A Practical Approach to Companies’ Transformation toward Product Longevity: A Best-Case Study

Product longevity is a key to improving the sustainability of production and consumption
patterns. However, at many companies, extending product longevity requires overcoming several
complex barriers. Identifying how to begin this process can be difficult; moreover, the available
solutions may seem too complex or radical and, therefore, may be ignored as viable options. The
purpose of this paper is to study the approaches and decision patterns that enable best-practice
companies to produce high-longevity products. We aim to map approaches to implementing product
longevity through a multiple-case study of 18 best-practice companies that systematically work to
ensure product longevity. Through interviews with developers, CFOs and CEOs at companies that
strive to design and produce long-lasting products, we identify three key types of approaches to
implementing product longevity: performance-driven, behavioural change-driven and vision-driven
approaches. This study reveals several types of approaches to implementing product longevity
successfully. This contribution advances our understanding of how companies can engage with and
foster product longevity at different stages of the development process.