Own the Future: 50 Ways to Win from The Boston Consulting Group

Chapter 16

Creating Practical Consumer Value from Sustainability

Knut Haanaes, Catherine Roche, Jonathan Sharp, and Marty Smits

Green products are in vogue. Consumers are increasingly interested in products that use resources more efficiently. But outside certain niches, consumers have resisted paying the higher prices that these products usually require.

To profitably connect with environmental concerns, companies in the home improvement sector are beginning to reorient green products around the direct material benefits to consumers. They emphasize the other benefits that these products generate—not just their environmental credentials.

A Challenging Opportunity

The housing bust of recent years further dampened what was already a mature home improvement market. With household formation and home construction slowed, companies in affluent countries are eager for any area of potential growth. On the face of it, sustainability offers a great deal of potential, but converting theory into commercial viability is difficult.

Like companies in many other industries, home improvement companies have worked on improving the sustainability of their products. They've developed new lines and features and explored emerging technologies. But the results of these efforts have so far proved largely disappointing.

Most companies have changed their business practices to boost sustainability, according to a recent survey of executives worldwide that BCG conducted jointly with MIT Sloan Management Review ...