Ford Motor Company: New Shades of Green Through Soy Foam

Description

Ford Motor Co. develops and commercializes a green technology that replaces a traditional and scarce resource with an abundant bio-material. The pilot project becomes hugely successful, and, within the company, the idea of expanding the use of bio-material gains considerable momentum, but implementation and customer acceptance prove to be a challenge. Two members from the company’s research and engineering division work together to overcome these obstacles and move the company toward a vision of sustainability that involves more than just fuel economy and cost reduction.

Learning Objective

·Understand how companies can focus on the hidden side of sustainability — that is, the side that is not dictated by regulations or current customer demands. ·Appreciate the nuances in managing the changes required in implementing sustainability ideas. ·Describe what internal change agents or environmental intrapreneurs can do to sell their initial idea, gain momentum for implementation, and leverage early wins to amplify the reach of the project.

Keywords

automobiles Innovation materials Sustainability United States