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Fisher Reports Corporate Bioengineering Challenge On November 11, 1999 Dr. Linda Fisher, Vice President for Federal Government Affairs, the Monsanto Corporation gave a presentation entitled, "Sustainable Business Practices: Challenges and Opportunities." The presentation was given in Laws Hall, a building that Ms. Fisher once took classes in as a Miami University student. Dr. Fisher started her speech by noting that Monsanto, like many other companies, is trying to walk down new paths and is experiencing "potholes and multiple critics" even if they may be helping the environment and acting in a socially responsible way. During the 1970s, Monsanto worked hard to comply with environmental regulations. In the 1980s Monsanto was involved in a more progressive strategy by reassessing the steps they were taking to comply with environmental regulations. Monsanto found that it would be easier to refocus and go beyond compliance and also take preventative actions. By the late 1980s and through the 1990s Monsanto had changed their focus and approach to environmental strategy and became involved in a sustainable development movement. They "Set the bar higher than required by law" and diligently worked to improve their environmental relations and activities with the public. Monsanto realized that the environment was a cost to them and that by enhancing the bottom line, they could increase process and technology, decrease environmental harm, and create opportunities to create value for shareholders. The company realizes that it is difficult to evaluate just how sustainable their actions are because these actions cannot necessarily be measured quantitatively. Dr. Fisher stated that in general the world is using resources faster then we are replacing them...a trend that is not parallel with sustainable development. Consequently, Monsanto is trying to get closer to sustainable development by creating technologies that cause less pollution while increasing food production and using less land and labor compared to past technologies. |
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