Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

PRODUCT INNOVATION
Process innovations change the way the organization
produces and delivers its products or services and
might, for example, involve the introduction of new
elements into production or service operations. Product
innovations change what the organization offers to
the outside world. In effect, this is what the customer
sees (Bessant, Lamming, Noke & Phillips, 2005). These
innovations consider the role of social, environmental
and technological characteristics in reducing the overall
impact of products and services. They:
1. Use design tools to redesign products to address
sustainability considerations: e.g. dematerialization
2. Reduce materials’ impacts and products’ energy
consumption
3. Design “green” from the outset: e.g. integrate
recovery, reuse and disposal thinking early in the
design process; set targets early
4. Ensure functionality is not compromised
To comply with regulations, enhance corporate
environmental image, exploit market opportunities and
respond to internal pressures, sustainable product
innovation strategies for Operational Optimizers attend
to materials, energy and pollution (Dangelico & Pujari,
2010).
1. Use design tools to redesign products to address
sustainability considerations: e.g. dematerialization
A variety of product development support tools exist,
as charted by Maxwell and Van De Vorst (2003). Design
tools enable users to evaluate sustainable materials
and sustainable design alternatives and relate them
to financial incentives, environmental regulations and
the demands of clients (Bossink, 2002). Consequently,
many firms adopt sustainability-oriented design tools
(SODTs), integrating them into existing processes
to ensure environmental and social considerations
become routine. No “best” set of design principles
exists and firms need to make decisions based on their
own particular circumstances. These SOI tools can be
integrated into existing quality management systems,
for example, by establishing sustainability milestones,
roadmaps and checkpoints or by integrating
sustainability as an explicit goal in the design process.
Another tool, the sustainable product and service
development (SPSD) method proposed by Maxwell and
Van De Vorst (2003), tries to incorporate TBL principles
into a holistic perspective on the product life cycle. It
assesses the function to be provided by the product
or service and the optimal sustainable way of providing
that function.
Tools focus on different sustainability issues and at
different scales. Elements considered by these tools
include the following:
• The use, re-use, recycling and disposal of spent
products, including the minimization of their waste
legacy
• Designing for remanufacturing and/or disassembly
(as in the cradle-to-cradle design model)
• Changing product packaging (minimizing
packaging, using alternative and biodegradable
materials)
• Eco-labelling
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