Life Cycle Work: A Process Study of the Emergence and Performance of Life Cycle Practice

Abstract

Life cycle management (LCM) is a concept that goes beyond traditional corporate environmental management, due to its focus on a product’s entire life cycle. The spread of such concepts is usually understood in terms of processes of “diffusion,” whereby ideas spread over time by some inexplicable force. However, diffusion has proven less adequate to describe how ideas spreads in practice. Here, we address this oversight by studying the emergence and performance of what we refer to as life cycle practices. Drawing on an analysis of the development of a sustainability portfolio within a globally operating manufacturing company, we illustrate the kinds of life cycle work involved in dealing with local activities and interests, connecting activities and interests into action nets, performing life cycle practices, and spreading the life cycle idea. Finally, we discuss implications of life cycle work for research in the field of organization and management studies and for LCM research.