BackgroundThe biggest issue of our time is the environmental damage we have caused. Publics are becomingincreasingly aware of this challenge: environmental concern has risen. This change toward greenvalues is commonly referred to as “greening of society”. Having generally been considered theenvironmental villains, companies are now also seen as the solution to the environmentalproblem. More and more companies are going green as they have realized the potential of greeninnovations to yield competitive advantages. Therefore, a greening of the business domain canalso be observed. However, only little research has been conducted on why and howenvironmental issues are integrated into the development of new products. Considering thatchemical companies are the epitome of the environmental villains, investigating the case of amanufacturer of branded chemical goods that has been the market leader in the highly contesteddetergent market for more than a century – despite or even because of – pursuing an ecoleadershipstrategy becomes more intriguing.AimThe aim of this study is to investigate the how and part of the why of integrating environmentalissues into product development by analyzing and discussing Henkel’s environmentallycompatible product innovations and their relation to the greening of society.MethodThe method of choice is content analysis. Drawing on secondary data, the research strategy isqualitative and the design is longitudinal while the approach is descriptive and idiographic.ResultsSocietal values and Henkel’s product portfolio seem to move in the same direction as both havebecome greener and greener ever since the 1970s. However, concluding that the portfolio changesas a response to the value change is premature, especially because the innovations are often theresult of decades of research and development. Also, the portfolio has not become greener at anincreasing pace because the corporate goals have changed. Rather, the greening progress has beenaccelerated by technological progress. While over the years Henkel’s innovations have offeredgreen benefits at an increasing proportion, this development is not strongly reflected inadvertisement. Until recently green values have – if at all – only been addressed rather as an aside;the most emphasis has always been on performance. While the latest positioning of innovations astruly green indicates that promotional strategy now acknowledges that preserving the environmenthas become a mainstream value, societal value change has been more strongly reflected inadvertisement in terms of values associated with convenience rather than with the environmentand sustainability.

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對大多數台灣高科技廠商而言，產品創新已是公司生存及精進之必要。根據研究文獻的探討，我們發現影響產品創新的因素有三個，它們分別是：技術相關性、市場能力、及公司在吸收新知以轉換、內化並應用到新產品開發的能力。每一個因素我們皆根據文獻探討以給予定義的解釋，接著再將三因素皆分為”高” 及“低”兩方向來看。在行成一個三維的矩陣後，我們將其簡化成三個二維矩陣並一一解釋。每一矩陣皆有四個象限，皆有舉例說明探討。 接著，我們在產品創新中考慮路徑相依的特性並以實際個案分析之。首先，我們配合個案公司在過去曾經歷過的變革挑戰依時間點畫出”雙技術樹狀圖”(DTT)，接著我們分析出研究個案公司的產品發展路徑。所得出的研究資料告訴我們，在公司產品創新的路徑相依歷程中，產品及客戶能力兩者是彼此互相影響的。 接著，我們討論本研究個案中產品銷售的路徑順序。我們以每五年為一分斷點再各別作出一矩陣並一一分析之。我們發現，個案大多數產品線在不同客戶屬性間銷售路徑幾乎一致。即產品銷售皆由具有技術背景的系統整合商開始，接著銷售及於區域性或連鎖性之代理商，最後在一段時間後當公司產品達到穩定且做出公司名聲後，一些潛在全美國性質或泛歐洲的大通路商、甚至或具有大量銷售能力的競爭對手，雙方便開始以ODM或OEM方式合作。 最後，我們再以策略技術領域(STA)矩陣來分析一公司技術領域之強點與弱點。以公司的技術能力及各個產品線組成此一二維矩陣。研究發現所研究的個案公司其核心能力是在資訊產品元件中的硬體及韌體，而軟體為其弱點。本研究的個案公司以其對區域網路所擁有的專業知識、韌體能力，公司適當的切入策略(以能讓資訊週邊產品具有網附分享功能的周邊加值廠商)及其對PC週邊設備的瞭解，將持續增加個案公司在其網路領域的相對競爭優勢。 / For most Taiwanese high-tech companies, their product innovations have been recognized as a primary means of corporate renewal. Based on the literature review, we concluded that three factors affect the product innovations. They are: technology-relevance, marketing-capability and assimilation-capability. Each factor is divided into “high” and “low” conditions. We gave the definition to each factor and depicted their inter-relationships by three 2-dimension matrices accordingly. Each 2-diemsion matrix has four patterns. We explain each of these patterns by examples. Take into account of path dependence in product innovations, we analysis the real situation from our study case (TDK Corp.). We draw out the DTT (Dual Technology Tree) matching with the firm’s technological challenges in time sequence. We also analysis the TDK product developing paths, this figure offers insight into the resource dynamics through product innovation over time. The present data from TDK suggest that the reciprocal interplay between product and customer competence accounts for these path dependencies. Following, we also discuss the selling paths and sequence to TDK LAN products by a customers and products segmentation matrix in time sequence (with three different stages and each last 5 years). It shows that almost every of TDK’s product selling sequence is beginning from system integrators or small retail (with tech. background) first then accepted by national distributors. After achieving a good level in product quality and company reputation, some key customers or even competitors will do ODM/OEM business with the firm. Finally, we analysis a firm’s core abilities by STA(Strategic Technical Area) matrix. This matrix consists of technological abilities and product lines. Our research result shows that the TDK Corp. core competences are both LAN and firmware fields. However, the software area is its weakness. With its LAN knowledge, firmware competence, an appropriate strategy (as an embedded IT company to penetrate into niche markets around PC peripherals with network sharing functions), and the knowledge in different PC peripherals are continuously increasing the firm’s core abilities with higher comparative competition advantages than other firms in LAN field.