個案總覽

This case examines the business options for implementing a company-wide product take-back program. It focuses on PerkinElmer, a $1.9 billion global technology company developing diagnostics and biomedical products for the environmental and human health sectors. The company, which operates in more than 150 countries, is committed to community engagement, sustainable and ethical business practices and eco-innovative products, including a commitment to continuously reducing the environmental and health impacts of its products throughout their useful lives. As of 2012, PerkinElmer was required to comply with two European Union regulations restricting hazardous substances and monitoring the disposal of electronic waste, but there were no similar broad-based federal U.S. regulations at that time. One of the European Union directives required the company to practise end-of-life management, that is, to take back and responsibly manage its products at the end of their useful lives. PerkinElmer used a study group at Boston College to examine the different options for handling old products and to discover if there was a profitable or at least profit neutral business model for doing so, in light of what its competitors were doing in this area. If the benefits outweigh the risks, how should the company roll out a corporate-wide product take-back strategy?