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Linking Industrial Ecology with Business Strategy: Creating Value for Green Product Design

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  • Mark Finster
  • Patrick Eagan
  • Dennis Hussey

Abstract

As organizations practice environmental design, some discover green design positively impacts business performance. This article demonstrates how an organization can employ existing design methods and tools with the Kano technique to craft an environmental product design strategy that enhances its business strategy. These tools expand the toolbox of the industrial ecologist and enable the link between green design and business improvement. The Kano technique was developed in the 1980s to facilitate design of innovative products. We also introduce terminology and concepts such as “voices of the environment,”“environmental knowledge management,”“environmental profile,” and “environmental product attribute” in order to bridge the gap between industrial ecology and business concerns. To demonstrate how an organization can find the synergy between business value and environmental value, this article describes three activities and their corresponding tools and exhibits their use with industry examples. First, we present techniques by which designers can identify and prioritize customers and stakeholders who voice both environmental and business concerns. Second, we describe how voice‐of‐the‐customer translation techniques can be used to efficiently collect and translate data from these customers and stakeholders into critical environmental product and service attributes. Third, we discuss how the Kano technique can be used to connect green design to business strategy by making visible the variety of stakeholder and customer perceptions of these critical environmental attributes. Examples then demonstrate how those perceptions suggest appropriate approaches for integrating the critical environmental attributes into product and business strategy. Finally, we provide examples based on work done with General Electric Medical Systems (GEMS) to illustrate the design of products that improve environmental performance while adding greater perceived value for numerous customers along material‐flow value chains.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Finster & Patrick Eagan & Dennis Hussey, 2001. "Linking Industrial Ecology with Business Strategy: Creating Value for Green Product Design," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 5(3), pages 107-125, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:5:y:2001:i:3:p:107-125
    DOI: 10.1162/108819801760049495
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    Cited by:

    1. Sung Hoon Chung & Robert D. Weaver & Hyun Woo Jeon, 2020. "Sustainable Management of Remanufacturing in Dynamic Supply Chains," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 703-731, September.
    2. Koji Kimita & Sergio A. Brambila‐Macias & Anne‐Marie Tillman & Tomohiko Sakao, 2021. "Failure analysis method for enhancing circularity through systems perspective," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(3), pages 544-562, June.
    3. Raphael Wasserbaur & Tomohiko Sakao, 2020. "Conceptualising Design Fixation and Design Limitation and Quantifying Their Impacts on Resource Use and Carbon Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-21, October.
    4. Elina Dace & Agnis Stibe & Lelde Timma, 2020. "A holistic approach to manage environmental quality by using the Kano model and social cognitive theory," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 430-443, March.
    5. Chung, Sung H. & Weaver, Robert D. & Friesz, Terry L., 2013. "Strategic response to pollution taxes in supply chain networks: Dynamic, spatial, and organizational dimensions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(2), pages 314-327.

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