18
departments. Involving all departments means learning from what has done before. A
life cycle perspective requires that all departments or functions work together, including product development, purchasing, production, logistics as well as marketing. All
functions (illustrated in the following as departments) must therefore participate with
ideas for initiatives and solutions, based on their particular expertise.
Figure 2.5 illustrates how different departments in a company can contribute to
the establishment and running of LCM initiatives. In most cases, large, multinational companies have environmental, social responsibility and sustainability
departments that could coordinate the implementation of LCM. These departments
are typically responsible for reporting developments within environmental and sustainable policy and they can provide valuable inputs through training of employees
in the other departments. However, it is crucial that the whole company is motivated
and ‘speaks the same language’.
However, most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not usually have
such departments. Therefore, the coordination of LCM activities could also be managed by forming a cross-organizational or cross-functional team with a representative from each relevant function, where a motivated employee (the pioneer) can act
as coordinator and at the same time make sure that everybody has the necessary
tools and materials to inspire and carry out the activities. The relevance for putting
LCM into business practice of each department is summarized in Table 2.2 .
Fig. 2.5 All functions play an important role in life cycle management. The fi gure shows examples of how different departments in an organization can contribute to an LCM program (Remmen
et al. 2007 )
G. Sonnemann et al.
departments. Involving all departments means learning from what has done before. A
life cycle perspective requires that all departments or functions work together, including product development, purchasing, production, logistics as well as marketing. All
functions (illustrated in the following as departments) must therefore participate with
ideas for initiatives and solutions, based on their particular expertise.
Figure 2.5 illustrates how different departments in a company can contribute to
the establishment and running of LCM initiatives. In most cases, large, multinational companies have environmental, social responsibility and sustainability
departments that could coordinate the implementation of LCM. These departments
are typically responsible for reporting developments within environmental and sustainable policy and they can provide valuable inputs through training of employees
in the other departments. However, it is crucial that the whole company is motivated
and ‘speaks the same language’.
However, most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not usually have
such departments. Therefore, the coordination of LCM activities could also be managed by forming a cross-organizational or cross-functional team with a representative from each relevant function, where a motivated employee (the pioneer) can act
as coordinator and at the same time make sure that everybody has the necessary
tools and materials to inspire and carry out the activities. The relevance for putting
LCM into business practice of each department is summarized in Table 2.2 .
Fig. 2.5 All functions play an important role in life cycle management. The fi gure shows examples of how different departments in an organization can contribute to an LCM program (Remmen
et al. 2007 )
G. Sonnemann et al.