Circular Economy Business Model Innovation Process – Case Study

Antikainen, Maria; Aminoff, Anna; Kettunen, Outi; Sundqvist-Andberg, Henna; Paloheimo, Harri

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57078-5_52

Cited by 29 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Otherwise, there is the subject of how companies can transform their business models to increase their degree of circularity [50]. The concept of circular business model innovation refers to the process of innovating the business model to embed, implement and capitalise on circular economy practices [51].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recycling Technology Innovation as a Source of Competitive Advantage: The Sustainable and Circular Business Model of a Bicentennial Company

et al. 2021

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La Farga Yourcoppersolutions is a bicentennial Catalan company that manufactures semi-finished copper products. As copper is a 100% recyclable material, much of the sector’s production comes from secondary copper, scrap, not from mined copper. In the case of La Farga, not only a good part of its output comes from recycled copper, but it is also a world leader in copper-recycling technology. The objective of the paper is to describe La Farga’s business model from the point of view of sustainability and the circular economy. What have been the causes and effects of recycling on the business model? Regarding the methodology, the work follows the research strategy of the case study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from a variety of primary and secondary sources. Economic, social and environmental sustainability of the firm was assessed through financial and non-financial indicators; value-added generation and distribution were calculated from accounting data; and the circular business model was analysed via a thematic analysis: its components, innovation, enablers and barriers. Results show that the presence of barriers forces the implementation of circularity to be gradual and to combine linear and circular models to maintain competitiveness.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recycling Technology Innovation as a Source of Competitive Advantage: The Sustainable and Circular Business Model of a Bicentennial Company

et al. 2021

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“…In a circular economy, firms maximize the value of the material resources and minimize the overall resource use, waste, pollution and emissions that are associated with their business activities (Geissdoerfer et al, 2017). Designing and conducting business model experiments -small-scale and cost-effective ways to test the underlying theories and hypotheses about new business models -has become a promising approach to innovate towards a circular economy (Antikainen et al, 2017a;Weissbrod and Bocken, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most existing research on circular business model experimentation has used approaches that operationalize the 'The Lean Startup' (Ries, 2011), a popular approach in entrepreneurship practice (Antikainen et al, 2017a;Bocken et al, 2017;Weissbrod and Bocken, 2017). This research has shown that experimentation can help speed up action and decision-making towards sustainability in organizations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular business model experimentation: Demystifying assumptions

Konietzko

Baldassarre

Brown

et al. 2020

Journal of Cleaner Production

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Circular business model experiments may help firms transition towards a circular economy. Little is known about how the participants of experimentation-entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, innovation managers-develop and test their assumptions during the experimentation process to achieve more circular outcomes. Using a design-science approach, we investigate this process and develop principles to improve it. This is done during three workshops in different contexts: an innovation festival with 14 early-stage circular startups, a workshop with a health technology incumbent, and a workshop with six growthoriented startups. We find that analyzing their available means-what they find important and prefer to happen (part of their identity), what they know (their skills and knowledge), and whom they know (their social network)-helps to understand how the participants develop and test their assumptions. We show how the mindset and awareness of the participants impact how much attention they pay to the circularity potential of their envisioned circular business models. Based on these insights, we propose a set of principles to prepare the innovation participants for experimentation, and to increase their ability to reflect on their circularity assumptions. Future research is needed to further grow our understanding of the types of principles that can guide meaningful experimentations towards a circular economy.

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“…A way to support industrial CE ecosystems is to strengthen collaboration activities between companies as well as between companies and government (e.g., [19]). The activities include closing the material loops, reducing the resources needed, and preserving the materials in the loops as long as possible [27]. Indeed, the ecosystems approach is highly relevant, as in industrial CE ecosystems, the presence and influence of public agency and collaboration between public and private actors is clearly visible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Agency in Changing Industrial Circular Economy Ecosystems: Roles, Modes and Structures

2020

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Value creation in the circular economy (CE) is a result of co-creation. In the industrial context, the theme of collaboration has been studied extensively on a company-to-company basis, but related public agency remains unexplored. Still, circular actions happen in societal contexts where public actors and logics are constantly present, enabling the change toward more sustainable actions. For systematic discovery of the topic, the following research questions are considered: (a) What roles can a public actor have in an industrial CE ecosystem? (b) What are the relationship modes a public actor can have? (c) In what kind of actor structures may the roles and modes occur? The study relies on two multiple case studies in the international (Study 1) and Finnish eco-industrial parks (Study 2) contexts. The results are based on qualitative content analysis conducted with both primary and secondary data. As a result, six distinct roles—operator, organizer, financer, supporter, policymaker, and regulator—and two modes—facilitative and dirigiste—for public agency in industrial CE ecosystems were identified. The roles depict the concrete means used by public actors whereas the modes depict the characteristics of these actions. Finally, exemplar organization models for the recognized roles and modes in industrial CE ecosystems were examined. The study provides insights into how public actors can contribute to sustainability transitions among their territories and helps practitioners to better understand the premises for public–private interaction.

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Circular Economy Business Model Innovation Process – Case Study

Cited by 29 publications

References 5 publications

Recycling Technology Innovation as a Source of Competitive Advantage: The Sustainable and Circular Business Model of a Bicentennial Company

Recycling Technology Innovation as a Source of Competitive Advantage: The Sustainable and Circular Business Model of a Bicentennial Company

Circular business model experimentation: Demystifying assumptions

Public Agency in Changing Industrial Circular Economy Ecosystems: Roles, Modes and Structures

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