Enabling Ecologically Sustainable Global Development for the Semiconductor Capital Equipment Industry

Reducing ecological impact of global economic development is an important emerging trend; this research will present an adaptable business framework to benefit from this trend in the context of semiconductor manufacturing. There is an apparent need for new market-based strategies that will reduce the ecological footprint of new products. Numerous industries have specifically identified this as a relevant business objective, therefore generating streams of research spanning business social responsibility, public policy, global standards, and regulations among others. The majority of existing research is contained in separate domains with no apparent attempt at an interdisciplinary approach to address the ecologically sustainable development challenge. However, the socioeconomic nature of such a problem presents a unique complexity to business, which necessitates the inclusion of both commercial and psychological dimensions. Existing research provides little insight for how to proceed with customer driven approaches for the development of ecologically and economically sustainable products. A commercial framework is needed to fully deploy the resourcefulness of business institutions towards the goal of sustaining global growth. Developing marketing models that encompass customer economic and social motivations is a suitable framework for including ecological considerations in the business decision-making process. Factors relating to customer belief about environmental utility of ecological product attributes, perceptions of the economic importance of these attributes, and ecological concern affect global new product development in such framework