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A Framework for Developing and Assessing Eco-innovations

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Book cover Eco-Innovation and the Development of Business Models

Part of the book series: Greening of Industry Networks Studies ((GINS,volume 2))

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Abstract

This chapter presents a framework entitled “ECORE,” which aims to assist in developing and assessing radical eco-innovations. Our proposed framework seeks to address theoretical gaps and unresolved problems from three research fields – eco-innovation, quality management, and life cycle assessment. ECORE synthesizes ideas and concepts from these three fields into a set of key principles and practices that can further integrate sustainability into business practices. These key principles are based on the idea that stakeholder interactions should form the basis of eco-innovation, that a life cycle perspective should be adopted in the design stage of eco-innovation, and that stakeholder needs must be translated into eco-innovation characteristics throughout the design process. We illustrate our framework with a hypothetical example that focuses on reducing the environmental impacts of carbonated beverage consumption. The chapter concludes by presenting the views of practitioners that were invited to provide feedback on our proposals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We are not able to include references to all reviewed works due to space requirements. A full bibliography is available upon request.

  2. 2.

    The house of quality commonly maps needs on a scale of 1-3-9 in order to strongly discriminate weak, medium, and strong associations. This has been discussed by Ghiya et al. (1999) and further by Raharjo (2013).

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Acknowledgments

This work was conducted within the Sustainable Production Initiative and the Production Area of Advance at Chalmers University of Technology. It was funded by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA). The support is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Quality Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Ida Gremyr & Hendry Raharjo

  2. Department of Energy and Environment, Division of Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Jutta Hildenbrand & Steven Sarasini

Authors
  1. Ida Gremyr
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  2. Jutta Hildenbrand
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  3. Steven Sarasini
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  4. Hendry Raharjo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ida Gremyr .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Economics, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    Susana Garrido Azevedo

  2. Supply Chain Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Marcus Brandenburg

  3. UNIDEMI, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Helena Carvalho

  4. UNIDEMI, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Virgílio Cruz-Machado

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Gremyr, I., Hildenbrand, J., Sarasini, S., Raharjo, H. (2014). A Framework for Developing and Assessing Eco-innovations. In: Azevedo, S., Brandenburg, M., Carvalho, H., Cruz-Machado, V. (eds) Eco-Innovation and the Development of Business Models. Greening of Industry Networks Studies, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05077-5_4

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