MONSANTO VS DUPONT

ZACKCHARY CHAMBERS

OMAR DAOUK

IAN WENG

GLENDA MELENDEZ

GERALD MUELA

TRANG VU

Monsanto

• Founded in St. Louis in 1901.• A leading provider of agricultural

products and integrated solutions for farmers.

• Famous for creating and patenting the product Roundup.

• Decided in the mid 1990's to find a way to help developing countries grow food that resisted pests without pesticides and lasted longer.

• Went about it by buying out existing companies that had already created Genetically Modified Seeds as a start to the company movement.

DuPont • Founded in 1802 originally as an explosives

company but later turned their focus on chemicals, materials, and energy.

• Had products in areas such as food and nutrition, health care, apparel, safety and security, construction electronics and transportation.

• In late 1990's under CEO Chad Holliday, decided to make a turn towards biotechnology like the one that Monsanto had begun.

• Focused efforts on crop protection without the use of its own herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides.

New direction for Monsanto

• Following the GM food controversy, Monsanto had to find a new area to focus on that would not only be profitable but sustainable over time.

• It seems that the focus currently is on "TCSB" Turbocharged selective breeding, which is finding the most desirable traits of a plant and mating them.

• With the general population renouncing the consumption of all Genetically Modified products, this should be the direction they move in.

• It does not require moving genes from one plant to another. • Instead it is like a selective screening process to find the best seeds and

analyze their genetic differences to understand why some seeds are better than others at surviving cold, drought, or fending off insects.

DuPont's next move

•For DuPont to succeed they must focus their attention on creating a product that is not Genetically modified and is well perceived by the public.

•The focus should be on not trying to just beat out Monsanto, but to create a product that is safe, and that Monsanto can't replicate.

•They are moving towards drought resistant crops such as corn. •One main goal is to move away from these Genetically modified

seeds and products. •The public has renounced them, its time to move on from them

and into a new direction.

MONSANTO AND DUPONT’S TRANSFORMATION

Since the 1980s crop yield growth had started to decline. The world’s population was increasing by 73 million persons per year.

In the late 1990s, Monsanto and DuPont made a serious commitment to using this technology to bring genetically modified foods to the market.

It was a good idea for both companies to transform from commodities chemicals companies to life sciences companies because of the food shortage at the time.

Both companies could have transformed in the 1980’s when the food shortage started.

People are more educated about the food they want to eat

Consumers in today’s time don’t want genetically modified food.

They are more concerned about eating healthy and want organic products.

How Monsanto should maintain its dominance over DuPont

• Keep heavily investing in TCSB, which could greatly speed the rate at which major crops increased their productivity

• Continue to shift from traditional agricultural chemical approaches to biological approaches

• Invest in positive public relations showing no negative effects of GMO crops

How Dupont could takeover Monsanto

• Stay diversified with its other business segments: Coatings and Color Technologies, Electronic and Communication Technologies, and Performance Materials

• Use these segments to generate cash in development of products in Pioneer Hi-Bred

How Dupont could takeover Monsanto cont.

• Keep pioneering in alternative energy sources. Future demand is very promising

• With such experience in energy conservation1, possibly start a commercial service to reduce other companies or government facilities energy consumption

• Pitch alternative energy devices, in which they are a producer, as solar cells, wind turbines, fuel cells, and lightweight automobiles

1.“DuPont met this goal and was using 7 percent less energy than it did in 1990 despite producing 30 percent more goods, with savings of more than $2 billion”

New structure of the life sciences industry

CONSUMER

BIOTECHNOLOGY

AGRICULTURE

FOOD

PHARMACEUTIC

AL

HEALTH

ENVIRONMENT

Possible Issue and Solutions

• Super Pests that resist pesticide spray• Grew regular plants on the side for mating

• Bt-infected pollens kill Monarch butterfly eggs• Pollens only travel in short distance

• Terminator genes switch• Gave up on idea

Possible Issue and Solutions

Lower profit margin due to off patents• Remap the percent of profit from products

Pressure from European Unions• Show benefits of GM plants like Golden Rice

Lost half of value from 1998-2000• “New” Monsanto (Roundup)

Agricultural productivity, seed, biotech traits, and genomics businesses.

QUESTION