Sustainable Product Development
Nordic Corporate Responsibility Conference | 150509
Sustainable Product Development | IDBM | Helsinki | 291008

Sustainable design and
research.

How to: make you think
about what kind of person
you are?

How to: make people
think about the
consequences of their
actions?

World water use
6,000
4,500
sq km
3,000
1,500
0
1940 1960 1980 2000
Source: Kandiah (1999), p. 49

=

Sustainable product
development: why?

Product development phase locks
70-90 % of cost and
environmental impact

Sustainable product
development:
reduces unsustainability

Sustainable product
development:
reduces unsustainability
creates sustainability

creates sustainability
through presencing and
engagement

That’s the future; today

85 % of Finnish retailers want
more ‘green’ products (Q1/08)
Source: Seos research

75 % of U.S. consumers prefer
greener alternatives (Q4/08)
Source: Hartman Group

green = reducing
unsustainability

Reality check:
1. Price
2. Quality
3. Ease of use
4. Availability
5. Green values

However,

Traditional thinking:
eco = expensive.

Traditional thinking:
eco = expensive.

Comptel exhibition:
-reduced CO2 40 %
-reduced costs

More examples

Interface carpets
-saved $372 M
-52 % less waste
-sales up 2/3rds
-profits doubled
(c) Interface

Herman Miller
Mirra chairs
-recyclable
-fast assembly
(c) Herman Miller

Nike Considered
-reduced waste
-cheaper
-higher margins
(c) Nike

In fact,

creativity loves
constraints

Three ways to get more for less
1. Because I say so

Three ways to get more for less
1. Because I say so
2. our Q4 earnings
depend on that

Three ways to get more for less
1. Because I say so
2. our Q4 earnings
depend on that
3. The Earth needs you

“We choose to go to the Moon... and do other
things, not because they are easy, but because
they are hard, because
that goal will serve
to organize and measure
the best of our energies and skills,
because that challenge is one that we are willing to
accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one
which we intend to win...”
-John F. Kennedy, 1962