Abstract
Sustainability is well‐established in many companies' strategic postures. However, executing sustainability‐related goals often lags at the operational level. This study analyses how decision‐making processes in packaging development at different hierarchical levels are characterized in achieving a sustainability consensus.This research focuses on the alignment of the strategic and operational levels of packaging development in relation to the integration of sustainability considerations. This materializes in a stakeholder perspective on packaging development and an analysis of targets aiming for the integration of sustainability considerations in such development processes. The involvement and decision making by internal stakeholders, the involvement of external stakeholders and sustainability target setting are considered as conditions causing the outcome of interest: levels of sustainability implementation on both the strategic and the operational levels of packaging development.By using a set‐theoretic method, we address that different compositions of stakeholder involvement and target setting might cause the same level of sustainability priority at the strategic and operational levels. For data analysis, we use a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with empirical data derived from survey responses by packaging experts. This approach is motivated by its ability to address the complexity of the interplay of case characteristics within development processes.The research findings provide several indications of a limited alignment of a company's strategic sustainability ambition with the operational activities of multidisciplinary packaging development teams. The insights on the sustainability‐related configurations of stakeholders and target setting provide guidance for managing projects across the strategic and operational levels in improving sustainable packaging development.
Highlights
Concerns about the negative environmental impact of human activity have fuelled corporate and governmental aims towards sustainable development
By using a set‐theoretic method – focusing on combinations of case characteristics (‘sets’) instead of individual factors – we address that different compositions of stakeholder involvement at the strategic and the operational levels might cause the same level of sustainability priority
By disclosing which combinations of internal and external stakeholder involvement and decision‐making roles align with high levels of sustainability integration at the strategic level as well as the operational level, this study provides valuable guidance for managing projects across the strategic and operational levels in achieving a sustainability consensus in packaging development
Summary
Concerns about the negative environmental impact of human activity have fuelled corporate and governmental aims towards sustainable development. Available research shows the alignment of both the strategic and the operational levels as a prerequisite for a successful integration of sustainability considerations in companies' new product development activities10-12 – aligning with stakeholder responsibility.[13] currently, the operationalization of sustainability aims in product development processes seems to lag.[14,15]. We distinguish between targets aiming for integrated product‐packaging development (reducing product waste and low‐impact product‐packaging) and targets related to an isolated perspective on packaging development (ecologic materials, minimal packaging weight, separable packaging materials and minimal packaging material) The relation between this target‐setting perspective on packaging sustainability and the alignment of the strategic and the operational levels leads to the second proposition: Proposition 2.
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