Title: Evaluating the sustainability of Vietnamese products: the potential of 'designed in Vietnam' for Vietnamese vs. Dutch markets

Authors: Shauna Jin; Arnost Eduard Scheepens

Addresses: Design for Sustainability (DfS), Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE Delft, the Netherlands ' Design for Sustainability (DfS), Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE Delft, the Netherlands

Abstract: Future Living Studio (FLS) is a temporary design studio concept that aims to explore and embed sustainable design approaches in the Vietnamese product design context. Each studio brings together local and visiting designers to develop collections of environmentally sustainable products with participating local companies. These products act as reference products and inspiration for demonstrating the potential of sustainable design in Vietnam. From 2011 to 2013, three studios were deployed in Vietnam where nine local designers, nine visiting designers, and 9+ local production companies took part. The aim of this paper is to assess how sustainable the products developed in three editions of FLS are, by analysing their environmental impacts and their competitive value on domestic versus Western European export markets. The increasingly popular eco-costs/value ratio (EVR) model is used to give a portrayal of the environmental and economic sustainability of the products developed, based on a 'willingness to pay' (WtP) assessment that supplements the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach.

Keywords: design for sustainability; DfS; sustainable design; product design; eco-cost/value ratio; EVR assessment; Vietnam; competitive value; sustainable innovation; LCA; lifecycle assessment; willingness to pay; Future Living Studio; bamboo furniture design; cross-cultural collaboration; cross-cultural learning; domestic markets; Western Europe; export markets; strategic design; temporary design studio; sustainable products; sustainable development; Vietnamese markets; The Netherlands; Dutch markets; economic sustainability; environmental sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTLID.2016.075182

International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 2016 Vol.8 No.1, pp.70 - 110

Received: 15 Jul 2014
Accepted: 11 Apr 2015
Published online: 06 Mar 2016 *

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