Studies dealing with environmental issues in product development have made significant progress explaining how firms can develop greener products that succeed on the market. Intriguingly, although a large number of tools and methods have been developed that supposedly help firms develop greener products, it is less common to draw on established theories on product innovation. This may explain why firms that have tried to develop more sustainable products have had mixed experiences. Environmental new product development (ENPD) and new product development (NPD) literature is reviewed to develop a model that helps explain the complexity of greening and the challenges product development teams face in their attempts to incorporate environmental issues into product development. This paper emphasizes that scholars need to incorporate environmental issues into established theories on NPD. Adapting existing theoretical models may help practitioners in their struggle to integrate the E into NPD.
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