Ecodesign practices of electronic

Abstract

Firms are increasingly being pressured into considering the natural environment in their day to day business activities, with consideration for the environment being recognised as a competitive issue. Firms are therefore adopting ecodesign practices in order to design products with lower environmental impact and from which benefit may be derived. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which a sample of South African electronic design firms have adopted ecodesign practices, the motivating and hindering factors relevant in the decision to implement such practices and the benefits which have accrued to the firms as a result. A survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from 30 respondent firms that are actively involved in designing electronic product in South Africa. The questionnaire was designed such that it was relevant to firms that always, sometimes or never consider the environment in the design of product. The key findings of the research indicate that the sampled South African electronic firms are only frequently implementing a subset of successful ecodesign practices as a result of shared design criteria. For the sampled firms, regulations are most important as a motivating factor in adopting ecodesign practices. Cost concerns, conflicts with product requirements and low levels of environmental awareness have hindered its adoption. The sampled firms have benefited most by gaining strategic advantage and by having external stakeholders benefit however, only a few have benefited from cost advantages. Export of electronic product from South Africa has increased and within the global market, consideration for the environment is becoming increasingly important. Infrequent application of successful ecodesign practices amongst the sampled firms suggests scope for improvement. Both internal and external firm stakeholders will benefit from ensuring environmental consideration finds more frequent application in product design