Ecodesign practices of electronic

Firms are increasingly being pressured into considering the natural environmentin their day to day business activities, with consideration for the environmentbeing recognised as a competitive issue. Firms are therefore adoptingecodesign practices in order to design products with lower environmentalimpact and from which benefit may be derived.The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which a sample ofSouth African electronic design firms have adopted ecodesign practices, themotivating and hindering factors relevant in the decision to implement suchpractices and the benefits which have accrued to the firms as a result.A survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative and qualitative datafrom 30 respondent firms that are actively involved in designing electronicproduct in South Africa. The questionnaire was designed such that it wasrelevant to firms that always, sometimes or never consider the environment inthe design of product.The key findings of the research indicate that the sampled South Africanelectronic firms are only frequently implementing a subset of successfulecodesign practices as a result of shared design criteria. For the sampled firms,regulations are most important as a motivating factor in adopting ecodesignpractices. Cost concerns, conflicts with product requirements and low levels ofenvironmental awareness have hindered its adoption. The sampled firms havebenefited most by gaining strategic advantage and by having externalstakeholders benefit however, only a few have benefited from cost advantages.Export of electronic product from South Africa has increased and within theglobal market, consideration for the environment is becoming increasinglyimportant. Infrequent application of successful ecodesign practices amongst thesampled firms suggests scope for improvement. Both internal and external firmstakeholders will benefit from ensuring environmental consideration finds morefrequent application in product design