Eco-design: a new core competence

If companies are to take advantage of the business opportunities and minimise the impact of changes that may emerge from a greener and/or more sustainable world, then new expertise and skills need to be developed. This will mean the need to create new forms of organisations, processes and products (solutions). Once we start to focus on products (solutions) we are starting to get to the strategic core of the firm.

At present eco-design (eco-product development) or more broadly sustainable product design is not defined as a core competence. This is due to a lack of a perceived business need, unclear financial arguments and a weak commitment to the continuous integration of eco-design into the product creation process. Eco-design projects tend to be ad hoc and therefore knowledge is disparate and uncoordinated. There needs to be senior level commitment to the strategic importance of greener products and frameworks to manage eco-design need to be clearly defined and implemented.

Building eco-design knowledge will come from collecting data and transforming it into information for decision-makers who then gain knowledge and experience over time. If managed well this knowledge will permeate into corporate culture e.g. the sum of organisational eco-design knowledge is greater than its individual parts. There will need to be knowledge development covering both how to manage eco-design systems and processes, as well as understanding the technicalities of eco-design.

Eco-design knowledge involves a rich mix of technical and non-technical informational inputs from materials and energy considerations, to reverse logistics and legislative changes to awareness of eco-benchmarking and competitive activity. To enable the development of an appropriate organisational infrastructure will mean moving from the existing engineering mindset of eco-design to a broader, more outward orientated strategic focus.

To successfully manage eco-design will require a complex corporate neural network that captures, processes, stores and disseminates information from and to formal and informal systems. In the short-term this will primarily relate to environmental and financial aspects of eco-efficiency, but in the future social and ethical aspects will become an important part of the process.

Capturing eco-design knowledge

In today's turbulent times of corporate re-structuring, business process re-engineering, faster new product development and information exchange there is a need to develop systems to retain knowledge and expertise in the firm. Generally there is a lack of experience and skills in eco-design and more broadly eco-product development; therefore if the 'eco-design expert' leaves the firm then the knowledge leaves with him or her! (if a knowledge collection infrastructure has not been established).

This may mean that competitive advantage may be lost. With the lack of availability of specialists, this will mean the need for the training of non-specialists who have been given the 'eco-design brief'. This is likely to be a huge learning and experience curve for the average manager. This will mean the need for the development of new training approaches and the 'knowledge delivery systems' to enable faster performance.

A planned approach to knowledge building, education and training and information collection is a good starting point. The establishment of Product related Environmental Information Systems (PREIS) structured to fulfil strategic, tactical and operational goals is a first step.

Both formal and informal know-how should be researched. It has been highlighted in some surveys that eco-design knowledge often comes from outside the firm through informal networks, workshops and conferences. Some companies are now starting to use intranets to disseminate eco-design knowledge more widely. Some intranet managers are making links to external, as well as, internal websites for the benefit of internal and external business partners.

Developing, retaining and building eco-design knowledge and competencies will become a key element of successful environmental and business performance and strategic advantage into the next millennium.