Sustainability
Tenured Harvard Business School professor, now at Oxford University.
Previously I have written about some investor controversy concerning Unilever’s commitment to purpose. There are those investors who simply assert that purpose hurts profits. Rather, done right, purpose makes a company more profitable and more sustainable from a shareholder value creation and stakeholder legitimacy perspective. To date, my work in the purpose domain has been focused on the company and system levels. But it also applies at the brand level. Thus, I was pleased to have the opportunity last month to have breakfast with Christina Bauer-Plank, Global VP Hellmann’s & Dressings, at Unilever. She helped me understand the link between purpose and profit at the brand level.
Eccles: Christina, how nice to meet you! What good fortune that we’re both in New York for Climate Week. I understand you’ve been here since last week. What is the purpose of your trip?
Bauer-Plank: I am really excited to be back in the U.S. for the first time in almost two years. North America is our biggest market. Hellmann’s is found in every other home in the U.S. I’ve been visiting some grocery stores to see how our products are being sold, and I’ve been spending time with our Hellmann’s team and agency partners. It’s been wonderful to catch up in person.
I will also have the privilege at Climate Week of attending the annual event of Champions 12.3, a multi stakeholder coalition of organizations with a shared ambition to tackle food waste, to discuss our collective efforts on the issue.
Eccles: Wow, you sound busy! Thanks for taking the time to meet with me. But this is the first time we’ve met, so please tell me a little bit about your background.
Bauer-Plank: Well, I grew up on a farm in Austria, so you could say food is in my DNA. I then went on to complete a Ph.D. in Chemistry which, combined with my love for food, led me to Unilever’s Food Research and Development department. Understanding consumer behaviors and trends is critical to success in R&D, and after five years I discovered that my real passion was in connecting business with consumers. That prompted me to take on a career in marketing which has ultimately led to my current role as Hellmann’s Global Vice President.
Robert G. Eccles of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford is the author of a number of books on integrated reporting, sustainability and the role of business in society. His focus is on sustainability from both a company and investor perspective. Professor Eccles is also involved in a variety of initiatives to embed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in real world decision making. One of these is the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), of which he was the founding chairman. In 2018, Professor Eccles was selected by Barron’s as one of the top 20 influencers on ESG investing.
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