Second Place for Stefano Pogutz at the Oikos Case Writing Competition

The case submitted by Stefano Pogutz, faculty member and researcher with the Department of Management and Technology, was awarded second place at the annual competition organized by Oikos, with a study dedicated to the sustainable use of cotton at Ikea.

"Cotton," explains Pogutz, "is the element that is used most by Ikea, after wood." The farming of cotton and its production has created various problems and discussions regarding social and environmental sustainability for the company. This is due in part to conditions of workers in the production chain and in part to the use of pesticides and other chemicals that are used both to obtain the raw material and for its manufacturing.

"Over the past few years, we have been developing a management strategy along with the Ikea team that is sustainable both from the point of view of environmental impact and from the point of view of social issues: we have calculated that in 2015, 100% of the Better Cotton Initiative process will be completed, to fully follow the new standard of production chain control and management according to sustainability criteria."

Oikos, an international organization of economics and management students with a focus on sustainable development, organizes a competition each year. This year, forty teams and researchers from 15 different universities participated in the contest. Cases were examined and evaluated by a panel whose goal of the ruling was regarding educational, sustainability and in particular the innovative features of the project.

The case "Ikea and the Better Cotton Initiative" by Stefano Pogutz was also used as a case study during the professor's lectures in Green Management courses for Master of Science programs and MAGER. "I tell students about the premise and ask them to develop the project while considering the guidelines of the case itself."