Understanding the Role of Environ·mental Tools in Concept Development

Abstract

Early-stage product development decisions shape a product’s environmental impact, while later changes are costly and constrained. To address these early-stage constraints, along with responding to regulatory pressure, companies have introduced environmental tools for use in early concept development. However, these life cycle assessment-based tools remain underused and poorly integrated in industrial decision-making. The purpose of this study is to investigate how environmental tools are perceived and used in concept development, with the aim of understanding the conditions that enable or constrain its decision-making relevance. An exploratory, embedded single‑case study design was applied using a mixed‑method approach in a large automotive manufacturer to examine a matrix-based environmental decision-support tool inspired by Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and the Pugh matrix. Data was collected through observations and unstructured interviews to build contextual understanding, followed by surveys distributed to engineers and project leaders to capture patterns in perception and use. Semi‑structured interviews were then conducted to explore identified issues in depth, where the analysis was guided by the Gioia methodology. The data sources were compared through a thematic analysis to identify similarities and differences which will ultimately lead to change management recommendations. The identified results indicate that while environmental considerations are acknowledged as important, the environmental tools are typically introduced late in the concept development process after concept decision is made, and are used more for documentation than for guiding concept selection. Sustainability is deprioritized compared to other product features like cost and quality. Barriers that hinder the tool’s usage include exchanging material data from suppliers, misalignment between engineers and leaders, unclear ownership and lacking leadership support. Based on the results change management recommendations were provided, e.g. strengthening leadership and communication, and improving integration with existing workflows. The results of this qualitative life cycle study will advance understanding of how environmental tools can be effectively used in concept development and contribute to research by showing that limited early use is driven more by organizational embedding, timing and alignment with decision-making structures than by tool capability. The study further advances current discussion on the practical meaning of LCA by reframing the challenges as a socio-technical integration problem.