Essay Example of Sustainable New Product/Service Development

Introduction

Developing or designing new products and services is widely recognized as a primary source of competitive advantage. It is also key to marketing strategy since it allows companies to satisfy customer needs and wants. Nevertheless, over the years, product design has been affected by reducing raw materials and the need to minimize waste. Hence, companies have adopted a sustainable product development approach to balance the tradeoff between customer expectations and sustainability goals. Modern customers are calling companies to be sustainable so that they can affiliate with them. Thus, this paper aims to analyze sustainable new product/service development as part of the new product design (NPD) process.

Literature Review

Claudy (2020) cites that new product development involves creating new products to enhance profit growth and create positive change in the ecosystem. However, the world has changed as the traditional approach of providing economic value to consumers is insufficient to satisfy them or make profits. Modern customers are attracted to sustainable brands throughout product design, processing, and disposal (Chatzopoulou & de Kiewiet, 2020). Hence, adopting sustainable product design is naturally suited to address sustainability issues.

According to Vezzoli et al. (2015), for firms to enhance their competitiveness, they must improve their overall value proposition by developing new products that offer stakeholders economic, ecological, and societal value. In essence, companies are benefiting from sustainable products and services as they enhance their brand awareness among ecologically enthusiastic clients.

Notably, most companies are creating new objectives and values based on three elements- planet, people, and profit. These three elements are part of the triple bottom-line theory of sustainability that sought to expand the conventional business operation from profit-making to include positive contributions to society, the environment, and the economy (Hammer & Pivo, 2016). Essentially, sustainable new product development (S-NPD) helps reduce negative impacts on the triple bottom line elements throughout the product innovation process, from ideation to product launch.

Sustainability design of products is no longer a requirement but a need for companies with an aim to become major players. Although some companies have not been able to adopt sustainable design as part of their strategy, most companies are now reporting regularly about their Environmental, Social, And Governance (ESG) strategy (Ahmad et al., 2018). Further, Corporate Sustainable Responsibility (CSR) is now a must rather than a public relations process, as customers tend to be attracted to entities accountable for their actions in the environment and society (Chatzopoulou & de Kiewiet, 2020). Hence, entities have added new criteria related to sustainability in each stage of product design to reduce waste, use fewer materials during manufacturing, and make the final product eco-friendly upon disposal.

How Companies Are Progressing With Sustainable Product Design

As noted earlier, companies are facing the challenge of balancing the tradeoff between sustainability and making profits. In this attempt, some companies have adopted lean manufacturing and just-in-time manufacturing strategies aimed at reducing waste during product lifecycle (Abobakr et al., 2022). Lean manufacturing allows entities to design sustainable products that use less materials, less toxic materials, and less labor and energy. JIT is crucial as it ensures all available materials are used, and no wastage in terms of breakage is recorded.

Further, entities have adopted technologies such as 3-D printing, artificial intelligence, and other digital solutions to enhance sustainable product design. Additionally, companies are working towards a circular economy and eco-design, which focuses on the product life cycle by selecting low-impact material and optimizing all product development stages (Claudy, 2020). In essence, technology adoption has enhanced sustainable product design as it helps companies postulate the product’s overall life cycle.

In the modern competitive world of business, entities are now using a sustainable approach as a marketing strategy. Companies that have already adopted this are benefiting greatly by creating novel products that attract and retain customers and employees (Claudy, 2020). CSR and ESG reposts are used for marketing purposes. Furthermore, companies are fighting to be among the global 100 most sustainable corporations as it helps market them.

Scott (2023) argues that companies are embracing sustainable business practices, such as ditching fossil fuels for renewable energy, such as wind or solar energy, to be featured in the global 100 most sustainable corporations. Others are recycling products or changing materials used to ensure the final product is clean (Scott, 2023). With the world witnessing climate change, sustainable product design is crucial as it helps in reducing pollution.

Sustainable new product design has led to radical innovations. For instance, by using 3-D technology, housing companies are designing houses rather than following the traditional and tedious architectural drawing process (Sakin & Kiroglu, 2017). 3-D technology helps housing entities plan houses according to customers’ needs and design how nontoxic materials will be used. Incremental, sustainable innovation is also being adopted as traditional pollutant products are being upgraded to sustainable standards. For example, Coca-Cola is adopting bioplastic in place of conventional plastic, which reduces the extraction of virgin hydrocarbons (Hirtenstein, 2018). Qin (2022) argues that Tesla cars are an example of sustainable incremental innovation as these electric cars replace conventional hydrocarbon-powered cars.

Additionally, Toyota Motor Corporation is adopting substantial, sustainable innovation by designing new car models that are less polluting. The company’s new cars are hybrid and made from recycled materials (Toyota, 2023). Thus, this helps in reducing Toyota’s carbon footprint.

Conclusion

The prioritization of sustainability in product design reflects the growing expectations of firms’ stakeholders and future thinking. Sustainable product design not only helps companies develop novel eco-friendly products but also profitable items. However, to achieve this, entities are adopting new practices to enhance product sustainability life cycle. Essentially, the aim is to make product design, manufacturing, processing, distribution, usage, and disposal eco-friendly. S-NPD is crucial in tackling climate change; thus, in the future, all entities must adopt it to reduce global warming, which adversely impacts the globe.

References

Abobakr, M. A., Abdel-Kader, M. G., & Elbayoumi, A. F. (2022). The impact of Lean Manufacturing Practices on Sustainability Performance: A natural resource-based view. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 18(3), 115–130. https://doi.org/10.17265/1548-6583/2022.03.002

Ahmad, S., Wong, K. Y., Tseng, M. L., & Wong, W. P. (2018). Sustainable product design and development: A review of tools, applications and research prospects. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 132, 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.01.020

Chatzopoulou, E., & de Kiewiet, A. (2020). Millennials’ evaluation of corporate social responsibility: The wants and needs of the largest and most ethical generation. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 20(3), 521–534. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1882

Claudy, M. C. (2020). Sustainable New Product Development Strategies. The Routledge Companion to Strategic Marketing, 245–260. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351038669-20

Hammer, J., & Pivo, G. (2016). The triple bottom line and sustainable economic development theory and practice. Economic Development Quarterly, 31(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891242416674808

Hirtenstein, A. (2018). Oil’s dream to grow in plastics dims as coke turns to plants. https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives/article/22024844/oils-dream-to-grow-in-plastics-dims-as-coke-turns-to-plants

Qin, K. (2022). Analysis of Tesla’s innovation strategy and influence of leadership. Proceedings of the 2022 2nd International Conference on Financial Management and Economic Transition (FMET 2022), 228–238. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-054-1_26

Sakin, M., & Kiroglu, Y. C. (2017). 3D printing of buildings: Construction of the Sustainable Houses of the future by Bim. Energy Procedia, 134, 702–711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.09.562

Scott, M. (2023, May 15). The 100 most sustainable companies of 2023. Corporate Knights. https://www.corporateknights.com/rankings/global-100-rankings/2023-global-100-rankings/2023-global-100-most-sustainable-companies/

Toyota. (2023). Toyota unveils new technology that will change the future of cars: . Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website. https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/39288520.html#:~:text=Toyota%20has%20overcome%20what%20were,the%20Mirai%20fuel%20cell%20vehicle.

Vezzoli, C., Ceschin, F., Diehl, J. C., & Kohtala, C. (2015). New design challenges to widely implement ‘sustainable product–service systems.’ Journal of Cleaner Production, 97, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.061