Sustainable Enterprise - Assignment Example

1. What do you think of Monsantos life science strategy of food, health, and hope? Shapiro himself was able to prove that profit and sustainability are not mutually exclusive. Shapiro was able to see the remarkable importance of taking into account the issue of sustainability in order to generate significant amount of profit for Monsanto. This makes Monsanto came up with strategic move in order to obtain its corporate goals, and an integral component of it is to earn significant amount of profit from sustainability issue.

Monsanto’s life science strategy of food, health and hope is therefore a primary step to create a business out from sustainability issue. There are important reasons why this could be substantially true. Monsanto was able to make a strong point that agriculture is a remarkable sustainability driver in the 21st century. The reasons are simple. There are continuing problems about decreasing yield in agriculture, population and income growth, urbanization and even the environment in general which face the society in reality.

In the case of environment for instance, as a chemical company, Monsanto has considerable ideas regarding on how chemicals could create diversified environmental pollutions. Applying the concept of sustainability, Monsanto was finally able to create genetically engineered plants which have resistance to pests and diseases, which would make application of chemicals in farming obsolete in the future. In general, Monsanto created a need out of the ongoing reality in the world and from that a significant business surfaced which was in a form of life science strategy of food, health and hope. 2. Why the European backlash?

How does European resistance differ from concerns of the developing world?For some Europeans, genetically modified foods or plants are not actually integral components of exact science. In other words, they are quite hesitant about the issue of safety and control regarding on foods or plants that have undergone the process of genetic engineering in the field of biotechnology. Europeans are not actually oblivious about the significant promises of genetic engineering and biotechnology. However, European backlash is just a reminder that people should also consider the issue of safety and control.

After all, integrating genetic materials with the original plant is not the usual or natural process of food production, so probable issues of safety are what the Europeans would like to emphasize, prior to acceptance of Monsanto’s life science strategy of food, health and hope. However, in developing world, concerns were on feeding a hungry stomach, ensuring high production or yield and advancement in agriculture. In other words, compared to safety concerns in Europe, the developing countries had become easy targets of Monsanto for its strategic programs because of their remarkable needs, which were not focused on issue of safety and control of products from genetic engineering or biotechnology.3. As a fund manager, would you have added Monsanto stock to your portfolio in June 1998?

Why or why not?In 1998, Monsanto announced merger with American Home Products (AHP), a company renowned to be largest research-based pharmaceuticals in the world, making them leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications. In this year, Monsanto and AHP also gained remarkable market share. As a fund manager, it would be an opportunity to add Monsanto’s stocks to portfolio. This was the point in which Monsanto had aggressive effort towards obtaining competitive advantage in its industry.

In addition, this was also the point in which Monsanto tried to be innovative in any way. Thus, a company investing in this company would have developed a sense of higher confidence in its investment.