Managing Innovation and Change

Managing Innovation and Change

In the modern times, a considerable conundrum faces the global agriculture and food industry. The existing economic malaise creates a business environment characterized by ample supply, soft market demand, and slow growth. In fact, most multinationals struggle to protect their market share while others can hardly survive. Therefore, the Dupont’s management ought to look beyond this and focus on the organization’s long-term operations. Within a decade, experts project that the global demand for wheat will expand exponentially due to a population explosion in Asia and Africa. Besides, the developing world is urbanizing at a rapid pace due to improved living standards, hence calling for innovation and change in agricultural production.

DuPont is a US agricultural firm that produces and sells hybrid wheat seed and genetically modified agricultural products. An innovation such as this is in line with the company’s strategy to ensure food sufficiency not only in the United States but also in the developing world (Berwald et al., 2014).  In particular, DuPont has integrated the Green Revolution (GR) to increase wheat production through technology transfers initiatives to the South America, East Asia, and Africa.

The drivers of DuPont’s innovation include the rising population, technology, and competition. The organization’s rivals such as Archer Daniels Midlands and the Andersons have embraced sustainable measures to minimize the operational cost. Unless DuPont’s agricultural products are usable in the future, the company’s chance of survival is minimal. Notwithstanding, FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization) predicts that by 2050, the global demand for food and agricultural products will rise by more than 55% as the population peaks at 9 billion (Tilman et al., 2011). Therefore, businesses establish a bridge between the long-term opportunities and today’s challenges. Undeniably, innovation has not always been the hallmark of the agribusiness sector, but the first hurdle to clear is overcoming the resistance to change. In addition, people should accept the change. For example, they should consume genetically modified wheat. In this way, the governments will improve food access.

Product Development

            DuPont used Green Revolution technology to produce novel wheat cultivars (Hedden, 2014). Ideally, agronomist bred cultivars produce high yields because they can absorb relatively high nitrogen content in comparison to the non-genetically modified varieties. The firm bred semi-dwarfing genes into the wheat genomes due to frequent lodging. Cecil Salmon sent Norin 10 wheat (Japanese dwarf wheat) to DuPont’s Washington DC research facility for the development of cultivars.

Thereafter, the facility developed and tested IR8 by crossing an Indonesian wheat variety with a Chinese “Deegeowogen’ HYV (high yield variety).  As the molecular genetics advanced over the last decade, DuPont’s researchers successfully cloned wheat reduced-height (Rht) genes and semi-dwarf genes from Arabidopsis Thaliana (ga 1-3) mutant genes. They regarded then as gibberellins biosynthesis due to their cellular signaling component genes. Evidently, the mutant background’s stem growth is diminished effectively, hence resulting in a dwarf phenotype. In addition, the mechanical stability of the crop is assured since the researchers reduced the photosynthetic investment in the stem. High-yield wheat variety outperforms traditional seeds especially in the presence of adequate fertilizers, pesticides, and water for irrigation. However, if these essential requirements are absent, it is highly recommendable that the farmers should grow traditional varieties. The innovation of GMO seed production bears heavy financial implications due to the extensive research and development. However, the return on investment will be higher should the program be successful.

Positive and Negative Effects

The financial success of DuPont during the early 2000s is attributable to the GMO wheat seed production breakthrough. The firm made significant profits during this period as farmers across the West acquired the high yield varieties. Consequently, the firm expanded rapidly to other countries in East Europe, Australia, and South America. However, activists view the current applications of genetic engineering in wheat production as an unstable food production approach. Albeit, the potential of commercialization of genetically modified wheat may create a remarkable market opportunity in the future. Despite the potential downfalls, DuPont intends to invest in GM wheat. Remarkably, the firm recently advanced to the final field testing stage prior to a commercial release. Still, the public relations battle will go on between wheat growers and activists that oppose the crop’s biotech research.

Today, the anti-GMO movement threatens the existing wheat seed sales. Of keen to note is that DuPont’s decision to either shy away or double down on HYV wheat research may shape the agricultural technology’s future. Given that wheat is one of the most widely grown crops globally, the advance in DuPont’s crop technology promises to address starvation and food shortages in Sub-Sahara and Eastern Asia.

Monsanto and DuPont generate more revenue from the sale of HYV seeds than all of their main rivals combined. Nevertheless, DuPont’s seeds and genomics business grows at a gradual pace as compared to its other sectors. Whereas the corporation is far from shutting down its HYV research facilities, it has diverted the resources to other farm technologies like climate condition modeling tools for maximum crop yield.

Organisational Changes

Arguably, DuPont is a global leader in innovation and science. The organization utilizes collaborations and expertise to create sustainable solutions to meet the global demands while addressing the challenges. DuPont’s sustainable growth efforts have led to the creation of products that minimize the use of water and energy. At the same time, the breakthrough in high yield wheat production has stirred creativity in other organizational sectors. For instance, the company’s scientists are developing products using renewable forms of energy to minimize the operation cost. On the other hand, DuPont’s colleagues put the corporate goals into action since they are dedicated to excellence. Further, the culture of innovation gives the employees an opportunity to build on new prospects for sustainable business growth.

During the 1970s, DuPont defined sustainability in terms of environmental footprint reduction. However, the advancement in agricultural technology and the subsequent innovation of wheat produce prompted an evolution of the firm’s global priority (Maloney and Yandle, 2011). Today, the firm’s management is aware of the planet’s scarcity of resources. Hence, it will protect and extend them through extensive agricultural research and development to meet the demands of a booming and increasingly unified global audience. Moreover, the company understands the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) global frameworks and introduces innovations to the business environment that solve the human rights issues, economic empowerment, health, and the protection of natural environment. The organization’s current commitment lies not only in its products but also operations. That is why DuPont strongly emphasized on business innovation and re-engineering during the recent launch of 2020 strategies and sustainability goals. Specifically, there is a strong commitment to the development of new products that promote consumer safety and health.

DuPont is a leading science company, especially in nutrition and agriculture. Its innovation of wheat seed production serves as a gateway for the organization answers some of the planet’s most pressing questions. In essence, the company has to determine how to protect the environment, how to adequately feed a growing population worldwide, or how to minimize the overdependence on non-renewable forms of energy (Godfray et al., 2012). Solving such challenges demand more proactive sustainability measures to manufacture future products. DuPont’s investment in Research and Development has tripled over the past decade. In 2015 alone, the organization invested more than 7 billion dollars in the development of environmentally beneficial products, hence setting a bar for other competitors to follow suit.

Additionally, the company challenges all the innovations in its pipeline to determine their contributions in the areas of sustainability, health, agriculture, and safety. Needless to say, DuPont has made significant strides since its initial antipollution initiatives in the year 1970 (Evenson and Gollin, 2013). Gradually, the firm incorporates sustainability into the organizational culture through progressive innovation and development. The leadership embeds sustainability on the minds and hearts of all employees across the firm, including the individuals responsible for converting ideas into creative outcomes. Better than ever, DuPont responds to the societal voices and consumer needs accordingly. Most importantly, the management is convinced that the alignment of innovation with sustainability is impactful to the global society.

In conclusion, product innovation demands a substantial investment in research and development. Therefore, the organizational leadership must be willing to allocate a significant amount of resources to guarantee success. Additionally, the management should assemble a competent team of researchers to turn creative ideas into profitable innovations. Due to the high level of competition in the agricultural sector, firms such as DuPont cannot survive unless they incorporate technology in product development. The agricultural environment evolves rapidly due to growing population and climate chance. Thus, it is imperative for corporations to innovate products that meet the changing customer needs. However, they must observe health and safety precautions during the product development process. For instance, renewable forms of energy should replace fossil fuels in industries for a minimum environmental impact. In the case of GMO wheat seed production, it is clear that the producer should consider the effects of various innovation types, especially during the design of corporate innovation policy. Certainly, process and product innovation differ on how they affect the organizational performance (for example in productivity, turnover, and cost reduction) and socio-economic performance.

Bibliography

Berwald, D., Carter, C.A. and Gruère, G.P., 2014. Rejecting New Technology: The Case of Genetically Modified Wheat. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88(2), pp.432-447.

Evenson, R.E. and Gollin, D., 2013. Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960 to 2010. Science, 300(5620), pp.758-762.

Hedden, P., 2013. The Genes of the Green Revolution. TRENDS in Genetics,19(1), pp.5-9.

Maloney, M.T. and Yandle, B., 2011. Estimation of the Cost of Air Pollution Control Regulation. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management,11(3), pp.244-263.

Tilman, D., Balzer, C., Hill, J. and Befort, B.L., 2011. Global Food Demand and the Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(50), pp.20260-20264.

Tilman, D., Balzer, C., Hill, J. and Befort, B.L., 2012. Global Food Demand and the Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(50), pp.20260-20264.