Environmentally conscious design

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Office Furniture

Office Furniture offers “Quality Office” stylish furniture designed by selected and gifted architects and designers from different parts of Scandinavia. Its furniture products are manufactured in its own factory, exclusively designed and often customized furniture with “cutting-edge design, quality and ergonomics” (Office Furniture website, 2012). All the company‟s brands and design products are own-developed and manufactured following strict guidelines and company‟s policies.
This in turn contributes to managing every aspect of the working process such as design, ergonomics, aesthetics, functionality, manufacturing and service (Office Furniture website, 2012). As a result, the company can offer “rationally manufactured and price-efficient “Quality Office” furniture for almost every need” (Office Furniture website, 2012). It has been granted and highly acknowledged with various awards and diplomas for its professionalism and quality work (Office Furniture website, Awards, 2012).

Kinnarps

Kinnarps is a Swedish office furniture company offering workspace interior solutions and it also controls its entire supply chain, starting from sourcing of raw materials, production, logistics services and deliveries to installation and after-sales service (Kinnarps website, 2012). Its own logistics services are well-known and respected for the efficiency and environmental thinking, e.g. goods and products are shipped in special environmentally adapted trucks (Kinnarps website, Company facts/Production & logistics, 2012). The company provides interior design solutions for both offices and public settings, striving for and symbolizing “high quality and low environmental impact mark” (Kinnarps website, Company facts/Operations, 2012).
The company provides flexible, sustainable and ergonomic workplaces with the aim of “making life better at work” (Kinnarps website, Company facts/Mission, 2012). Furthermore, the company‟s sustainability philosophy “Think Green. Save Money” simply illustrates the company‟s aspiration to “waste as little as possible and to care for resources so that they support long-term development, something that is a natural to Kinnarps” (Kinnarps website, Sustainability, 2012). Kinnarps has also been awarded with the prestigious “Outstanding Green Supplier” award from the Swedish Environmental Management Council (MSR) (Kinnarps website, Sustainability, 2012).

Skandiform

Skandiform is one of the leading suppliers for office furniture in Scandinavia. It‟s products are well-known for their high quality, function and design, due to its traditions, high competence and reliable deliveries, as well we importantly – personal service (Skandiform, Environment/Quality, 2012). The company works with the belief that good quality has a positive impact on the environment, with the aim of being “as environmentally responsible as it is possible to be (Skandiform, Environment/Quality, 2012). Thus, it is considered a long-term and serious commitment for improvement. In addition to that, Skandiform strives for using as pure materials as possible in order to be able to recycle its products and components. The company further tries to influence this thinking on its suppliers when it comes to choice of raw materials, for example. The management believes that, “Furniture that combines a timeless appeal with high quality is long-lasting furniture. This, too, promotes sustainability and serves the interests of what we all need to take care of – our environment.” (Skandiform, Environment/Quality, 2012).

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Office Design

Office Design has been rapidly growing into a major furniture manufacturer on the striving for recognition for its ambitious design on an international level. The company believes in “qualitative, innovative and sustainable design”, and also that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has the same importance as design and quality (Office Design website, 2012). Since the production development processes are focal for the company, the choice of materials, energy, logistics and transportation are of high importance. Thus, Office Design aims at improving the sustainability of its products by ensuring their quality as well as the minimization of all negative impacts on the environment, i.e., “We are continuously searching for innovative solutions that open up new ways for creativity.” (Office Design website, Products/Quality, 2012).

1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM)
1.3 The furniture industry .
1.4 Product design
1.5 Problem discussion
1.6 Purpose
1.7 Research questions.
1.8 Delimitations .
1.9 Disposition .
2 Theoretical framework 
2.1 Green design and its aspects
2.1.1 Environmentally conscious design
2.1.2 Eco-design and sustainable design
2.1.3 Cradle-to-Cradle approach
2.1.4 Green engineering
2.2 Sustainability aspects
2.3 Reasons for being ‘green’ – supply chain and product design
2.3.1 Legal aspects.
2.3.2 Reputation and brand image
2.3.3 ISO certificate
2.3.4 Svanen labe
2.3.5 Möbelfakta label
2.4 Competitive advantage
2.5 Economic aspects .
2.6 Theoretical framework – summary .
3 Methods .
3.1 Approach
3.2 Research design
3.2.1 Case studies – reasoning
3.2.2 Types of interviews – reasoning
3.2.3 Interview questions design
3.3 Data collection
3.3.1 Company selection .
3.3.2 Collecting the empirical data
3.3.3 Types of data
3.3.4 Data analysis
3.4 Limitations
3.5 Validity and reliability
3.6 Overview of the methods section
4 Empirical findings
4.1 Office Furniture
4.2 Kinnarps
4.3 Empirical findings – Office Furniture and Kinnarps
4.4 Skandiform
4.5 Office Desig
4.6 Empirical findings – Office Design and Skandiform
5 Analysis 
5.1 Attitudes towards being ‘green’ .
5.2 Internal green policies/ guidelines
5.3 Factors motivating companies to be ‘green’
5.4 ‘Green’ certificates
5.5 Product design process .
5.7 Supplier selection
5.8 Motivators for green product design processes
5.9 End-of-life cycle
5.10 Economic, social and environmental aspects .
5.11 Sustainability .
5.12 Evaluation processes
5.13 Customers’ feedback
5.14 Additional comments
6 Conclusions 
6.1 Practical findings
6.2 Future research
List of references

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Green Product Design: Aspects and practices within the furniture industry

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