Integration of Environmental Impacts in Sustainable New Product Development

Abstract

Introduction of new products has become a strategic area globally for sustaining a competitive advantage. There are several factors contributing to new product development (NPD) success known as critical success factors which are essential for firms’ ultimate success. As per the survey, environmental concern should greatly be increased in magnitude in Indian manufacturing companies for success and survival. This study concerns about the identification of manifests used to signify the environmental impacts on NPD success where the success of firms has also been expressed by the environmental aspects. As empirical data and experiences have accumulated, manifests of environmental factor are eco-friendliness of the product, adverse effect of the product on environment, sustainability of the product, the environmental goal achievement rate of the new green products, compliance of new green products with the consumers’ preference, meeting government policies for product development, recycling rate of the new green products, and hiring responsible employees. Same as the factor, environment-related measure is expressed by reduced cost, healthy relationship with investors, regulatory approvals, life-cycle analysis, and customer satisfaction. A semi-structured questionnaire has been developed, and detailed research interviews have been collected from design and development experts of Indian manufacturing companies. Reliability of the survey data has been tested by Cronbach’s alpha reliability testing using IBM SPSS 21.0 software. The main objective of this study is to develop a framework using structural equation modeling (SEM) approach by IBM SPSS AMOS 21.0 software to analyze the effects of environmental impacts on NPD success. The hypothesis testing performed by using SEM approach proves that the environmental impact is positively related to product development success. In addition, identification of obstacles faced by manufacturing companies to implement environmental factor adds an extra novelty in this empirical research which will help to overcome the problems in future days.