Emergence Strategy in Action: Stora Enso’s Transformation into a Renewable Materials Company

Stora Enso, a Finnish company, shifted its business model from paper production to renewable materials in response to declining demand for newsprint. The company focuses on packaging, building solutions, and biomaterials, utilizing strategic partnerships and innovation programs to drive system-wide change in the food and construction sectors. Key initiatives include the 4evergreen Alliance and a partnership with Tetra Pak to expand carton recycling capacity, starting with a facility in Poland in June 2023. Despite these strategic pivots, the company has recently faced financial challenges leading to layoffs and leadership changes.

• Stora Enso pivoted its corporate strategy in the late 2000s to move away from the declining paper market, specifically newsprint, which dropped from 12 percent to less than 4 percent of global production over twenty years. The company decided to "generate as much cash as possible from the paper business and use it to invest in the growth opportunities related to global trends," focusing on biomaterials, building solutions, and packaging.
• To foster innovation, Stora Enso set a long-term target for 15 percent of its annual revenue to come from new products and services. It established the Stora Enso Accelerator Program in 2017 and the Combient Foundry in 2018 to connect with startups, leading to partnerships with TRÄ for building solutions and Sulapac for plastic drinkware alternatives.
• The company is targeting the food system through the 4evergreen Alliance, launched in 2019 to promote circular fiber-based packaging. A specific partnership with Tetra Pak aims to increase carton recycling in Europe; a recycling line opened at a Polish site in June 2023 that is expected to triple Poland's annual carton recycling capacity.
• Stora Enso's transformation is characterized as an 'emergence strategy' involving system sensing (identifying market trends), system solutions (developing niche products for nascent markets), and system roles (using strategic partnerships with entities like Danone, H&M group, and Inter IKEA group to overcome its position as an upstream player).
• The company continues to face financial instability and the challenge of scaling niche products to the mainstream. Recent corrective measures include the appointment of a new CEO and the layoff of approximately 1,150 employees.

APA

RMI (2023). Emergence Strategy in Action: Stora Enso’s Transformation into a Renewable Materials Company. https://rmi.org/resources/emergence-strategy-in-action-stora-ensos-transformation-into-a-renewable-materials-company/

Chicago

RMI. Emergence Strategy in Action: Stora Enso’s Transformation into a Renewable Materials Company. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/emergence-strategy-in-action-stora-ensos-transformation-into-a-renewable-materials-company/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Emergence Strategy in Action: Stora Enso’s Transformation into a Renewable Materials Company |date=14 December 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/emergence-strategy-in-action-stora-ensos-transformation-into-a-renewable-materials-company/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023emergence, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Emergence Strategy in Action: Stora Enso’s Transformation into a Renewable Materials Company}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/emergence-strategy-in-action-stora-ensos-transformation-into-a-renewable-materials-company/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }