Increasing product value by integrating environmental impact, costs and customer valuation

The aim of this paper is to propose a model that allows us to add value for customer to a product, by means of the integration of the environmental, cost and customer valuation during its design process. This model is based on the combination of three methodologies: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to evaluate the environmental requirements, Life Cycle Cost (LCC) to examine the internal and external costs of the product, and Contingent Valuation (CV) to quantify the customer's value in terms of his/her willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a product that incorporates certain environmental improvements. As a result, it can be concluded that the product value can be increased with the use of a design that reduces simultaneously the environmental impact and external costs besides allowing manufacturer company to follow the maximum profit strategy. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.