The Search for a Sustainability Champion in Eco-efficient New Product Development A study of Australian Manufacturing Organisations

<p dir="ltr">With the ever-increasing global emphasis on sustainability and the pursuit of long-term Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), manufacturing organisations are increasingly challenged to adapt and integrate eco-efficiency practices into their new product development processes. This imperative for sustainability in organisations has become increasingly pronounced in the face of growing environmental concerns, regulatory pressures, and consumer demands for eco-friendly practices. However, many manufacturing organisations struggle to achieve significant and lasting impacts despite the proliferation of theories and practices aimed at enhancing sustainability. This thesis explores the complex interplay of internal and external drivers that influence the success of eco-innovation and new product development (ENPD) within organisations.</p><p dir="ltr">One of the ways manufacturing organisations have responded to the sustainability imperative has been to employ a dedicated manager with environmental and sustainability responsibilities, which has added another dimension to the inherently conflict-prone marketing/operations interface when developing new products. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate the intricacies of eco-efficient New Product Development (ENPD) within manufacturing organisations in Australia, focusing on the interaction and collaboration between the “new triad” of the functional managers from marketing, operations, and environmental functions with a goal to develop a new theoretically based conceptualisation which is drawn from the respondent data analysis that has practical application to meeting sustainability goals and as well as addressing key stakeholder concerns.</p><p dir="ltr">Paralleling the acceptance of the marketing function into traditionally engineering-dominated companies, our understanding of the role of the new environmental function in the organisations' sustainable decision-making, especially in new product development, is limited. Hence one of the significant questions that demands a response is <i>To what extent does the</i> <i>addition of an “Environmental Manager” drive the sustainability and eco-efficiency discussion during NPD, </i>what role do they play in driving sustainability and eco-innovation, what influence do they hold, and how do they exercise their power within the organisation, and, importantly, as much of the literature suggests, are they the “Sustainability Champions” essential to drive the transformation of manufacturing organisations from cost focussed to sustainable manufacturers.</p><p dir="ltr">Employing a qualitative multiple-case study approach, this research draws upon the perspectives of functional managers across five manufacturing organisations in Australia, collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews to gain their perspectives on this interesting and challenging problem. Through an in-depth analysis of cross-functional collaboration and the role of top management commitment, resource allocation, and socio-political dynamics, one of the key findings is that cross-functional relationships are low in conflict, less social, and very professional but transactional, where short-term project goals often outweigh long-term sustainability engagement.</p><p dir="ltr">Therefore, a new conceptualisation is developed using content analysis to identify critical themes. This captures the reality of the situation and highlights that the traditional functional integration and interface literature, which has been predominantly focussed on the functional manager level, examining communication, cooperation and collaboration to explain successful NPD project work now requires an organisational-level response with empowerment from the board, supportive top management signalling and fully resourced to create a new System-level Sustainability Unit (SSU). This newly created SSU must be independent of operations and marketing, holding an independent chair that provides and monitors strategic direction and drives the organisation’s sustainability and ENPD performance.</p><p dir="ltr">The findings offer several practical applications for manufacturing organisations, highlighting the need for a dedicated sustainability unit that can act as a catalyst for cross-functional collaboration, ensuring adopting sustainability and eco-efficiency remains a priority throughout the ENPD process, addressing operational barriers where the operations function can become enablers of ENPD, rather than being the perceived barrier, transform the transactional nature of the functions to foster an innovation culture and shift from a reactive cost-justification approach to having sustainability and eco-efficiency embedded in the core strategy.</p><p dir="ltr">This research has been motivated by my personal experience working in operations as a Safety, Health, Environment, and Quality professional across manufacturing, engineering, packaging, and utility industries. Over the last twenty years, I have been involved in NPD projects with marketing, R&D, and operations, where my greatest frustration was seeing the gap between corporate rhetoric and tangible, sustainable actions.</p><p dir="ltr">The actions to the commitment to reduce the carbon footprint often were cost savings to reduce electricity consumption, water savings, and waste reduction, but, at the same time, unsustainable procurement practices. Such inconsistency between the desired image and actions, observed across various industries, highlighted the need for deeper integration of sustainability and eco-efficiency practices into organisational operations. With my background in management systems, post-graduate education in Safety Management (M OHSMS) and Environment Management (M EMS) and an MBA from UOW, I became motivated to explore how a more systematic and structured approach could bridge this gap and drive a genuine, lasting sustainability, eco-efficiency and ENPD efforts within the organisation. It is my hope that the theoretical contributions and practical recommendations I make will guide the sustainability strategy at the organisational level and guide managerial practices and external stakeholders involved in developing policies to achieve SDGs in manufacturing organisations.</p>