Kieran Möller
Jönköping International Business School
Guenola Nonet
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The innovation that Stora Enso has discovered is the product, Lineo. It tackles goal number 12 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; "Responsible Consumptions and Production", because it stops the degradation of plants and ensures that it does not burn the surrounding environment when it is used.
Stora Enso is also an organisation with a strong emphasis on sustainability. It has its own sustainability unit in every product division. This shows that the company places strong values in sustainability and in its decisions making process. This emphasis on sustainability resulted in the innovation of Lineo.
The organization's research and development unit has created several innovations that has allowed Stora Enso to produce new products that already have been profitable for the organization. Some innovations were launched recently such as a non-toxic raw material, Lineo ™, as a substitute for oil-based materials. Stora Enso Lineo ™ is used in resins for paper lamination and other wood use. It is a high purity kraft lignin. It gives stiffness to the plant and protects it against microbial degradation.
Lineo stops the kind of chemical burning that results when phenol is used. Therefore, one of Stora Enso’s resources is helping reduce environmental degradation, going beyond what other firms are doing and, thus, demonstrating further corporate social responsibility.
The inspiration to do good comes from the company's history of survival and its focus on sustainability. This is best described in our interview with Senior Vice President Roy Antink who states, "As we are a company in transition, we are coming from a paper company to a biomaterial company, Innovation is part of our nature now its necessary to our transformation. Especially in the new divisions of sustained materials, we are looking for new materials coming from the trees and this is the prime within the business all across and i think that it gives a sustainability pressure that creates innovation. Basically innovation is essential for the company."
For the long term, Lineo ™ assures consumers who use it that they will not adversely effect the environment for future generations. It also means more of the ecosystem can be protected against microbial degradation, thus helping slow the effects of climate change. This also increases company profits.
Being sustainable comes with great advantages to the business itself. It wouldn’t be economically rational to increase spending in order to be sustainable without a given advantage. First of all, we discussed in our report that the majority of people would buy products that are manufactured by an environmentally friendly company, because it makes them feel like they are contributing to a better future. Business can promote those sustainability measures for marketing purposes; to increase their sales and to please their stakeholders. Employees will be motivated by default when they discover they are working for an organization that manages to be sustainable and environmentally friendly and profitable. Last is the ethical part. e all live in this world and we all should be responsible for its protection, Stora Enso is taking the initiative to protect the earth, and other companies should follow.
Being sustainable makes up a big part of Stora Enso’s corporate culture. We live on a very contaminated earth, because of many big corporations that do not care about the environment. For instance, many do not hesitate to throw the garbage in the ocean in order to reduce costs. Having a company like Stora Enso is a great benefit. They do their best to maintain a clean environment without the pollution. For example, they plant more trees than they cut to make paper. Not only do they make the environment better, but they also teach other firms and corporations how to be more sustainable and how to care for the environment that we live in. This effects the environment in a vey positive way. Pollutions can make people and animals sick and thus reduce our life cycles. In extreme cases, it can also cause deadly diseases. So being sustainable and environmentally-friendly is a benefit to people, animals and plants, and saves our society. If we support more companies like Stora Enso, we can ensure a positive future for the next generations.
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Örjan Möller, Vice President and Head of IT Project Management
Roy Antink, Senior Vice President of International Policy Coordination
Stora Enso is a large company that focuses on manufacturing packaging made from environmentally-friendly material that can be recycled. Their aim is to replace materials made from fossils that are not eco-friendly by innovating and developing new packaging products made from renewable materials. The product line of the company varies among producing renewable paper, packaging for consumer goods and industrial applications, wood products for building, construction and living, biomaterials for paper, and board and tissue production.
Although it was officially founded in 1998, Stora Enso is a company with roots that go back more than 800 years. Interestingly, there are documents from 1288 that show their process of becoming a leading company globally. The document shows that Bishop Peter Elofson invested in Falu Koppargruva, a mining firm but the company most likely starting mining before 1288. Already at this point we can trace the global influence of their activity as it was responsible for two-thirds of the world's mine manufacturing for centuries.
The company evolved into more parts and expanded their working areas due to the manufacturing of papers, card boxes, etc, but they kept the forestry industry still as their central business. In the 1990’s, the forestry industry became the company's only function due to the liquidation of Falu Koppargruva, a copper industry that cooperated with Stora AB until 1992. Six years later, Stora Enso AB was founded as a collaboration with the Finnish forestry industry company, Enso, which created the new company's new and present name, ’Stora Enso’.