Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies
| Authors: | Michael W. Toffel, Antoinette Stein, and Katharine L. Lee |
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| Published: | November 6, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | September 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Managing products at the end of life (EOL) is of growing concern for durable goods manufacturers. While some manufacturers engage in voluntary "take back" of EOL products for a variety of competitive reasons, the past 10 years have seen the rapid proliferation of government regulations and policies requiring manufacturers to collect and recycle their products, or pay others to do so on their behalf. Toffel, Stein, and Lee develop a framework for evaluating the extent to which these product take-back regulations offer the potential to reduce the environmental impacts of these products in an effective and cost-efficient manner, while also providing adequate occupational health and safety protection. The evaluation framework is illustrated with examples drawn from take-back regulations in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
Mapping Polluters, Encouraging Protectors
| Published: | January 14, 2008 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Where are the biggest polluters? And what is your company doing to protect the environment? A new Web site—both a public service and a research tool—posts managers' data in real time, allowing a balanced view of industrial environmental performance. HBS professor Michael W. Toffel and senior research fellow Andrew A. King explain.
Published in 2005
New Learning at American Home Products
| Published: | April 25, 2005 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
In Alfred D. Chandler Jr's new history of the modern chemical and pharma industries, American Home Products follows a singular path to success. An excerpt from Shaping the Industrial Century.
