Resources and added value of commodities

Beschreibung

ABSTRACT Since the industrial revolution, the quality of every day commodities has changed fundamentally. From individually designed artist work and handcraft to industrial mass production, commodities nowadays are undergoing new transformations. Many of them are marketed as sustainable, innovative solutions, which will dematerialize consumption and contribute to save energy and resources. We will point out loop falls in this assumption. The new claims are assisted by services imposed on the products. The consumer is hardly aware or informed about these services, a lot of them closely related to commodity expertise and some also to ethical claims. They usually are subject to certification and market control procedures due to globalization supported by global networks. According to the economic theory, these services create higher added value as they create jobs, income, and safety. However, this kind of economic added value implies additional resource consumption, which is rarely discussed on a product level, in order not to disturb business. Boosting green markets by new services hides the rise in resource consumption by shifting it from the visible material product on other levels in the production system. We might start a new wave of consumption instead of following transformation into a sustainable economy.

Zeitraum	26 Mai 2017
Ereignistitel	Managerial challenges of the contemporary society ty
Veranstaltungstyp	Keine Angaben
Bekanntheitsgrad	International