The role of new product development briefs in implementing sustainability: A case study

Organizations face challenges with regards to the incorporation of sustainability in the early stages of their new product development processes (NPD). This paper explores these challenges in order to understand the barriers for incorporating well-defined sustainability targets in NPD briefs. The study is based on a content analysis of 202 new product development briefs within the FMCG industry, in particular Unilever. The paper concludes that the incorporation of sustainability in the new product development briefs does not guarantee results. Furthermore, there are several organizational issues which could function either as success or failure factors for the entire process.