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New paths to competitive advantage Branded goods have to be tip topSödahl Design is a Danish textile company that has been working with environmental matters for a number of years now. The enterprise is environmentally certified under ISO 14001 and is registered under the EU eco-management and audit scheme, EMAS. In addition, a number of their products have the EU Flower ecolabel. "We work with environmental management as an internal control instrument, and it has been natural for us to expand upon this by adding the ecolabel. When we say EMAS, most people look a bit blank. It is easier to communicate with the ecolabels," says Environmental Coordinator Laila Pedersen. We are preparedEnvironmental demands are made by COOP Denmark, the largest supermarket chain in the country, but other than that, Södahl Design has not yet experienced much demand from the retail trade. "We hope that demand will increase from the Danish retail trade. Our products are branded goods, and people therefore expect everything to be in order. We thus have to ensure that we have a good product when we visit our customers. This gives our salesmen confidence," says Laila Pedersen. "One of the problems has been the many different labelling and certification schemes. Neither the retail shops nor the consumers grasp them, and hence do not consciously organize their purchases around them. With the Flower ecolabel, we have a single, internationally approved certification scheme for several product categories and branches. In that way all resources can be utilized in a concerted manner to raise knowledge and awareness about ecolabelled products. The potential for bed linen labelled with the Flower is considerable, and all new designs therefore have this ecolabel," adds International Sales Manager Lars Jespersen.
A long product chainSödahl Design purchases raw materials on the world market, and it can often be diffi cult to get all the information about where the products come from, and how they are produced and treated. The enterprise is too small to be able to require that all suppliers provide information about all matters. "The further away from the enterprise we come, the more difficult it is for us. It therefore necessitates that the actors in the supply chain are willing to cooperate with us. Some of them have been, and hence we now have Flower-ecolabelled products. However, it takes considerable perseverance if one does not have a short product chain," concludes Laila Pedersen. Södahl Design A/S, Brande, 75 employees.
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