Zuellig Pharma × DOMI Earth: From Planting One Tree to Shifting Company Culture, Proof That ESG Works for MNCs and Large Companies

💡 Key Takeaways

This article looks at how companies can use a long-term strategy to solve the problem of ESG turning into one-off events:

• The challenge: Many companies struggle with ESG budgets that deliver little, low employee participation, and trouble producing high-quality material for reports.
• The solution: DOMI Earth’s Sustainability Transition Journey lets a company focus on a single issue, such as ecological restoration, and work on it over the long term.
• The result: A one-off CSR activity became “company DNA” and an “auditable sustainability asset,” with stronger employee commitment, more internal innovation and a better competitive position in the business.

Introduction: When KPIs Meet Real Impact

For many companies, turning abstract ESG goals, such as net zero by 2030 or biodiversity commitments, into real competitiveness and assets is a persistent challenge.

The six years Zuellig Pharma and DOMI Earth have spent together are a model case of Model 2, the “Impact Deep Dive Journey,” within the Sustainability Transition Journey.

It is more than a tree-planting event. It is a transformation journey that takes a single environmental action and, through three layers (connect, transform, extend), deepens it into company culture and employer brand, and finally feeds back into business growth.

Why Do Companies Need a Sustainability Transition Journey?

Before getting to Zuellig Pharma’s story, it helps to understand the difficulty many companies face: they invest budget and people, but often run into activities that leave no trace, weak local connection and employees who feel nothing.

Model 2, the “Impact Deep Dive Journey,” is the solution DOMI Earth designed for companies that need to focus their resources, get the most from their ESG investment and respond to a specific headquarters mandate. By committing to a single program, such as ecological restoration, for three years or more, a company moves from “carrying out a task” to “building an asset.”

Zuellig Pharma’s Six-Year Transformation in Three Acts

Zuellig Pharma’s six-year journey is a clear illustration of this model’s three-stage growth path:

Stage 1: Launch and Local Connection (Year 1)

Focus: Build a connection, from “task” to “something I feel”

• The challenge: Six years ago, when Zuellig Pharma planted its first tree, about 150 colleagues went to the coast to plant a windbreak forest. Most employees saw it as “a task assigned by the company,” and may have thought no more than “OK, I’ll get this done.”
• The turning point: This was the start of making local contribution tangible. It was only a first step, but a seed had been planted quietly: for the first time, employees realized that their work and their company could really be tied to the planet and to other people’s lives.

Stage 2: Ecological Tracking and Deeper DEI (Years 2–4)

Focus: Turn understanding into action and lower the internal barrier to getting things done

• The deepening strategy: The event grew to 600 people and became a family-inclusive, two-day, one-night program, adding Indigenous community experiences, cultural and ecological tours and parent-child carbon-reduction education. Sign-ups for the annual sustainability experience sell out within ten minutes of opening. This reflects the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) practice built into the journey, letting employees and their families “feel” sustainability together.
• The key benefit for internal project teams: For the project managers or HR colleagues who drive sustainability programs, this stage matters a great deal. The whole event is designed to feel relaxed, lively and free of pressure, which breaks with the seriousness of routine company business. In their words: “Colleagues across departments were willing to take part and cooperate. When we push any other sustainability program later, it is more powerful and smoother, because everyone understands what it stands for and how much work goes into it, and they naturally want to join in and contribute.”

Stage 3: Asset Review and Cultural Internalization (Years 5–6+)

Focus: A change in kind: sustainability moves from a “project” to an “everyday basis for judgment”

• A change in culture: By the fifth and sixth year, sustainability is no longer seen as an extra project that needs pushing. It gradually becomes the default way of thinking when decisions are made inside the organization. Employees in different departments and roles begin asking the key questions on their own: Is there unnecessary waste in this process? Is there a more efficient, more environmentally friendly alternative to this packaging? Within the resources we already have, can we make a better choice for people and the environment?

Sustainability no longer depends on a few champions. It has been internalized as a collective way of judging and a habit of behavior.

• Concrete results: At this stage, sustainability begins to feed back into operations and business results. In warehouse and logistics sites, front-line colleagues went back to the process on their own to review how packing is done, taking stock of consumables, route design and efficiency gaps and identifying points to improve, so that reducing waste is no longer just a goal in an ESG report but an improvement that actually happens. At the same time, the internalized sustainability spirit has become an important asset in external communication. In dealings with customers, ESG is no longer just a passive answer to questionnaires or compliance requests. It is a plus that builds trust and deepens partnerships, and it lets the brand show higher credibility and long-term value in a competitive market. This is exactly what the journey framework stresses: a “win for both business and brand.” When sustainability becomes part of the culture, a company not only does the right thing but also does things that make it more competitive.

The Core Value: What Assets Did This Journey Create for the Company?

Zuellig Pharma’s case shows how the three core value propositions of DOMI Earth’s Sustainability Transition Journey translate into long-term competitive advantage:

1. Tangible Local Contribution

Driving innovative behavior and stronger organizational momentum

At the heart of this value proposition is helping a company produce impact stories with real depth in Taiwan, showing that the team has not only hit its business targets but also delivered results in giving back to the local community. In Zuellig Pharma’s case, this process of making contribution tangible became, unexpectedly, a catalyst for internal innovation:

• More cross-department collaboration (organizational momentum): Projects used to run into departmental silos, but through this relaxed, pressure-free and meaningful local experience, colleagues from different departments built a shared language. Zuellig Pharma found that after this journey, pushing other cross-department sustainability programs became more powerful and smoother.
• More sustainability proposals (innovative behavior): Once local contribution becomes visible, employees no longer see sustainability as something for senior management. From front-line warehouse staff to every department, colleagues began offering improvement ideas on their own, such as improvements to reusable crates, turning sustainability from an “outside action” into an “innovation in operating processes.”

2. DEI & Employer Brand Practice

Raising employee commitment: sustainability is no longer an extra task

We help companies turn abstract headquarters DEI policy into concrete action that employees and their families take part in firsthand. Six years of persistence turned Zuellig Pharma’s “CSR activity” into a powerful “employer brand asset”:

• More initiative (from passive to active): The activity needs no nudging and no assignments. Employees even sign up with their families on their own, a sign that sustainability has become part of their lives.
• Emotional pull (Global Brand, Local Heart): Through family-inclusive, in-depth experiences, employees feel the company’s commitment to this land and the next generation. The pride of “I work for a company worth respecting” has greatly improved talent retention and commitment.

3. Sales & Brand Synergy

Strengthening competitiveness: sustainability becomes a plus in earning business trust

Breaking down the wall between ESG and sales turns accumulated results into assets that support the business. Zuellig Pharma’s experience shows that long-term sustainability investment can translate directly into trust capital in the market:

• Winning customer trust: ESG becomes core material in conversations with customers. Externally, the company no longer talks only about product price but about “value and responsibility.” This brand credibility makes customers more willing to renew and recommend.
• A boost for sales: These six years of climate action have become the most powerful “Sustainability Sales Kit.” When customers ask about ESG, Zuellig Pharma can bring out concrete data and stories that show a differentiated leadership position, making sustainability a booster for business growth.

Conclusion: Sustainability Is Not Done to Be Seen, but Lived for Yourself

Zuellig Pharma’s story reminds us that real sustainability transformation does not lie in the fireworks of a one-off event but in choosing the right “journey.”

DOMI Earth’s Sustainability Transition Journey helps companies turn abstract ESG concepts into concrete action. When that momentum builds over six years, it is no longer just a tree or an event. It becomes the company’s strongest cultural moat and a driver for the business.

“Sustainability culture is not instilled. It is experienced and practiced.”

Would You Like a Sustainability Transition Journey for Your Company Too?

Whether you are a multinational looking to “localize global strategy,” or a large company that wants to turn ESG investment into an “engine for growing sustainability assets,” DOMI Earth can help you build a sustainability moat with real impact, so that sustainability becomes your strongest competitive asset.

See how multinationals in Taiwan can get started