Case Study
Teaching Note
The company in the case is The Millennium Yarn Company (MY Inc. herein after, pseudonym). The company is consuming charcoal which is primarily a forest produce. Charcoal is mainly produced by burning the wood or allied material in the absence of oxygen. The usage is for the sake of power generation, which is significant cost component for competitive advantage. The charcoal is mainly used as raw material as well as source of industrial power as the replacement of fossil fuel. Many European countries have banned the charcoal production but continue consuming the charcoal, as it is considered as cleaner option than traditional coal. This practice has resulted in the forest cover loss in the adjacent African region. In India, some NGOs have approached the court and sought ban on the industrial uses of the charcoal. FAO has developed the criterion of the sustainable charcoal consumption chain. Some of the industries voluntarily work on this criterion and seek adaptation of FAO narrative with respect to their issues.
The present case study aims to develop the sustainable charcoal consumption criterion as strategic communication narrative for the company concerned. Mr. Alex, the head of the sustainability team of the company wants to identify the strategic issues related to role of charcoal in their industrial process. Some of the dilemma is related to determining the credible sourcing of charcoal, assessing the secondary business opportunities of local self employment thereby and the role of MY Inc. The case discusses the major business implications related to that. One of the major implications is using the charcoal procured from the sustainable source. To impose the standards of sustainability on the supplier, generally the industrial user makes the supplier code. In the case of the charcoal, it is procured from the both organized as well as unorganized sectors. Imposing restriction on the unorganized sector will required significant business process changes on behalf of industrial user. The case compares three alternatives of sustainable consumption viz. traditional, sustainable and natural gas based. The natural gas based option is clean but not renewal energy based and sustainable charcoal option may not be clean but is renewal energy based is another major dilemma of the case.
| Pub Date: | January 28, 2021 |
| Discipline: | Forestry |
| Subjects: | Sustainability of Charcoal Consumption at Millennium Yarn Company |
| Source: | To get this case please email to elc@iifm.ac.in |
| Product #: | CS-02-SND-20-PDF |
| Industry: | Forestry |
| Geography: | Madhya Pradesh |
| Length: | 9 page(s) |
| Teaching Note: | Yes |