ies, including
primarily Brazil, Mexico,Colombia, Argentina and
Cent ral America
M aIn CoM PeTITorS
Companies used as benchmarksinclude Wavin (Dutch), Uralita
(Spanish), Iponor (Finnish) andTigre (Brazilian)
eMPloyeeS
7,100
M arkeT SHare2005: from 17% (Peru) to
66% (Ecuador); 28% acrossthe region
awardS and reCoGnITIon 2006 and 2007: Amanco
(Ecuador) listed in BestCompanies to Work for in LatinAmerica by Great Place toWork Insti tute (ranked 5th)
2005: Distinctionfor Corporate SocialResponsibi lit y f rom MexicanCenter f or Philant hropy(CEMEFI)
2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005:listed in Best Companies to
Work for in Brazil by GreatPlace to Work Institute
Amanco is a Latin American producer of int egrated water solut ions for t he construction,inf rastructu re and irrigation industr ies. It is also involved in the trading of constructionproducts. It produces an annual Sustainability Scorecard, which measures the results of
environment al and social management as well as standard f inancial result s.
FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06
800
700
600
500
90
80
70
60
592
61512
67592
75688
84
798
85
revenue (uSd M n) ebITda (uSd M n)
Compound annual grow th rate (CAGR)from 2002 to 2006: 7.8%13
CAGR from 2002 to 2006: 8.6%.
13Here, and elsewhere in the case studies, CAGR has been calculated by t he aut hors, based on revenue, income or EBITDA f igur es provid ed by t he companies.
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Mrket Movers
1. brnd v lue in cresed t hrou ghsustini l i t y governnce
Sustainabil it y is an int egral part ofAmancos brand dif ferentiation.
In Brazil, Amanco has gone frombeing relatively unknown t ohaving 50% brand aw areness in
less than 18 months.
Leadership on t ransparency wit hinsector helps make Amanco t hepreferred brand to w in cleancontracts in an industry prone tocorruption.
2. Mrket cret i on y helping
custo mers ow n econom icdevelopment
Amanco created new market s at
the base of the pyramid.
Substant ial po tent ial as newsegment accounts fo r 80% o fcustomer base but current ly only20% of sales.
Pilo t projects providing newagricult ural products and servicesare now generating $4.1 million i nrevenues.
Amanco estimates income f romlow -income segments wi ll doubleyear-on-year, compared w it h j ust515% grow th in other segments.
The am nco u siness cse t he th ree most im por t nt f ct ors
Here we highlight the three most important ways in which sustainability performance at Amanco is influencing business
drivers and supporting business strategy.
AMANCO BUSINESS CASE MATRIx
EnvironmentalPerformance
Sales &Market Access
OperationalEfficiency
Accessto Capital
Risk Mgmt &Licence to
Operate
Talent &Human Capital
Brand Value &Reputation
SocialPerformance
GovernancePerformance
3. Cost sving s fr om supp ort ingenvironm entl ef f i ciency
Good environment, health andsafety management saves moneyand cont ributes to increasedmargins.
There w ere $850,000 in savings
in 2006 through eco-efficientmanagement of plants (reducingresource and energy consumpt ion).
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Market Movers
the (grow ing) branded egg marketin Beijing. Prof it s doub led in 2005(to over RMB 10 million), and only
fell back in 2006 because of heavyinvestment in expansion thecompany increased i ts inf rastr ucture
sixf old in a single year.
In M arch 2007 Deqingyuan beganto sell it s eggs at a pr emium p rice
in Hong Kong, a cit y that has nottr adit ionally sourced eggs fr om
20
CASE: DEQINGyUAN
A LOT MORE THAN CHICKEN FEED
A small start -up near Beijin g ishelping t ransf orm Chinese eggproduction anti cipatin g a market
trend tow ards better food qualityand safety.
If you set out to fi nd t he mostchallenging environment i n w hich
to start a business, you w ould behard pushed to beat t he chicken
industr y in China. A series of foodsafety and health issues SARS,bird f lu, t he Sudan 1 carcinogen
have undermined confi dence inthe abilit y of the w orlds biggest
egg consumer (account ing fo r anextraordinary 40% of tot al world
consumpt ion) to monit or thequalit y of it s pou lt ry stock. Thiswas not helped by the f ragment ed
nature of the industry in China.Prices are continually under pressure
fr om myriad small p roducers pre-pared to cut corners on production
standards and food safety. Only acouple of farms in the whole count ry
can boast more than a mill ion birds.In Europe and America such farmsare commonplace.
Nevertheless, in 2000 one man
took on t he daunting challengeof produ cing a quality egg for t heChinese market . He was not a serial
entrepreneur wi th a family back-ground in business. Rather, Zhong
Kaimin was an engineer who hadworked in the Ministry of Defence
for 16 years. But he and his familyknew that it w as hard to fi nd a
decent egg in Beijing. So, wi th thehelp and advice of a few fri ends andfamily, he set out to f ill t he gap.
His company, Deqingyuan, based
some 90 kil omet res out side t heChinese capit al, is now producing
about 480,000 high -grade eggs aday and account s for over 70% of
When an outbreak of bird flu caused egg sales to plummet,
Deqingyuan continued to sell everything it could produce at its
full premium price.
mainland China. It now intends to
open tw o new f arms one in thesout h of the country near Hong
Kong, the other near Shanghai.Wit hin t hree years Deqingyuanhopes to be producing 6 million
eggs a day. Furt her p lans includethe production of liquid and pow-
dered egg. These products have alonger shelf l if e than eggs in t heirshells and provide an eff icient w ay
of dealing wi th periods of highand low demand.
Meanwhile t he egg-distrib utio n
system in Chin a is shi f t ing inDeqingyuans favour, away from
the t raditional wet markets (whichthe health authorit ies are gradu-ally closing dow n) and int o super-
markets, some of them ow ned byfo reign giant s such as Wal-Mart ,
Carrefour and Tesco. World-famousbrands such as these do not want
to r isk their reput ations by sellingfood products of dubious quality.
Enter Deqingyuan, w hose eggs arealready available in over 500 Chinesesupermarkets.
Mr. Zhong did not plunge int o hisventu re t otally unprepared. He
gained an MBA f rom t he PeoplesUniversit y in Beijing and persuaded
some f riends w it h business experi-ence to jo in him. They did door-
to -door market research and, onceproduction had begun, they gave
away half a million eggs in order t oshow people how much bett er theytasted t han the tradit ional fare.
Deqingyuan brands it s eggs w it h
disti nctive packaging , and it stampsthem wi th t he date they were laid,
the fir st t ime this has been donein China. The company also dif fer-enti ates it s product by selling eggs
by number, as well as the moretradit ional approach of selling by
weight . When an outbr eak of birdf lu caused egg sales to plummet
(and a large number of produc-ers to go bankrupt ), Deqingyuancont inued t o sell everything it could
produce at its full premium pri ce.Local consumers were hungry for a
product t hey could tr ust, a brandthat t hey could rely on. Sustain-
abili ty has made Deqingyuan amarket leader, says Mr. Zhong, and a market leader wi ll not only
survive a crisis, it w ill t hri ve outof crisis.
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Market Movers
Waste not , want not
Deqingyuans business proposition
is based on Chinese consumers
growing willingness to pay for foodsafet y. Expendit ure on householdconsumption in the count ry is ris-
ing by almost 7% a year, much of itgoing t owards better quality food.So the highest environment al and
animal-husbandry standards arefundamental t o Deqingyuans
success. This means prot ect ing theenvironment that birds live in,
ensuring adequate cage size andsiting and providing good qualityfeed, thereby reducing the incidence
of disease and the need for antibi -oti c use in egg production.
The company is unusual in aiming
to be green in one of t he mostpollut ing industr ies of all: in Chinaagricult ural w aste is reckoned t o be
greater in volume than industr ial andmunicipal waste put together. But
the result is a higher quali ty product,which means that Deqingyuan can
charge a higher price for i ts eggs(Deqingyuans eggs sell at almost
a 200% premium t o the price of astandard egg).
Deqingyuans sustainabil it y concernsstretch w ell beyond animal welfare.
There are significant worker healthrisks in t his indust ry due to ammo-nia and dust concentration in the
facility. Deqingyuan has purchasedadvanced equipment to address th is
problem, and provides a health caresyst em f or it s employees. Other
environmental measures includewaste management , energy conser-
vation and rainwater collection f orlandscape use.
Chickens make a lot of mess, andgetting rid of it can be a problem.
So Deqingyuan turns much of i t int ofert ili ser wh ich it sells to nearby
farmers. But th e company nowprodu ces far m ore w aste t han itcan absorb , so t he company has
constr ucted a biogas plant , which
will come on str eam in late 2007.
This w ill convert t he waste int omethane gas, which can be used toproduce electr icity. The electricit y
produced will more than meet thecompanys own needs, so it will ex-
plore oppo rtunit ies to sell t he rest.The company wil l also benef it f roma new revenue stream through the
sale of Cert if ied Emission Reduc-t ions (CERs).
The companys business goals have
also led it to provide support tothe local communi t y. Above all, itneeds to guarantee good f oodstu ff
fo r it s birds, and it needs to be surethey are not going t o be infected
by disease from ot her local stocks.So it provides high-grade organic
fertiliser (made from its own waste)to local farmers to enable themto grow corn, which Deqingyuan
guarant ees to buy as feedstu ff at ahigher-than-market price. In addi-
ti on, it gives cheap eggs to villag-
ers nearby in retu rn f or t hem not
breeding their ow n chickens adeal struck aft er the avian flu out -break in 2004.
On governance, Deqingyuan has
also set out to fo llow good p racticeaware that wi thout it foreign in-vestment is unlikely. An internation-
al account ing f irm is wo rking onan audit w ith a fut ure initial public
of fering (IPO) in mind. Theyre notperf ect on governance, says Joan
Larrea of the Global EnvironmentFund, an investment fund focusedon clean t echno logies and emerg-
ing econom ies. The main at trac-tion is that they do t ake it seri-
ously. Deqingyuan ho lds regularshareholder and board meetings,
and produces the required fi nan-cial documents. They have an opendiscussion betw een the board and
management, and have just addedan independent board member.
Market Movers
Sustainabi l i t y perf orm ance
CourtesyofDeqingyuan
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Market Movers22
BOx 5: LEADERSHIP
Conclusion
Head and should ers above
th e rest
Sett ing up an operation like
Deqingyuans is expensive. Thebirds cages have come from Italy,
the fertiliser-making equipmentfrom Germany, and the biogas plant
f rom Americas General Electric. Notsurprisingly, for some time moneywas Chairman Zhongs main challenge.
He says he devoted up t o 80% of histime t o f und-raising.
Deqingyuans prof it ability de-pends on t he companys abili ty
to charge a price premium t ocover the higher costs of pro-ducing high-quality eggs. This
is no mean feat in a count rywhere food qualit y standards
are inconsistent and many egg
producers have been bankrupt-ed due to the price competi tion.How ever, Mr. Zhongs vision
and leadership allowed h im t otake t he risk. He bet (correctl y)
that his high-qualit y eggs wouldmesh w ith the grow ing health-consciousness of Chinese con-
sumers if he could build a brandthat became associated w it h
quality. He achieved this in sev-
eral ways, including organisingmarketing activities in residen-tial communi ties, giving away
more t han 500,000 eggs for f reefo r people t o t aste, and devel-
oping a unique brand and pack-aging, with production datesclearly printed. Mr. Zhongs
leadership in p ioneering higherquality and ethical standards in
the Chinese market also helped
secure IFC investment anot hercrit ical facto r that contri butedto success.
IFC was impressed by the companys vision of transforming Chinas
egg production at the same time as it pioneered new standards ofsustainability.
in good stead as it approaches themarket . Mr. Zhong says the thing
that keeps him awake at night nowis the challenge of f inding enough
suit ably qualified people t o managethe companys rapid expansion. Theindustry has tradit ionally been run
by small f amily firms; trained poul trymanagers in China are even rarer
than good eggs.
The high price of ent ry may deter com-petitors from capturing Deqingyuansmarket share fo r t he foreseeable
fut ure. Those who do enter wil l inany case be hard pushed t o f ind
the management skil ls requir ed to
maintain such hi gh environ ment alst and ards. The f ew ri vals that existin the branded egg market currentl yout source at least some of their
production t o ot hers, handing overbirds to their suppl iers and collecting
their eggs thereafter. Deqingyuandoes everyth ing it self and is in
cont rol o f i t s birds all t he time. It i s,says Joan Larrea, head and shouldersabove the rest.
But he managed to att ract someheavyweight fo reign i nvesto rs
including t he IFC (which t ook astake in t he company in 2006) andthe Washington-based Global Envi-
ronment Fund. M r. Zhong believesthat Deqing yuans high standard
of animal welf are was partly re-
sponsible for IFCs interest. Theproject i s smaller t han wouldusually draw IFCs attention, but
the insti tu ti on w as impressed bythe companys vision of transforming
Chinas egg producti on at the sametime as it pioneered new standards
of sustainabil it y. Receiving IFC sup-port was crucial for Deqingyuan,bringing not only money but also
expert ise in, f or example, thebiogas proj ect.
The company is now th inking ofa stock-market listing in 2008 or
2009 to give it access to the furt hercapital i t wi ll need if it is to scaleup it s operation to a national level.
Its good governance and environ-mental perfo rmance wil l stand i t
Courtesy
ofDeqingyuan
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Market Movers
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Mt Ms
key
data
24
FoundedBeijing Deqingyuan Agricul-
ture Technology Co. Ltd w asfounded in 2000 by the currentchairman, Zhong Kaimin.
ownerSHIP STruCTure
Owned by: Individualshareholders includ ing
Zhong Kaimin (14.9%),DQY Agriculture TechnologyCompany (27.7%), Global
Environment Fund (15.9%),Capital Today (15.9%),
Innobiz Hong Kong (8.8%),Shanghai Yi Bei (8.6%) and
IFC (8.2% )
SeCTorAgribusiness
HeadquarTerSBeijing
oPeraTIonS
Beijing
M arkeTSBeijing, Hong Kong
M aIn CoMPeTITorSFollow ing Deqingyuan
(71% share of brandedegg market in Beijing),
competi tors are Gegeda (25%),Liuminying (1%), Gazige (1%)
and Xiaonong (1%)
eMPloyeeS335
M arkeT SHare
71% of branded egg market
in Beijing3.6% of tot al egg market inBeijing14
awardS and reCoGnITIon
National High-Tech ModernAgriculture Demonstration site
National Food SafetyDemonstration Enterprise
Deqingyuan, based in Beijing , China, produces high-quali ty eggs for t he Beijing and HongKong markets. Deqingyuan was established in 2000 with the recognition that local eggquali ty was poor, and it became the f irst company in China to sell f resh eggs bearing a
production date and trademark.
CAGR f rom 2002 to 2006: 107.3% CAGR f rom 2002 to 2006: 150.4%
FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06
6
4
2
1.20
.90
.60
.300.03 0.08
0.65
1.241.12
revenue (uSd M n) neT InCoM e (uSd M n)
US dollar figures for revenue and net income calculated by authors based on renminbi figures supplied by company and average annual
RMB:US$ exchange rate from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Company profile
0.37
1.22
3.37
6.186.74
14Calculation of t ot al market share, based on branded eggs account ing for 5% of all eggs in Beijing. However, th is f igure is grow ing f ast.
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Mrket Movers
1. Hig her sles n m rket ccessf rom et ter envi ronmentl n
sfety stnrs
Based on Deqingyuans reput ationfor quali ty and safet y, sales grewfrom $0.4 million in 2002 to $6.7mill ion in 2006.
Deqingyuan has 71% share of thebranded egg market in Beijing.
Deqingyuan entered HongKong market, w hich does nottraditionally source eggs frommainland China.
Deqingyuan commands higherprices per egg in Beijing (0.9 RMBper egg vs average of 0.3 to 0.4RMB per egg) and Hong Kong.
The deqingyu n usiness cse t he th ree most im por tn t f cto rs
Here we highlight the three most important was in which sustainabilit performance at Deqinguan is influencing businessdrivers and supporting business strateg.
DEQINGyUAN BUSINESS CASE MATRIx
EnvironmentalPerformance
Sales &Market Access
OperationalEfficienc
Accessto Capital
Risk Mgmt &Licence toOperate
Talent &Human Capital
Brand Value &Reputation
SocialPerformance
GovernancePerformance
3. access to cpit l f rom goo corport e g overnnce
Alt hough industry has dif fi cult ygaining access to capital,Deqingyuan tapped int ointernational investment fromGEF and IFC.
Investors are att racted by thecompanys pioneering vision ,qualit y and environmentalperformance, and seriousapproach t o governance.
2. brn vlu e n repu t tio nui l t on goo envi ronmentl
n sfet y stn rs
High food safety based on soundenvironmental approach allowsDeqingyuan to create a trustedbrand.
During SARS crisis, which def lat edegg sales th roughout China,Deqingyuans sales increased -evidence of high level of trustDeqingyuan enjoys with consumers.
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Market Movers26
CASE: JUBILANT ORGANOSyS
SWEET SOLUTIONS
The opening up o f Indiasecono m y in t he 1990s m ade
jubilants sustainabil i ty strategyeven more v aluable.
Started in 1978 as a bulk chemicals
producer, when Indian industry wasprotected behind high tariff walls,
Jubi lant Organosys found i tselffo rced t o ret hink it s business model
after the opening up of the Indianeconomy t o global t rade and com-petition in 1991. The liberalisation
included a gradual reduction o fcustoms dut ies on chemical prod-
ucts, the pr ices of which plungedto 30-year lows in t he second half
of the 1990s. The prof it s of manyfi rms in t he industry were severelydepleted.
Jubilant reckoned t hat i t was going
to be hard t o succeed in t his new,compet it ive global market . So it
decided to shif t in to h igher valuegoods and, over the next decade,
transformed itself from an essential-ly bulk chemicals manufacturer intoa low -volume f ine and specialit y
chemicals producer, with a growingfocus on supplying the pharmaceuti-
cals indust ry. It moved i tself strategi-
cally higher up the value chain.The company has traditionally reliedon an unusual source fo r it s raw
material. Most chemicals f irms of it skind rely on crude oil-based feed-stocks. But accessing them can pose
a problem, as their prices are high lyvolatile and their supply sometimes
uncertain. So Jubi lant decided to usemolasses as it s feedstock. M olasses is
a waste product f rom t he manufac-ture of sugar from cane, and Indiais a huge grow er of cane, second in
the w orld only t o Brazil. The priceand supply of molasses are signifi-
cantly disrupted only by an extraor-dinary monsoon. Thus Jubi lant was
able t o stabi lise it s cost base.
Coincidentally, the choice marked a
switch to a more environmentally-friendly way of producing the same
products. Molasses is a renewableresource. Its use provides gainful
employment f or the sugar industryswaste and avoids the need for envi-
ronmentally-intensive oil extraction.
India is today recogn ised as a lead-
ing global player in generics anda suppl ier to the pharmaceuti cals
industry. This success has been
driven by it s grow ing skil ls base, bybig improvement s in qualit y, andby a new breed of entrepreneur.
Jubi lant has been part of t his evolu-ti on, and many of i ts fi ne chemicalsproducts are now dest ined f or big
pharmaceuticals manufacturers.Revenues from int ernational sales
account for about 60% of tot alrevenues for the Fine Chemicals
division. Even purchases by domes-ti c customers of ten end up in int er-nat ional market s, as customers are
frequentl y t he out sourced opera-tions of international companies.
Jubi lant has also developed t he
capabilit y to come up wit h newproduct ideas (it employs 1,200scientists, who account for almost
a quarter of i ts tot al staff ), and tosell t hem to w estern businesses.
Jubilant carries out the research inIndia, sends samples to potential
customers and t hen manufactu resthem in bulk i n India when it has
found a buyer. Much of t his wo rkis done fo r l if e-sciences f irms andJubi lant describes it s fu ture str ategy
as being to become the f irst-choice outsourcing partner of the
life-sciences industry.
CourtesyofJubilantOrganosys
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Market Movers
Sustainabilit y perform ance
What dif ferent iates us is the EHS
As might be expected f rom a
chemicals and pharmaceut icalscompany, Jubi lant s main focus on
sustainabi li ty has been di rectedat EHS environment , health andsafety standards. Many of these
are imposed by legislation, butJubilant has gone far beyond local
requirement s. It is a major supplierof carbamazepine15 to Novart is,
for example, which it producesat a facilit y that has gained the
approval of Americas demandingFDA (Food and Drug Administrat ion).Jubilants facilities are also OHSAS
18001 certified, and the company
has been providing t raining t ofoster a stronger safety culture, andstrengthening occupational safety
systems and inf rastructure.
Shyam Bhart ia, Jubi lant s chairman
and co-founder, says that thecompanys rapid growth has been
facilit ated by it s sustainabilit ystr ategy. It has helped bo th it s
inor ganic and it s organic grow th th e for mer by making it easierto buy companies in developed
markets (Jubil ant, f or example,curr ent ly has some 700 empl oyees
in t he US), th e latt er by helping i tgain a local licence to operate in a
sector that is particularly sensitive, inIndia as elsewhere. To rai se i t s localprof ile t he company has made its
ow n medical facilit ies availableto local communi ti es, suppo rt ed
local schoo ls by providing t each-ing materials, and set up womens
self -help groups. This has helpedJubil ant avoid t he problems ot hercompanies have faced in Ind ia,
where there has fr equentl y beenstr if e and mistr ust betw een local
inhabit ants and their corporateneighbours.
Jubi lant has been a pioneer in en-couraging sustainabil it y reporting in
India, producing i ts own corporatesustainabil it y report (audit ed by
Ernst & Young) since 2003. It w as
one of the fir st companies in India
to produce such a report alignedwith the Global Reporting Initiative,
and has released i ts 2006-07 reportin l ine w ith t he G3 Guidelines atapplicati on level A+.16 Jubilant be-
lieves that this degree of transpar-ency, wh ich is st ill rare in emerging
markets, has helped in attractinginsti tu tional investo rs. Their owner-
ship of the company increased from7% in 2004 to 32% in 2006. Jubi lantbel ieves that it s EHS record is also
help ing to reassure customers thatit can be a reliable partner over the
longer t erm, and i t has seen a rise inthe volume of long-term contracts
(those fo r over one year) in 2007.
Sustainabilit y is now built into new
products right from their conception.As the company produces substant ial
quantit ies of effl uent, the cost o feff luent treatment is a prime concern.
Businesses in the group cannot putforw ard new proposals unless theyinclude EHS cost considerat ions. In
the fut ure, customers will come toyou wit h the expectation that you
wil l just p ractise good EHS manage-ment, wit hout expecting to pay
extra for i t , says Rajesh Srivastava,president of t he fine chemicalsbusiness. Customers, he says, are
evaluating you against other compa-
nies in Ind ia and China who have thecost advantage What differenti-
ates us is the EHS.
To deal w it h eff luent s, as long ago
as 1984 the company set up t helargest waste-treatment plant in
the count ry for producing biogasfrom disti llery eff luent s. The energy
created now saves the companythe equivalent of 250 tonnes ofcoal a day. Part of the companys
bio-degradable waste is also usedto produce organic manure, which
is being used in progressivelyincreasing quant it ies by farmers
substi tu ti ng chemical f erti lisers.And part is also used f or cropirrigati on aft er treatment, as it
sti ll contains nut rients helpf ul f orplant and soil. But i t t ook tw o to
th ree years to convince the f armersthat the company was not merely
trying t o dump dangerous effl uenton them. Jubilant employed anagricultural technical university
to train t he farmers on newtechniques and to convey that t he
company w as genuinely int erestedin their w elfare. Jubilant made
the farmers part ners, says AshokGhose, the companys chief ofEnvironment , Health and Safet y.
Market Movers
CourtesyofJubilantOrganosys
15
An active pharmaceutical ingredient r elated t o central nervous system disorders. Novartis holds the patent for this for mulation.16 For more information on GRI application levels see the Sustainabili ty Reportin g Guidelinesavailable at ww w.globalreporting.org/Report ingFramework/G3Guidelin
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Mrket Movers28
Conclusion
Jubi lant s business model i sbuilt on it s ability to provide
high value-added specialit ychemicals and qualit y research
and development services toclients in a cost-effective man-ner. Yet cost -compet it iveness
is a challenge in India wherecosts are higher t han in coun-
t ries like China and whereenvironmental regulati on is
becoming more stri ngent.However, Jubilant has succeededin int egrating management of
environmental issues th rough-out its operati ons and t hereby
reducing costs. Eff luent treat-ment costs, for example, are
built directly int o productdevelopment costs. The com-pany has also chosen t o use
molasses abundant ly availablein India as a by-product of sugar
production as its chemical feed-stock. Molasses has less cost and
supply volatility than the crudeoil-based feedstocks used byint ernati onal competit ors, and
is also more environm entall y-f riendly. Jubilant reuses wastes,
convert ing some t o biogas saving t he company money by
meeting i ts energy needs inplace of coal. Jubilant also usesbiodegradable eff luents for
crop i rrigation , which it sup-plies to the surrounding com-
munit ies for f ree, helping bu ildgood relati ons and reduce
operati ng risks.
aiming fo r the top
There is pressure on healt h-care
costs in all economies, and t hat
looks set to carry on pushingdrug p rices dow n. And t here isincreasing demand f or f aster and
more frequent new p roducts asexisting drugs come off patent andbecome generic. In that challenging
environment, Jubilant is hopingfor cont inued rapid grow th, based
on it s relatively low (though rising)cost base and it s abili ty t o ret ain
highly qualif ied scient ists.
It i s Jubi lant s aim t o be among
the top t hree in the world in allits major markets. The company is
close to being t he second largestproducer of pyridine17 and its
derivatives globally, catering
to leading pharmaceutical andagrochemical companies. Givenit s st rong customer relat ionships
and it s proven reliabili t y, Jubil ant
expects to be the market l eaderin t he near f utu re. In t he marketfor solid pol yvinyl it is thi rd in t he
wor ld wi th 75% of it s productionexport ed, mostl y for chewing gumto fi rms like Wrigley and Cadbury.
It holds a simi lar posit ion in themarket f or lat ex addi ti ves to tyres,
and it is the worlds second largestproducer o f carbamazepine. The
company acknowledges, however,that increasing gl obalisat ion andinternational competition are
going to require it t o compete withmult inationals not only f inancially,
but right across the t riple bot tomline of economic, social and
environmental performance.
To cont inue to build it s int erna-ti onal presence wil l require morecross-border t akeovers and the
positive image created by Jubilants
sustainability reporting and itsEHS activities help in making suchmoves. They also help in recruit ing
and retaining the top -notch scien-ti sts that are so vit al t o t he com-panys fu tu re.
As the company cont inues to
grow and expand internationally,the scrutiny of its activities will
almost certainly increase. Stricterenvironment al regulations arelikely in f uture, including t he EUs
new REACH legislation,18 whichhas recent ly come int o f orce.
Jubilant is well aware of thesechallenges and knows it will need
to innovate constant ly to meetnew requirements. As a fullyfledged member of the global
pharmaceut icals community,Jubi lant w ill also have to address
some of the most advanced andvexing issues facing the industry, in
the areas of bioeth ics and t he useof new technologies in research and
development.
Increasing globalisation and international competition are going to
require Jubilant to compete with multinationals not only financially,
but right across the triple bottom line of economic, social and
environmental performance.
BOx 6: INTEGRATION
17 Pyridin e is a basic organic chemical, a buil ding block and solvent i n agrochemical, pharm aceuti cal and o ther industr ies.18 REACH is th e Europ ean Union legi slati on on the Registr ation, Evaluatio n and Au thorisation of Chemicals. It is int ended t o standardise the w ay chemical substancesare evaluated for impacts on health and environment, and aff ects chemicals that are manufactur ed or import ed into the EU in quantit ies of greater th an 1 tonne.
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Mt Ms
key
data
30
FoundedFounded in 1978 originally
as Vam Organics. It changedit s name to Jubi lant OrganosysLtd. in November 2001.
ownerSHIP STruCTure
Listed in Ind ia since 1981 shares are traded in Group B1
at the Mumbai Stock Exchangeand at t he Nat ional StockExchange of India
SeCTor
Pharmaceut icals, agrochemicalsand chemicals
HeadquarTerS
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
oPeraTIonS
Seven manufacturing locations:Gajraula (Uttar Pradesh),
Nanjangud (Karnataka),Roorkee (Ut tarakhand), Nira
(Maharashtra) and Samlaya(Gujarat) in India plus Salisbury(Maryland) and Spokane
(Washingt on) in the US
M arkeTS130 customers in more than
50 count ries worldw ide,including US, EU, Japan
M aIn CoMPeTITorSVertellus (USA), Koei (Japan),
Lonza (Swit zerland),Chang Chun (Taiw an),
Dr Reddys (India),Cipla (India),
Hisun (China)
eMPloyeeS
3,425
M arkeT SHareAminopyridines 75%
Lutidines & Collidines 56%Pyridine and Picoline ~ 40%
awardS and reCoGnITIon 2007-08: Golden Peacock
Award for CorporateGovernance
2006-07: Golden PeacockAward for Safety M anagemen(Gajraula unit )
2006-07: Nat ional Aw ardfor Excellence in EnergyManagement, Pharmaceuticalsector by Conf ederation ofIndian Industry (Nanjangud unit
2006-07: Gold Award f orSafet y Perfo rmance (Nira unitby Greentech
2005-06: Golden PeacockAward for Corporate SocialResponsibi lit y (Gajraula unit )
Jubi lant Organosys is an in tegrated pharmaceuticals indust ry player, one of the largestcustom research and manufacturing services companies in India. Jubilant has a presenceacross the pharmaceut ical value chain: f rom drug discovery, functional chemistry and clini cal
research services to custom research and manuf actu ring for advance in termediates, f inechemicals, act ive pharmaceuti cal ingredient s and dosage f orms.
FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07
400
300
200
100
50
40
30
20
10
0
126153
190
265331
436
510
17
27 29
55revenue (uSd M n) neT InCoM e (uSd M n)
CAGR f rom 2002 to 2007: 28.2% CAGR f rom 2002 to 2007: 62.1%
US dollar figures for revenue and net income calculated by authors based on Indian rupee figures supplied by company and averageannual Rs:US$ exchange rate from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Company profile
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Mrket Mvers
1. operti n eff iciency th rug h
envirnm ent ef f iciency
Measuring and benchmarkingenergy and resource consumpt ion,
Jubilant identif ied gaps andimproved performance wi thlinks to the bott om line.
Jubilant s use of sugarcane molas-ses as feedstock means lower costand greater reliabilit y of supply
compared with internationalcompetitors.
Jubi lant re-uses eff luents asproduction input s and fo r biogas,
which reduces operating costs.For example, biogas saves Jubilant
the equivalent of 250 tonnes ofcoal a day, wit h corresponding costsavings and lower CO2 emissions.
Current ly, the payback period forinvestment in biogas plant is
three years.
2. licence t perte f rmcmm unity devepment
Many facilit ies are in economicallybackward regions. Disparit ies
betw een employees and t he localpopulation plus general distrust
of the chemical industry couldcause tensions and disruption.
Jubi lant s part icipatory approachto social investment , however,
brings tangible benefit s: avoidanceof social conflicts, support from
farmers and ease in obtainingenvironment al clearances.
Jubi lant gained the trust ofgovernment, which started using
the company as a partner onvarious social pro jects.
The jubi nt orgn sys business cse t he t hree m st im pr t nt f ct rs
Here we highlight the three most important ways in which sustainability performance at Jubilant is influencing business
drivers and supporting business strategy.
3. access t cpit t hr ugh
tr nsprency nd sustin biit ygvernnce
Sustainabil it y, t ransparency and
audited report s give national andinternational investors confidencein t he company.
Majo r int ernational investo rs likeCitiGroup and General AtlanticPartners are considering Jubilants
sustainabili ty credent ials befo redeciding to invest.
As conf idence increased, inst it u-
ti onal investo rs increased t heirstake f rom 7% of Jubi lant s
shares in 2004 to 32% in 2006.
JUBILANT BUSINESS CASE MATRIx
EnvironmentalPerformance
Sales &Market Access
OperationalEfficiency
Accessto Capital
Risk Mgmt &Licence toOperate
Talent &Human Capital
Brand Value &Reputation
SocialPerformance GovernancePerformance
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Mrket Movers32
CASE: MAS
GOING BEyOND
desp i t e v io en t e thn icconf i ct n the remov o ft re pro tect io ns uner t he
Mu t i Fib re ar rngement(MFa), t his Sr i lnkn ppre
mnuf cturer hs th r ive i nrecent yers w hi e chmp ioni ngw om en s em pow er m en t .
In t he mid-1980s, Mahesh Amalean
was excit ed t hat his small t exti lebusiness on the island of Sri Lankahad won an order t o manufacture
dresses out of synt het ic fabri c fora subsidiary o f Limit ed Brands, a
huge American apparel company.Then a change in quot a restr ictions
meant that he could not f ulf i l t heorder. Mahesh had t o loo k aroundfo r someth ing else to manuf actu re.
He and hi s tw o younger br ot hers,Sharad and Ajay, had po oled al l
t heir savings a few years earlierand bought 40 sewin g machines.
They needed t o keep t hem bu sy.
On a visit t o M AST Indust riesof f ice in Sri Lanka, Mahesh spot ted
Nevert heless, M ahesh decided totry and manufacture it , and he
and hi s bro thers set out to seehow it was done. They travelledto Hong Kong and China t o gain
a deeper understandi ng of themanufacturing process.
Mahesh also went t o Ohio w here
he managed t o persuade senio rexecutives from Victorias Secretthat a coupl e of unknow n Sri Lank-
an ent repreneurs could produ ce
bras to th e very high standardsthat American consumers demand.With a vote of confidence from
Victori as Secret , t he b rot herscompany, MAS Hold ings, foundit self w it h access to American
cust omers and Sri Lankan work -ers. It w as a potent ially pow erful
combination.
Some t ime later, MAS learnt thata 120-year-old German companycalled Trium ph had t he top
technology f or manufacturi nglingerie and, tw o years aft er joining
We took the work to the workers, instead of the workers to
the work.
Mahesh Amalean, chairman, MAS Holdings
At t he time, however, westernbuyers were focused primarilyon p rice. China was just opening
up and t he cost of garmentswas fall ing sharply in real termsin bot h Ameri ca and Europe.
Besides, Sri Lanka w as no t abuyers natur al fi rst port of
call. For one t hing , wages th ereare higher than in ot her Asian
countries such as China, Vietnamand Bangladesh. Moreover, thecount ry has been embroiled i n a
civil confli ct i n t he nort h and east,which has kil led over 60,000 and
left close to a milli on homelesssince 1983.
Under such circumstances, it issurpr ising that t he brot hers stayed
at home. But the Amaleans areof sturdy clot h. From all account s,
Mahesh in part icular was driven bya vision t hat w ent beyond f inancial
performance. He used theopport unit y to create something
much bigger t han all of us, saysDeept hi De Silva, the groupshuman-resources director and a
man who, prior t o MAS, workedfo r 20 years in t he UK. He created
th is feeling t hat w e (and Sri Lanka)can be world class.
At t he time the company wasbeing set up, good textile w orkers
were hard t o f ind i n Sri Lankaslarger towns and cities. Moreover,
the urban infr astr ucture couldscarcely cope w it h a f urt her big
infl ux of labour the governmentit self w as tr ying t o encourage theapparel industr y to move to ru ral
areas. So MAS decided to locateit s plant s in t he count ryside. We
took t he work to t he workers,instead of the w orkers to the
work , says Mahesh Amalean.
a Victor ias Secret catalogue onthe desk of a senio r execut ivethat he w as meeting . Victorias
Secret was (and still is) one ofAmeri cas big gest ret ailers offashion l ingerie. Although lingerie
was out side t he quo ta system,Sri Lanka had no expert ise in
dealing w ith t he fine needleworkthat such products require.
hands w it h Victori as Secret , the SriLankan brothers struck lucky once
again. Triumph had been looking toset up a plant in sout hern India, but
the plan had just f allen through.The Amalean brot hers appeared at
an opport une moment and Triumphagreed to go into a joint ventu rewit h them. Somet imes things just
fall int o p lace, says Mahesh.
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Market Movers
Sustainabi l i t y perf orm ance
Companies that at tract t he bestpeople perform better thi s is trueregardless of w here you are in the
world.
From the beginn ing , MAS set outto be a good employer. In addit ion
to maintaining basic workp lacestandards (e.g. a limit on w orkinghours and overt ime, age lim it s, safe
working condit ions), MAS gives it sworkers over 90% o f w hom are
women benefits including freetr ansport and a decent breakfast
to start their day, insists thatmanagers eat in the same canteenas everyone else and provides
onsite health care services. To someextent they did i t because, as Ajay
Amalean, the youngest of the threebrot hers, puts it , it was the right
thing t o do. We had absolut ely noidea that 20 years dow n t he road,the things we w ere doing would be
call ed CSR.
But they did i t also because it madebusiness sense. Compan ies that
attr act the best people performbet ter this is t rue regardl ess of
where you are in t he world, saysSharmini Ratwatte, director of MASInvestments and a former board
member. Forbesmagazine recentl ydescribed its 12-acre campus near
Chennai in sout hern India: Past themanicured law ns and the pleasantsecurity guards is an air-conditioned
spacious workp lace, the magazinewro te, where there is a day
nursery and two nu rses to watchover t he well-being of employees
and t heir children. 19
Although the companys turnoveris high by western standards, itis only one-quarter of t he local
industr y average. Many womenleave to marry and then return
once their child ren are at schoo l.To persuade i ts workers to stay
for l onger, how ever, MAS askedthem what t hey would most like
it, as a company, to provide. Oneth ing t he workers suggested was
education, in particular educationin info rmation t echnology and theEngl ish language, and t he company
is now p roviding bot h.
The whole programme has becomeformalised int o someth ing MAS calls
Women G