Abstract

Bellandi (20212022) has developed a matrix to assess the consistency between sustainable financial growth and sustainable ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance, hereafter ESG) growth, and how this may impact shareholders versus other stakeholders. This article further builds on that matrix, to link the product life cycle approach and the BCG matrix to the sales growth axis of the matrix and determine both the actual revenue growth and the financially sustainable revenue growth associated to each stage of a product life cycle and each quadrant of the BCG matrix. The article also illustrates how the Life Cycle Assessment methodology can be linked to the product life cycle model, and better quantify the ESG impact of each product life cycle stage on the ESG axis of the financially-ESG sustainable growth matrix. The article shows how the reading of both product life cycle and BCG matrix can be expanded from a proprietory (shareholders) to a societal (other stakeholders) perspective. This opens a new direction of research to evidence alternative ESG improvements in each stage of the life cycle model that may make a product more ESG compliant, therefore suggesting strategies to improve the ESG rating of a business or a company. This article is also a methodological step forward to create an index of ESG sustainable growth, which is currently missing.

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