WAALWIJK, the Netherlands, November 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Exeter Business School, ranked 2^nd for business studies by the Sunday Times and creator of the innovative One Planet MBA programme with the World Wildlife Fund, has published its in-depth study of Desso's Cradle to Cradle^® strategy^[1].

This case study, 'Desso and the Cradle-to-Cradle^® Challenge: Rethinking Carpet as a Closed-loop Supply System' examines the challenges encountered by Desso after its decision to adopt Cradle-to-Cradle^® principles and the subsequent reframing of the firm's understanding of supply chain management.

The Desso Case was produced by Professor Mickey Howard, Associate Professor in Purchasing & Supply Chain Management with Dr Sally Jeanrenaud, Senior Research Fellow in Sustainable Development and Dr Fernando Correia, Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

"We were delighted to work with Exeter Business School in this way," says Desso CEO Alexander Collot D'Escury. "It provided us with a great opportunity to reflect on our Cradle to Cradle^® strategy, led by our Chairman Stef Kranendijk and demonstrate its success. We hope it will lead to greater interest in and take up of this route to the circular economy."

Professor Michael Howard was also "delighted with the collaborative research between the University of Exeter Business School and Desso," adding: "The teaching case published with ECCH (European Case Clearing House) demonstrate not only the high level of leading edge thinking from Desso in terms of closed loop supply systems, but reinforces the importance of implementing sustainable strategy across the whole supply chain to engage all partners in the development of new business models."

One of Desso's key suppliers, Aquafil was also included in this Case Study with the enthusiastic support of Giulio Bonazzi, President of Aquafil. A prime supplier and long-term, 20 year collaborator with Desso, Aquafil buys waste material containing Polyamide 6 from all over the world, but primarily from the US, often in the form of old fishing nets and used carpet yarn. Other sources include Desso's own Refinity^® Plant. Aquafil then turns all this waste into ECONYL^® yarn which is made from 100% regenerated Nylon that Desso uses in over 60%^[2] of its carpet tile range.

1. Howard, M., Jeanrenaud, S., & Correia, F.,Desso and the Cradle-to-Cradle®Challenge: Rethinking Carpet as a Closed-loop Supply System, ExeterBusinessSchool, September 2012. Available online at: http://www.ecch.com/educators/ [ http://www.ecch.com/educators ]

2. 60% relates to the sales volume of products available with ECONYL® yarn in the commercial carpet tile collection. The total % of recycled content varies per product and per colour. Whether a colour contains ECONYL® yarn and the exact % thereof can be found on our website: http://www.desso.com.