How can ‘Next-Generation’ Leaders Successfully Create a Shared Understanding of Sustainability and Impact Across a Diversified Family Business?
Case Study Overview
The case describes how Sumitra Aswani, head of purpose and sustainability and a fourth-generation leader at Tolaram, along with her trusted team, is creating a shared understanding of sustainability across a diversified global family business. While the eventual goal is to move the family business towards impact, Sumitra uses the concept of sustainability as an on-ramp to drive incremental but structural changes across the organisation, while establishing strong fundamentals and foundations to achieve the long-term ambition of becoming an impact business.
This case tracks Sumitra’s journey, diving into the motivations, challenges, and implementation steps to convince battle-hardened executives to commit to generating ‘positive impact’. The case highlights learnings of driving such a transformation in a family business with a long legacy of geographically spread-out operations led by autonomous leaders.
It throws light on two key aspects of a business’ transformation: 1) outlining the key pieces required to embed sustainability into the business mission and 2) the steps taken for its successful implementation. Key pieces for embedding sustainability included getting leadership endorsement and building engagement within the business units. The steps taken for implementation – capacity building, setting up systems and data management – are also presented in detail.
The case ends on a forward-looking note - showing how Sumitra is putting together a long-term vision and framework that focuses on transforming Tolaram into a generationally focused impact business, in line with its stated purpose, refreshed in 2020: ‘Creating possibilities, for generations’. The ambition eventually is to think about the entities as being purpose-driven and operating with global impact in mind.
Teaching Objectives
- Understand how to embed sustainability with the eventual goal of creating an impact business, while appealing to the long-term family values to ensure commitment.
- Understand how a next-generation business leader works with senior leaders across a family business.
- Understand the practical considerations involved in designing and executing a decentralised sustainability strategy across a multi-business unit, multi-national organisation.
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This case study was produced by the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP), in collaboration with Artha Global. It is developed as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to serve as an endorsement, source of primary data, or illustration of either effective or ineffective management. This case includes some copyrighted materials kindly shared by Tolaram for use as case exhibits. The authors gratefully acknowledge Tolaram’s permission to use these within this case study.
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