Page 238 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Pr oduct Life-Cycle Management 215

• Identification of important consequences for external stake-
holders leads to assessment of strategic implications (positive
or negative) for company interests, which in turn leads to
evaluation of the financial implications of environmental and
social impacts.

Conventional business case development is largely confined to the
upper left corner of the SBDF matrix in Figure 10.7 namely, economic
outcomes for the company. The SBDF prompts decision makers to
expand their perspectives and consider other types of outcomes
that are relevant to making good business decisions. For example,
when selecting among competing technologies for a new product
design, the development team can include additional evaluation
criteria based on life-cycle environmental considerations and stake-
holder priorities.
However, in order to implement this type of overarching frame-
work successfully, companies need to carefully consider how it can
be integrated with the established financial decision-making pro-
cesses. To produce a rigorous, credible business case, stakeholder
value analysis and life-cycle analysis methods need to be combined
with traditional decision tools such as discounted cash flow and risk
analysis (see Chapter 9). Finally, organizational characteristics such
as management philosophy, leadership style, organizational struc-
ture, and behavioral norms will strongly influence the acceptance
and adoption of any framework that represents a significant change
in company practices.

References
1. Additional information about Caterpillar’s sustainability programs and
Remanufacturing Division is available at www.cat.com.
2. Additional information about 3M’s sustainability programs is available at
solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/global/sustainability/.
3. T. W. Zosel, “Pollution Prevention Pays: the 3M Approach,” Proceedings
1st International Congress on Environmentally Conscious Design & Manu-
facturing (Boston: Management Roundtable, 1992).
4. D. M. Lambert, M. C. Cooper, and J. D. Pagh, “Supply Chain Management:
Implementation Issues and Research Opportunities,” The International Journal
of Logistics Management, 1998 ,Vol. 9, No. 2.
5. D. Fiksel, T. Brunetti, and L. Garvin. Toward a Sustainable Cement Industry (Geneva:
Substudy 3, Business Case Development, Battelle Report to the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development, 2002).