Factors affecting the adoption of design for environment in Taiwan's electrical and electronic industries

This paper aims to apply an integrated method, combining Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) to find the crucial factors that affect the adoption of design for environment (DfE) in Taiwan's electric and electronic industries. Combining DEMATEL with ANP aids the discovery of each incentive's priority weights. Competitive advantage has the heaviest weight and, indeed, is a relatively important driving force behind the adoption of DfE. Managers' support, governmental regulations of target markets, and firms' ethical values also play focal roles in determining DfE adoption. This design system implies that the characteristics of Taiwan's electrical and electronic industry (the most important of which are strong export orientation and global clients' increasingly stringent 'green' requirements) are driving companies to adopt DfE in order to strengthen their competitive advantage.