Title: Green new product development and supplier involvement: strategic partnership for green innovation

Authors: Ki-Hoon Lee; Ji-Whan Kim

Addresses: Griffith Business School, Gold Coast Campus, G01_2.13, Griffith University, Queensland 4222, Australia. ' Samsung Global Environment Research Centre, Samsung SEI Tower, 6th Floor, 47-14 Dogok-2-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-856, Korea

Abstract: Integrating environmental concerns into New Product Development (NPD) have become a strategic issue for corporate competitiveness. Despite increasing attention of green products in supply chain management, there is a gap between emerging green NPD and existing mainstream NPD literature. In attempting to bridge this gap, this study presents a case where the Korean Electronics and its key suppliers succeeded in managing environmental challenges and developing a green refrigerator through a collaborative relationship. A case study approach is used to develop a better understanding of the NPD process and the critical factors that contributed to the realisation of a green refrigerator. This study found that critical success factors for green NPD include technology and management factors, as well as cooperativeness and power balance for collaborative relationships. This paper suggests a route to practicing mutually beneficial final manufacturer-supplier relationships through green NPD activities.

Keywords: environmental regulations; green innovation; green NPD; new product development; supplier involvement; supply chain management; SCM; green products; collaborative relationships; critical success factors; CSFs; electronics industry; case studies; sustainability; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2012.047841

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2012 Vol.6 No.3, pp.290 - 304

Received: 04 Feb 2011
Accepted: 26 Oct 2011
Published online: 31 Oct 2014 *

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