Proposal # 9421287 Carnegie Mellon University The success of green products in the marketplace depends crucially on all stakeholders enjoying incentives. For that, all parties in the value chain - manufactures, wholesalers, transporters, retailers and consumers - should find green products attractive, with benefits exceeding costs. The goal of the study is to develop and test a framework that will permit green products designers to evaluate alternative packaging strategies from the perspective of all elements of the value chain. The framework developed in this proposed study will integrate methodologies from accountings, marketing, engineering and operation management. A workbench incorporating this framework will be tested using real production and market data on repackaged products. The manufactures of consumer products -- Eastman Kodak and Dow Brands, and a major retailer -- Giant Eagle are partners in the study. The investigative team consists of Carnegie Mellon's faculty both from the business and engineering schools. The methodology of this study should yield a tool for developing "win-win" green product design strategies and increase the market success of green products. The project, besides providing a rigorous framework for the practitioners to evaluate and increase the success potential of green products, is also expected to be reported in major academic publications, and incorporated into seminars and courses in business and engineering schools' curricula.
