The concept of 'sustainable development', introduced for the first time in the report 'Our Common Future' and promoted as a common aim for the entire world, can be defined as 'a development that satisfies the needs of today without compromising the possibility of future generations to fulfill their needs.' Thus far, this concept has been considered as visionary and therefore difficult for companies to implement into concrete plans of action. However, various suggestions have been proposed, such as dematerialization, ecoefficiency and remanufacturing. However, another solution is perhaps more or less a consequence of today's prevalent trend towards a more service-oriented society, and with a focus on the value (satisfaction) that products provide their users through their functionality. The shift from a manufacturing-centered economy towards a service-centered economy have the potential to result in a reduction of the mass consumption of natural resources. Sustainable development is, in a company perspective, not only related directly to environmental issues, as in the definition above, but also in the company's capacity for sustainable market competition. The sharp and rapid increase in global raw material prices, however, is a threat to this; one way to decrease this influence is to reduce the need for raw materials.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-29932 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Lindahl, Mattias, Sundin, Erik, Sakao, Tomohiko, Shimomura, Yoshiki |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för konstruktions- och produktionsteknik, Linköpings universitet, Tekniska högskolan, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för konstruktions- och produktionsteknik, Linköpings universitet, Tekniska högskolan, Darmstadt university, Tokyo Metropolitan University |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Conference paper, info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | ICED 05 : 15th International Conference on Engineering Design: Engineering Design and the Global Economy, p. 2967-2978 |
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