Market information in life cycle assessment

Table 6.3 The consequence of the three default cultural perspectives on the assumptions used in LCA system delimitation Cultural perspective: Default assumptions regarding: Individualist Hierarchist Egalitarian Ties between companies    Few Forced Many Market segmentation Low willingness to substitute very different products Substitution may be forced when necessary High willingness to substitute very different products Geographical markets Global trade only restricted by transport costs and availability Regulated markets Localised markets Market trend Growing Controlled growth Stagnating to decreasing Production constraints Only for co-products with a low value relative to the remaining co-products from the same process Quotas apply Strict quotas apply Important factors for decisions on capital investment Competitiveness, mainly determined by labour costs and skills required Externalities included in decisions Production costs play a minor role for decisions