Page 49 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

28 Chapter Thr ee

confidence and trust by aligning themselves with third parties,
such as government agencies, nonprofits, or environmental advo-
cacy organizations.
As companies strive for greater transparency and external en -
gagement, they soon recognize that there are many different cate-
gories of stakeholders whose needs and expectations they must
consider. Table 3.1 lists eight categories of stakeholders, each of which
has specific environmental interests and concerns. The table also
lists corresponding performance indicators that would reso nate most
with these different audiences; Chapter 7 discusses performance

Stakeholder Examples of Relevant
Group Typical Expectations Metrics
Investors, • Rate of return • Earnings per share
lenders, • Shareholder value • Price/earnings ratio
financial • Acceptable risk • Volatility
analysts profile

Suppliers, value • Integrity • Corporate governance
chain partners, • Reliability rating
customers • Product stewardship • Customer satisfaction
index
• Eco-labeling & other
certifications
Local commu- • Corporate citizenship • Number of community
nity residents • Support for eco- advisory panels
nomic development • Volume of purchasing
• Public health & or engagement with
safety protection local businesses
• Philanthropic
contributions
Governmental • Compliance • Notices of violation
officials, • Model for voluntary • Percent reduction in
regulatory agen- initiatives listed emissions
cies
• Awards & recognition
Employees, • Commitment to • Percent of employees
labor unions employee rights and participating in self-
well-being improvement programs
• Health and safety • Percent reduction in
practices incident rate
• Wages & benefits • Employee satisfaction

TABLE 3.1 Stakeholders’ Environmental Interests and Concerns