LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT AND INNOVATION IN LARGE FIRMS
研究了大型欧洲企业如何应用生命周期评估（LCA）来影响产品和工艺创新，指出不同行业对LCA的内化程度不同，且多数企业难以从LCA创新中充分获益。
Life cycle assessment (LCA) applications within large European firms are discussed. Many industrial applications have been proposed for cradle to grave assessments of environmental burdens of products, including technology design and optimization, technology strategy, green marketing and environmental foresight. There is evidence of a growth of LCA competences and applications within industrial firms, although there are few examples of systematic applications of the instrument in business decisions. The influence of life cycle approaches on the generation of product and process innovations is assessed. The paper argues against the assumption that LCA will be ‘internalized’ pervasively across industry. Commodity producers will maintain externally oriented approaches, whereas some engineering based final goods producers may find more routine uses for internally oriented LCAs. These applications may influence technological innovation. In most cases the capacity to appropriate LCA-based innovations will be constrained.