Exploring Organizational Antecedents for Sustainable Product Development for International Tour Operating Businesses

The development of sustainable products or services is defined by Maxwell as the process of making products or services in a more sustainable way (production) throughout their entire life cycle, from conception to the end-of-life (Maxwell & van der Vorst, 2003). Essentially, sustainable products or services are alternatives to existing ones, but of a superior quality, providing the same function to the customer, being more cost-effective, while also generating less harm on the surrounding environments or societies. The emphasis is on securing the efficiency of inputs and outputs is all actions along the life cycle of the product or service, from raw materials to discharged waste, so that unnecessary consumption of resources and generation of wastes are avoided. More advanced concepts such as product-service systems and needs-oriented-service systems aim to reduce impacts from the production and the use phase, or even at the end-of-life phase of a product (Mont, 2002; Roy, 2000). New and under development, the area of product-service systems is increasingly gaining acceptance from companies (Manzini & Jégou, 2003).