Conjoint analysis: a new method of eliciting environmental preferences and stakeholder group segmentation

Abstract

Deciding on an environmental strategy is an important and also difficult task for a
manufacturing organisation in Sweden today. Therefore, there is a need for a method to
enable organisations to sort and prioritize the environmental objectives and concerns, The
Swedish Steel Producers' Association,"Jernkontoret", has initiated a research programme
called "Towards a closed steel eco-cycle". The aim is to make the steel eco-cycle sustainable
through increased scrap recycling and efficiency. In order to assess what environmental
preferences the different stakeholder groups have, an interdisciplinary research project, using
conjoint analysis, has been perforn1ed where preferences for some of the most important
environmental concerns within the steel industry were investigated, Environmental
preferences within six stakeholder groups - members of public, representatives from the steel
industry, customers to the steel industry, interest groups, decision makers and environmental
experts - were evaluated through a conjoint analysis combined with a cluster analysis. The
survey was distributed through a questionnaire and the respondents were asked to rank 8
alternatives in a fractional factorial design,
The results indicated that emission of carbon dioxide was prioritized over use of nonrenewable energy, use of non-renewable resources and weight reduction of products. A
cluster analysis was made on the respondents and eight segments were found, however, this
segmentation was markedly different than expected in that the original six groups were not
recovered.
The results were communicated back to the participants directly after they responded to the
questionnaire and the result was discussed in the group. The reactions from the discussion
were documented in order to be made useful in the product development process as well as in
the decision process within the steel industry.