Process alignment for sustainable product development: The essential role of supplier and customer involvement processes

Abstract

Sustainable product development (SPD) has received increasing attention by scholars and practitioners recently. This paper explores two essential organizational processes to support SPD: supplier and customer involvement. The empirical study in six discrete manufacturing firms shows that various types of sustainability innovations (e.g., recycling or energy efficiency) imply discontinues change in the supply chain and/or customer context, and that these themes only can be implemented when the supplier and customer integration process is sufficiently supported. The results suggest that SPD requires alignment between the type of SPD innovation and the type of SPD organizational processes.