Partners in new product development: SC Johnson and the alliance for environmental innovation

In the previous issue of CES (Winter 1999), SC Johnson's early efforts at integrating core business decisions with environmental concerns were explored by researchers at INFORM, Inc. By gaining upper management attention, explicitly aligning environmental concerns with key business goals, and designing consistency into the overall company management system, SC Johnson was able to “break down the green wall” in the organization.In this follow-up article, CES explores a recent effort between the Alliance for Environmental Innovation and SC Johnson to further integrate environmental decision making throughout the organization. The project focused on: (1) creating practical tools to identify environmental considerations at the earliest stages of new product development, and, (2) addressing consumers' environmental needs in the conception and marketing of “greener” products. The Alliance and SC Johnson formed a task force that included both staff members from the Alliance, as well as members of the environmental, product development, product safety and marketing staffs at SC Johnson. This unique partnership has aided SC Johnson by more directly linking consumer and company environmental objectives to the new product development process.