VALUE-BASED LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS FOR OCCUPATIONAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND LEGAL COMPLIANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS

A proper sustainable product development line in companies minimizes resources in terms of energy and materials used for products and services. It helps to use a company’s resources in the most economic way implying the least environmental impact. This constitutes a benefit for both, the organization and their customers at the same time. By conducting a Life Cycle Analysis of a product or service it is possible to identify improvement options in terms of a better environmental performance of the product and service, less production and/or operational costs, a more functional product for the customer and also legal compliance with environmental laws and regulations. This constitutes a win-win-win situation for all involved actors: the government, the industry and the customer. The aim of a value-based managed organization is to create value, manage value and measure value to again create more value based on the identified improvement potential [Brigham, Ehrhardt 2008]. Value implies profit, improved environmental performance and safety amongst other parameters in an organization. This sounds very clear and straight forward but what it is really that managers do to distinguish real value adding activities from other ones? Successful companies say that they practice value-based management to guide their decisions. The question that arises is how do companies manage to grow in a financially healthy and profitable way? Without a doubt it is a difficult task for a manager to identify and implement value-adding activities in the stress field of satisfying shareholders as well as stakeholders and at the same time maximizing their own selfinterest that is the motivating factor for any individual.