A Global View and Sustainable Product Design
(Notes from “Sustainable Operations Management,“ by Paul R. Kleindorfer, Wharton
School; Kalyan Singhal, University of Baltimore, and Luk N. Van Wassenhove, INSEAD,
Production and Operations Management, 2005)
A Global View an Environmental Standards
The World Commission on Environment and Development (a.k.a. the Brundtland
Commission) defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.” The sustainability movement has gained considerable traction in national and
international circles. The reason is the evident inefficiency of our current products and
production processes when it comes to the resources of the planet. This is as true for
the industrialized countries as it is for the less industrialized ones, where inefficiency is
rampant and provides itself huge opportunities for creating new value. To cite but one
example of inefficiency, only about one percent of all material that originates at the top of
the upstream supply chain for serving the United States remains in use six months after
sale of the products containing it.
Porter reviewed the debate and argued that the “conflict between environmental
protection and economic competitiveness is a false dichotomy based on a narrow view
