On Tuesday, Dole Packaged Foods announced a new
“Promise” — a series of sweeping commitments
for tackling food waste, eliminating processed sugar and plastics, and improving
nutrition globally by 2025; and to be carbon neutral by 2030. The Promise is
based on the adoption of a more sustainable and equitable business model,
centered around an 18th-century Japanese philosophy called sampo
yochi — in which business operates for
the good of the seller, the buyer and society.
And today, dramatic changes in business are more urgent than ever — as issues
such as food insecurity persist alongside egregious levels of food waste, and
the fallout from the COVID-19
pandemic will no doubt
have profound impacts globally for many years to come.
We spoke with Dole President Pier Luigi Sigismondi about being inspired by
his environmentally aware daughters, and what he hopes the ‘Promise’ will help
the company achieve.
The Dole Promise is centered around the ‘triple satisfaction’ concept of ‘sampo yoshi’. How have you drawn on this philosophy in developing the key principles?
PLS: Sampo
yoshi
is a philosophy born in Japan in the 18th century, where everything is
interconnected — so that the benefits to the buyer, the seller and the community
are equally important. Today, we might describe it as a business model where
planet, people and prosperity coexist; not one at the expense of the others.
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It has been demonstrated that if you embark on this journey, you can certainly
find ways to make a business more profitable, more resilient and more successful
in the long term; while also doing good for your society, your employees and the
communities around you.
And that’s why we are here today, as Dole brings to life a new business model —
which shows how a 169-year-old company can develop this notion of doing what is
good for us as a business, as well as for society, the environment and our
consumers. We believe that if we strike that balance, we can have a very
successful future ahead of us.
Why do you think that these ideas are so important today, particularly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic?
PLS: Dole has always been inspired by providing access to good nutrition,
which I personally believe is a human right. Unfortunately, for many years,
there has been a big gap in society between the haves and the have nots, where
poor nutrition and illnesses like diabetes have increased exponentially. As we
were crafting our purpose, we felt that we had to continue our venture — which
is about closing the gaps by providing access to good nutrition.
Today, according to the World Food Programme, there are 265 million people
at risk of starvation or food insecurity. This is a major paradox when you
consider the amount of food that is wasted. And now with COVID-19, supply chains
are being disrupted and farmers are suffering from a shortage of labor.
At Dole, we believe we can provide a business model that will convert food
waste into an affordable and easily available source of nutrition. And
hopefully, we can create an example that other companies will follow.
From an environmental point of view, we saw that even pre-COVID, CO2 emissions
were starting to level off. Today, because of the virus keeping us at home, we
are seeing how beautiful the planet can be with clear blue skies. But COVID also
poses a threat to global sustainability because the cost of fossil fuels has
come down dramatically, weakening the business case for renewables. And as
capital is limited, there will be less focus on investing in new technologies
for the future, as most government priorities will be on job creation right now.
On one hand, COVID-19 has created more awareness of what it means to live in a
cleaner environment; but on the other hand, it could lead to delays in reaching
the Sustainable Development
Goals.
We are aware that this might not be the easiest time to stick our necks out and
state what we believe in. But I think it is time for us to get out of our
comfort zone. Of course, we may not have all the answers, but we believe it is
the right thing to do — which is why Dole is announcing its Promise today.
How has the need to care for future generations, and listening to the voices of young people, influenced your decision-making process?
PLS: I have three daughters — aged 23, 17 and 13; and have been fortunate to
be able to spend more time at home with them. Like many young people today, they
have these profound questions about adults and governments. We have been
watching the news together and also reflecting on what is happening in the US
and around the world. I’ve been surprised at how aware they are of what is
happening. This is how the new generations are thinking today. They’re so much
more aware, informed and sensitive to today’s planetary issues than I could ever
have imagined.
They are asking me what we are doing to make a difference. Why is it that for
every minute that we are sitting having dinner, there is a rubbish truck full
of
plastic
being dumped in the ocean? As a company, we cannot just say, ‘yes we’re working
on it.’ This is not the answer.
Multinationals are being heavily questioned. In the past, they have always been
on the defensive, justifying what they are doing because they are creating jobs
and bringing good nutrition. But I think the time has come for us to talk to
consumers much more honestly. These are very serious questions we need to
answer.
The world we have created is not something our children deserve, and that’s why
we are here today — to be inspired by a sense of purpose and by the kids we have
at home, who are asking these questions that must be answered sooner rather than
later. They are posing the questions that must be answered from a business
leadership point of view. In my opinion, there is no time to waste.
You will be collaborating with a number of other organizations. How important are these partnerships in helping you reach the ambitious targets set out in the Promise?
PLS: The world has moved in a new direction with new technologies that are
driven by venture capital funds and startups, and it would be a disgrace not to
leverage this. So, our model is to tap into the best of what is going on in the
world in order to capture the transformation.
Our challenge is to create a model where we can connect them all together in an
ecosystem of people that can help us find those answers. That’s why we have put
together the Dole investment
fund, that will allow us to
support many startups and invest in brands that share our sense of purpose.
We are working in partnership with some amazing organizations — such as Forum
for the Future, which has kept us honest in the
challenges and the commitments we are making today. The Future Foods
Institute is helping us craft amazing
products that are all plant-based and driven by millennials and young students
in the University of Bologna in Italy. And Solidaridad is a development agency
that we have had the pleasure of working with in the past. They will help us
with our farmers in South East Asia so that we can increase their
income
and make them more successful.
And these are only the first of many partners we will work with. We are also
talking to governments and are hiring people internally that will help us deal
with these issues — including youngsters, who will give us those kinds of
solutions that we don’t have today.
We will be monitoring our progress and reporting back on a yearly basis. I am very excited about this, because that is the way we learn how to re-invent
ourselves both personally and as a business. We are not perfect, but we believe
we have what we need to make a difference.
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Published Jul 1, 2020 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST