Green Wise Co, Ltd: global sustainability journey

The case discusses concurrent sustainability turnaround and launch of international expansion of Green Wise, Ltd, a mid-size Japanese firm operating in floral, landscape and green interior design. In 2002 the third-generation family owner, Mr Yuichi Tamaru, decided to turnaround the perfectly working and successful business model of Green Wise, Ltd with a mission to disseminate sustainability, starting from the transformation of the interior and landscape design industry in Japan and then globally. Green Wise Co was founded in 1905 as the first plant and tree rental business in Tokyo. The business grew and its innovations and creative endeavours included developing new materials and technological solutions such as lightweight artificial soil developed for rooftop gardens, wall-greening projects and other interior and landscape design solutions. After Green Wise participation to Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2017, Mr Tamaru opened the firm's first international subsidiary in Italy. The idea was to spread the Slow Green concept among Italian clients, already quite advanced and attentive to sustainability issues. Experience in Italy would then help the firm in fine-tuning its business model turnaround and 'export' new sustainable industry standards back to Japan. After the first year of opening the show room in Milan, Mr Tamaru could clearly understand that Italian green interior and landscape design industry was still far from 'Slow'. Most of flower producers still used pesticides and focused on being productive rather than sustainable, even though the situation, as he perceived, was better than in Japan. The challenge for Green Wise team was to change that. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted a series of events and workshops planned in Milan in 2020. While waiting for the recovery, Green Wise teams in Italy and in Japan were testing the most plausible options of implementation of the firm's ambitious mission - to change green interior and landscape industry standards in Italy, in Japan and globally.