Effective Life Cycle Management in SMEs: Use of a Sector-Based Approach to Overcome Barriers

One approach to incorporate sustainability in organisations is the implementation of life cycle management (LCM). LCM involves sharing responsibility for addressing environmental impacts across the entire supply chain of products and services, extending from raw material extraction to end-of-life of the product. The New Zealand primary sector relies heavily on natural resources and provides about 70% of the country’s export revenue. Most companies in primary industry sectors in New Zealand are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Successful sector-wide uptake of LCM can potentially facilitate effective measurement and management of environmental impacts caused by this sector. The aim of this research was to identify the barriers and enablers to successful LCM uptake by New Zealand primary sector SMEs within a sector-based context. An extensive review of the literature was undertaken in the areas of change management for SMEs and supply chain management. The main factors influencing successful LCM uptake include owner/manager influence, environmental culture, resource availability, future orientation, knowledge of environmental issues, market requirements, geographical separation of production and consumption, awareness of own environmental issues and communication/information sharing. This paper forms the basis for future research and development of tools for the effective implementation of sector based approaches to LCM in the primary industry. The results of this research include a capability maturity model and the development of a cloud based platform for collaboration and communication around LCM