Focus Groups Perspectives

Two follow-up focus groups were convened, consisting of a total of nine companies, five of whom participated in the survey (Table 8.2). Dr. Terry Yosie of the ACC also participated. 

Increased public right-to-know initiatives and public reporting of EHS performance 

Greater external stakeholder participation in government and corporate decision-making 

Note Other category includes the commitment of large-scale, benchmark chemical companies to sustainable development, product portfolio growth innovation and distinct competitive advantage experienced. 

Introduction of regulatory programs that address chemical risks throughout a chemical s lifecycle 

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Focus Group Perspective 5 Need for a Standardized Reporting Framework. Chemical companies are constantly bombarded by investors and other stakeholders seeking sustainability-related information. Most stakeholders do not understand or appreciate the cost of this effort, or the limitations on what companies can provide. Companies, the industry as a whole, and external stakeholders would each benefit from a standardized approach or format for tracking and reporting sustainability related information. 

Focus Group Perspective 6 Need for Standardized Sustainability Metrics. The absence of standard metrics, especially social and economic, is hindering the development and reporting of sustainability initiatives. Significant difficulties exist in translating sustainability to meaningful, measurable performance metrics and standards. 

A team of PwC professionals with experience in sustainability and the chemical industry reviewed the survey results and consulted with a panel of experts and practitioners from the industry for their perspective on what the raw numbers and responses indicated. We then developed our preliminary findings. We also identified additional issues where more structured discussion might elicit further insights and conducted two focus groups to better understand some of the findings and validate our overall conclusions. 

Future papers, incorporating focus group data with surveys, will further explore how academics, firefighters, motorcyclists and others in the UK and USA perceive risk, and offer more definitive perspectives on consumption and risk. But it appears that, as long as the mad cow is held at bay, trajectories of local and organic food remain apart. The dream of organic pioneers is far from public policy. 

From the internal perspective, solutions such as PDM, PLM and MDO allow for the simultaneous inclusion of engineering function stakeholders into the overall process. From an external perspective, supplier involvement is covered by PLM solutions as well as by dedicated supplier portals. An example covered in this book is the Boost Aerospace portal used for supplier information exchange in the aviation domain, as highlighted in Sects. 6.5.1 and 20.5.1.1. At the other side of the value chain, customers can increasingly be involved in the NPD process through direct and indirect means [23]. Direct means include the use of social media and focus groups. Indirect means include data analytics of customer behavior and market trends. 

Ronald E. Hester is Professor of Chemistry in the University of York. He was for short periods a research fellow in Cambridge and an assistant professor at Cornell before being appointed to a lectureship in chemistry in York in 1965. He has been a full professor in York since 1983. His more than 300 publications are mainly in the area of vibrational spectroscopy, latterly focusing on time-resolved studies of photoreaction intermediates and on biomolecular systems in solution. He is active in environmental chemistry and is a founder member and former chairman of the Environment Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and editor of Industry and the Environment in Perspective (RSC, 1983) and Understanding Our Environment (RSC, 1986). As a member of the Council of the UK Science and Engineering Research Council and several of its sub-committees, panels and boards, he has been heavily involved in national science policy and administration. He was, from 1991-93, a member of the UK Department of the Environment Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and is currently a member of the Publications and Information Board of the Royal Society of Chemistry. 

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