My name is Koji, and I am a student at the MIT Sloan School of Management (Class of 2010) interning for the summer at Merida. My strong interest in sustainability drew me to Merida, as well as the opportunity to hone my skills and knowledge of sustainability strategies.

Although I am Japanese, I lived in Germany for seven years when I was a child with my family. Germany is very progressive in its recycling-and-reusing activities, which furthered my interest in ecological sustainability. I majored in economics at Waseda University, in Japan, and wrote my graduate thesis (“Analysis of Dow Jones Sustainability Index”) about how the financial market responds to sustainability.. After seven years of professional experience in the banking industry, I had had many chances to talk to company CEOs about their visions and about the coexistence of economical and ecological sustainability.

Last September I started studying at MIT Sloan School of Management, which has given me numerous opportunities to learn management, leadership, and business skills. Through classes such as “Sustainability Strategy” and “Sustainability Laboratory,” I became even more interested in sustainability business.  (For more information on sustainability at  MIT-Sloan: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/sustainability/.) One of the Sloan faculty members kindly introduced me to Merida as a sustainability-oriented company. I was very impressed with Merida’s engagement in sustainability, and decided to work there for the summer.

At Merida I have worked on several projects, including:

1.            Merida’s sustainability metrics

Merida has several product lines, such as abaca, sisal, wool, and paper; and each has a different supply chain. For this project, I am concentrating on supply chains that go through the Boston warehouse, analyzing their electricity consumption and wastes. I am working with Zairo Cheibub, Director of Sustainability and Supply Chain, to establish a metrics of Merida’s economical and ecological activities based on my analysis. Zairo will continue this project by applying the Boston warehouse metrics to other facilities to establish an integrated metrics.

2.            Financial analysis

I have analyzed Merida’s financial data and compared it to listed peer companies to gain valuable insight into Merida’s positioning in the rug market. I discussed with Merida’s management how Merida can keep its activities consistent with its positioning.

3.            Inventory analysis

Merida has various kinds of products, which makes inventory control very important. I worked with Robert Segal, controller, to analyze how Merida purchases raw materials when it is launching new products.

4.            Japanese market analysis

Merida’s products are available in Japan, my home country. I have researched how Japanese people evaluate Merida’s products and analyzed their purchasing of rugs in general. I learned that Japanese people are becoming more and more interested in sustainability. I believe Merida can respond to their growing preference for sustainable products.

Working at Merida has given me fantastic opportunities to learn how companies can work toward both economical and ecological sustainability. I have gained valuable experience and insight related to sustainability and will be sharing more of what I have learned in a short series of posts.

-Koji Omiya