Waste Reduction
The process of reducing waste material and energy in manufacturing, use, and disposal by techniques such as dematerialization, transmaterialization, recycling, sustainable design, closed-loop supply chains, etc.
Virtual Organization
A network of individuals and organizations that coordinates the development, manufacturing, sales, distribution, and servicing of products or services and operate as a single entity with a common goal. A corporation can operate virtually as can a network of companies or organizations.
Value-added
The additional value, in customer terms, created at a particular stage of production.
Value Creation
The benefits, in customer terms, made available by an organization’s products and services. Value is most often measured financially but can be emotional and meaningful as well.
Value Chain
Described and popularized by Michael Porter in his 1985 best-seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, the value chain identifies the various value-adding activities of an organization or network. Often used as a tool for strategic planning because of its emphasis on maximizing value while minimizing costs.
Values
Human beliefs and ideals that affect someone’s perspective of themselves and others. Values are a socially-constructed phenomenon and relate both to identity and the establishment of behavior. They represent a level of significance between emotion and meaning.
Value
The concept of general economic or financial worth of a product or service. Also, a customer’s assessment of the ability of a product or service to meet their needs and desires. In neoclassical economics, value is simply the price an object would command in an open and competitive market.
Upcycle
A term coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braungart. The process of converting an industrial nutrient (material) into something of similar or greater value, in its second life. Aluminum and glass, for example, can usually be upcycled into the same quality of aluminum and glass as the original products.
Trust
An assessment of whether or not someone will accept another’s promises, based on: sincerity (the difference between someone’s private and public conversations) competence reliability care
Triple Top Line
The effect that attention to sustainable management of natural, financial, and human capital has to an organization by increasing revenues (by offering more desirable products and services) and reducing costs and expenses throughout operations (through more streamlined operations. While many of these benefits are measured in terms of triple bottom line accounting, even more valuable […]
