Introduction A number of recent announcements in the Western European hardcopy peripherals market have seen a growing number of the industry's leading hardware vendors extolling the virtues of what can be classified as "environmental" or "green" business initiatives. These wide-ranging initiatives come to market against a backdrop of both businesses and consumers responding to the ever-increasing shift in mainstream attitudes towards myriad environmental issues including climate change, the use of hazardous substances and the consumption of the world's finite resources.
This IDC White Paper will briefly outline the current print vendor environment in relation to the range of business activities being promoted by vendors to address changing mainstream attitudes on green or environmental issues. The main body of the paper will then shift focus to examine Kyocera's approach to the environment by taking a closer look at the vendor's environmental strategy, including the following areas:
- Product technology
- Consumable technology
- Legislation compliance
- Recycling programmes and product take-back
The Current Landscape
IDC believes that, in a hardcopy peripherals market currently worth over $11.9 billion (2006) and set to reach $14.5 billion by 2011, opportunities for increased market share will inevitably materialise for vendors that best address the environmental areas outlined previously. Indeed the industry has already seen many examples of how vendors are looking to reduce the environmental footprint of their products and the associated business activities involved in the manufacturing and logistics processes.
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