Organizing for effective environmental design

✍ Scribed by Michael Lenox; John Ehrenfeld

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 136 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0964-4733
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0836(199709)6:4<187::aid-bse113>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

The ability to incorporate environmental concerns into the product development process is becoming increasingly important as diverse constituents make greater demands upon ®rms for improved environmental performance. Based on a review of the capabilities literature, we propose that environmental design capability derives from expertise on environmental impacts and technologies both internal and external to the ®rm (knowledge resources) coordinated with product development teams through dense information networks (communication linkages) embedded in a context where environmental information is understood and valued (interpretive structures). Through a series of case studies, we ®nd support for our proposition that environmental design capabilities are related to the integration of diverse knowledge resources.