Improving product environmental impact at all life cycles is an important topic for manufacturers of Hi-Tech products. The end-of-life is one stage of the life cycle stages gaining attention in the public realm and in the market. Companies must understand how to improve their products so that the environmental impact will be lower at the end-of-life while also minimizing costs. Environmental value chain analysis is based on the concepts of customer value chain analysis and supply chain management. Customer value chain analysis seeks to identify pertinent customer and other stakeholders' interests, their value perceptions and the relationship between these parties in green product or process development projects. Environmental Value Chain Analysis (EVCA) shows the value relationships between groups implementing environmental improvement programs.
TNA business
Recognized as one the world's leading cable manufacturers, TNA has stayed ahead of the pack by anticipating changes in the business. Based in Milan, Italy, the 130-year-old corporation is in fact the top player of the Energy Cables and Systems market, holding ten percent market share. TNA is also a leading provider of telecommunications cables and systems. In 2001, TNA's consolidated sales revenue rose to over 7,500 million Euro. TNA Group employs over 40,000 people, with factories in 24 countries and marketing networks in 120 countries. In 2000, TNA spent approximately one billion Euro to launch e-TNA: a corporate Web site that is radically transforming TNA Group into a true e-company that uses the network's speed and flexibility to manage both internal processes and develop innovative businesses. TNA Cables and Systems, with 78 manufacturing facilities in five continents and a marketing network covering more than 120 countries, represents the world's largest energy cable manufacturer. TNA Cables and Systems offer the world market a series of integrated components as product systems, engineering and integration for global turnkey projects, as well as a wide variety of telecommunications and power cables
Porter's Five Forces Model
A common starting point for analyzing the competitiveness of a market is Porter's Five Forces Model. We will not be an exception and use this model also. Usually it has been used both to assess competitive pressure between suppliers, buyers, and rivals, as well as a measure of the barriers to entry for new entrants and their ability to market substitutes.
The explanatory power of Porter's model is restricted within a network market context. In these complex network markets changes in competition intensity or innovation within one part of the value chain can have dramatic impacts on other upstream or downstream segments that either help produce the firms product or other firms complementary products.
A standard Five Forces analysis gives us a snapshot of the forces acting upon one participant within the value chain at a single point in time. A complete understanding the dynamics of competition within an industry or market would require analyses of each link along the whole value chain at multiple points ...