Eco-effectiveness

The central strategy in the cradle-to-cradle development method and seeks to create industrial systems that emulate healthy natural systems. The central principle of eco-effectiveness is that “waste equals food.” The concept was developed in response to some of the perceived limitations of eco-efficiency which critics claim only slow down the rate of environmental depletion and don’t reverse the production of unused or non-recycled waste.  Read More

Downcycle

Most recycled industrial nutrients (materials) lose viability or value in the process of recycling. This means they can only be used in a degraded form for components other than their original use. White writing paper, for example, is often downcycled into materials such as cardboard and cannot be used to create more premium writing paper.  Read More

Discounting

In economics, converting future dollars into their present value. This can be a misleading indicator because, for example, when damage happens far in the future, discounting can make it seem less costly, such as with pollution or nuclear waste. Also, when benefits occur far in the future, their costs are often more difficult to justify since their value is discounted (such as with reforestation with slow-growing hardwoods). Resource extraction rates... Read More

Differentiation

In marketing, the modification of a product or service to make it more attractive or valuable to customers and to distinguish it from those offered by competitors. For many companies, their goal is to offer products and services that compete on factors other than price only. Some organizations use sustainable practices and principles to differentiate themselves for a certain segment of markets.  Read More

Design

The activity of conceiving, planning, and producing products, services, processes, or organizations that serve people in the accomplishment of their individual or collective purposes, thereby creating value for both customers (externally) and companies (internally). Design is often misunderstood to be limited to “creative” disciplines such as graphic or industrial design, and often only the visual or aesthetic components of these disciplines.... Read More

Dematerialization

Reducing the total material that goes toward providing benefits to customers. May be accomplished through greater efficiency, the use of better or more appropriate materials, or by creating a service that produces the same benefit as a product.  Read More

Customization

The ability for customers to change a product or service to better suit their needs and desires. It differs from Personalization in that Customization offers a limited set of pre-defined attributes.  Read More

Customer Experience

The entire experience a customer has with an organization’s product or service as important to the value that product, service, or brand has to the customer, as well as the relationship built between the product, service, or organization that provides it. The experience is, often, more than the features or use or the product or service and extends from the moment the customer perceives need, through the purchasing and use of the product or service,... Read More

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)

A business outlook that acknowledges responsibilities to stakeholders not traditionally accepted, including suppliers, customers, and employees as well as local and international communities in which it operates and the natural environment. There are few accepted standards and practices so far, but a growing concern that the actions organizations take have no unintended consequences outside the business, whether driven by concern, philanthropy, or... Read More

Cradle-to-Cradle

A phrase invented by Walter R. Stahel in the 1970s and popularized by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book of the same name. This framework seeks to create production techniques that are not just efficient but are essentially waste free. In cradle-to-cradle production, all material inputs and outputs are seen either as technical or biological nutrients. Technical nutrients can be recycled or reused with no loss of quality and... Read More