Ecostore Carbon Capture Pak: Innovation Strategy Analysis

Introduction

In 1993, Malcolm and Melanie Rands founded ecostore on New Zealand's Northland coast in response to a growing need for consumer- and environment-friendly personal and household cleaning products. After a decade of consistent growth and sustained financial success, the company's chief executive officer considered whether to pursue greener alternatives to ecostore's already environmentally responsible plastic packaging — which used recycled plastics — by switching to innovative plastics made from sustainable sugar cane crops.

This case study analysis provides an examination of the household and personal cleaning industry in Oceania, as well as an evaluation of the company's competitive position in that industry. It also introduces the collaboration strategy between ecostore and bioplastic manufacturers to develop green packaging called the "carbon capture pak," along with supporting rationale for why a specific type of collaboration with a specific bioplastic manufacturer matters for ecostore's eco-innovation strategy. A critical evaluation of ecostore's innovation strategy from interdisciplinary perspectives follows, including an assessment of the respective challenges and opportunities the company faces when incorporating an interdisciplinary approach. The paper concludes with strategic advice to the co-founder and his team on how to achieve sustainable innovation success in the future.

The Oceania Household and Personal Cleaning Industry

The region of Oceania is comprised of thousands of islands and island chains scattered across the South and Central Pacific Ocean. The name "Oceania" reflects the fact that the vast majority of this part of the world lies amid the Pacific Ocean (Oceania physical geography, 2022). The main landmass in Oceania is Australia, the world's smallest continent, as well as Zealandia, which consists of New Zealand and the eastern part of New Guinea — home to the country of Papua New Guinea (Oceania physical geography, 2022).

In addition, the Oceania region includes three main island groupings: Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia, the last of which includes the U.S. state of Hawaii (Oceania physical geography, 2022). Nearly 44 million people live on these islands and island chains, making this region a significant market for products and services of all types, including household and personal cleaning products.

The household cleaning industry comprises products specifically designed for household use, including detergents, soaps, laundry additives, and laundry bleaches intended for use in either commercial or domestic settings. The list of household products also includes items used for commercial laundries, dishwashing, and textile cleaning (Household cleaning products definition, 2022). The personal cleaning product segment encompasses personal care items such as hair shampoo, hand soaps, and toothpaste (Household cleaning products definition, 2022).

The global household and personal cleaning industry was valued at more than $221 billion in 2020 and is projected to increase to more than $320 billion by 2028. Growth is being driven by increasing demand for natural products, with year-over-year increases identified in the Oceania region specifically (Household cleaning products market, 2022).

Collaboration Strategy and the Carbon Capture Pak

Ecostore has a long history of collaborating with industry experts and corporations that could provide timely guidance for developing incremental improvements in its products — making them as effective as, or even more effective than, their commercial counterparts — based on its "health first" corporate philosophy. With respect to its carbon capture pak initiative, the company evaluated the potential for collaboration with major manufacturers of bioplastics, including Braskem, Fkur, and Toyota Tsusho. Each of these manufacturers offered respective advantages and disadvantages relative to the company's goal of "stepping away from the reliance on petroleum-based packaging associated with greenhouse gas emissions" (Balzarova & Castka, 2018, p. 5).

This type of collaborative strategy has characterized ecostore's efforts since its inception. The company has already made the switch to sugar cane-based polyethylene plastic for its packaging materials based on discussions with and analyses of major bioplastic manufacturers worldwide. As the company emphasizes: "Since 1993 we've been making safer plant and mineral-based products you can trust. Our plastic bottles are made from renewable sugarcane. It's 100% recyclable at kerbside and takes carbon out of the atmosphere as it grows, for a lower carbon footprint" (Kinder to our world, 2022, para. 3). This environmentally friendly packaging outcome would not have been possible — or would have been significantly delayed — if company leadership had not recognized the opportunity and taken aggressive steps to pursue it.

Despite its continuous growth and its self-described "brave" and "entrepreneurial" character (Balzarova & Castka, 2018, p. 9), ecostore lacks the capacity and resources to manufacture sugar cane-based polyethylene plastics on its own. Nevertheless, the company's leaders recognized the multiple benefits of making this switch — most notably that such materials are completely recyclable and perform equivalently to their petroleum-based counterparts (Balzarova & Castka, 2018). Collaboration with a strategic partner therefore represented an essential element of the company's plans. To its credit, ecostore also performed due diligence by researching the main potential collaborators that could assist with this initiative.

Conclusion

The research showed that at first blush, the transition from petroleum-based plastics to sugar cane-based plastics appeared to be an obvious choice for a company promoting itself as a leader in environmental responsibility. The research also showed, however, that multiple factors — some identified in the case study and others surfaced through interdisciplinary analysis — must be taken into account when making this type of decision. These include the hidden fossil fuel costs embedded in the bioplastic supply chain, the questionable long-term sustainability of monocropping sugar cane on peat land, and the regulatory environment surrounding green product claims. In sum, cultivating strategic alliances with existing and new partners that are leaders in their specialty fields will help ecostore continue its incremental improvements in the effectiveness and safety of its increasingly popular household and personal cleaning product line.

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