A Sustainable Innovation—Additional Services for Products Based on Personalised Customer Value

The high quality of the environment, protection of natural resources, efficient use of natural resources, and elimination of environmental burdens are the main priorities of sustainable development. Therefore, enterprises around the world have to manage the environment wisely, while avoiding negative effects on it. The aim of the paper was to examine the use of green and reverse logistics in the conditions of sustainable development in enterprises in Slovakia. The intention of the paper was to provide a theoretical overview of green and reverse logistics at home and abroad on the basis of the elaboration of a scientific bibliographic-information apparatus. Subsequent practical implementation of the questionnaire research and statistical verification of research results provides a basis for practical recommendations and conclusions for enterprises operating in Slovakia. The research topic of the paper was green and reverse logistics in companies in Slovakia. The research problem was the implementation and use of modern logistics under the influence of the environment. Based on these facts, statistical hypotheses were determined and subsequently tested. Descriptive statistics and inference statistics were used to interpret the research results. Based on the research, we found that the dominant position in green and reverse logistics in Slovakia was achieved by large production enterprises from the automotive industry, which operate in western Slovakia. The analysed enterprises in Slovakia use voluntary tools of environmental policy and the most important environmental tool is corporate social responsibility. Elements of environmental policy are used primarily in the logistics process of warehousing and storage. The biggest barrier in the implementation of elements of environmental logistics analysed by enterprises is the lack of financial resources. The implementation of green logistics and reverse logistics enables the analysed enterprises in Slovakia to improve customer-supplier relations. We can say that despite the government’s efforts, measures to minimize the environmental impact and growing public awareness of environmental issues, environmental problems persist. Initiatives can be seen at the global and national levels of enterprises that make quick decisions and set up new processes in environmental management.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green and Reverse Logistics in Conditions of Sustainable Development in Enterprises in Slovakia

Richnák

Gubová

2021

“…Sustainable innovation focuses on the social changes made possible as a result of innovation [52]. Thus, stainable innovation involves developing and applying new business practices in a way that contributes to sustainability targets [53].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relation between Sustainable Development Trends and Customer Value Management

Spychalska-Wojtkiewicz

2020

The sustainable development movement is an essential trend that can resist the excessive consumption and over-exploitation of resources. There have been considerable changes in the perception of the term “sustainable development” over the last 30 years. Difficulties in implementing the principles of rational use of natural resources have resulted from a general conflict between the objectives of economic development and the increasing dynamics of industrial production, the quality of the environment and the objectives of environmental protection. This research goal was to describe ways of linking sustainable development trends and the customer value management process. Research also aimed to indicate what this relationship drives. In order to process the collected individual in-depth interview (IDI) material, the author applied a qualitative analysis. As a result of the exploratory research, it was found that there is no complete agreement on who is responsible for implementing the sustainable development assumptions: producers or customers. However, the process of linking sustainable development trends and customer value management can be pointed out. According to this study, as those who make purchasing decisions, customers are the axis of this relationship. On the basis of the results of this research, as long as customers buy particular products, they will be offered by producers.

“…In the modern global economy, the PSS strategy is increasingly popular among manufacturers [15], including IBM (from hardware to software supplier and then to service provider), Apple (from personal computer manufacturer to high-end consumer electronics and service provider), and Monetti S.P.A of Italy (from refrigerator manufacturer to integrated service provider of cold chain logistics based on refrigerator manufacturing) [16]. Although PSSs enhance customer acceptance and market success [17], manufacturing SMEs faces a number of challenges in the servitization transition [18][19][20]. These unexpected difficulties are known as the Service Paradox [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Iterative Design Method from Products to Product Service Systems—Combining Acceptability and Sustainability for Manufacturing SMEs

Feng

Jiang

2022

Self Cite

Manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in the economic development and resource consumption of most regions. Conceptually, a product-service system (PSS) can be an effective way to improve the sustainability of manufacturing SMEs. However, the construction of PSSs requires enterprises to integrate a large number of product and service resources. Moreover, current PSS design methods mostly construct a new set of highly service-oriented PSS solutions based on customer needs while seldom considering the combination of acceptability and sustainability for manufacturing SMEs at the initial stage of design, which may lead to the difficulties in applying PSS solutions beyond enterprise integration capacity or result in the waste of existing product resources. Instead of constructing a new PSS solution, this paper proposes the treatment of existing product modules as the original system. The PSS solution is iteratively constructed with the upgrade of the original system in a gradual way, which is driven by systematic performance (this process can be suspended and repeated). Phased iterative design solutions can be applied by manufacturing SMEs according to their development needs. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Lean Design-for-X (LDfX), design structure matrix (DSM), and Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) are combined in an iterative design process from customer needs and system performances to PSS solutions. The feasibility of the proposed method is verified through the iterative design case from electric pallet trucks to warehousing systems. It is proved that this method is more sustainable and easier to be accepted by manufacturing SMEs than existing PSS design methods through in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs.