Encouraging consumption reduction: Findings of a qualitative study with clothing companies on sufficiency-promoting communication

Gossen, Maike; Heinrich, Anneli

doi:10.1016/j.clrc.2021.100028

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Sufficiency, at its core, means persuading consumers not to buy and consume as much, or where consumption is essential, making products less resource-intensive, and assisting consumers to use goods for longer, which ultimately means selling less (Potocnik et al, 2018;Godelnik, 2021;Niessen and Bocken, 2021). This may seem at odds with economically viable business practice, although recent studies have investigated its business potential and demonstrated successes (Bocken and Short, 2016;Freudenreich and Schaltegger, 2020;Gossen and Heinrich, 2021;Niessen and Bocken, 2021). The underlying economic logic for a sufficiency-based business model is to incentivise consumers to use less, often by introducing substitute products or services that shift the value proposition, making sufficiency the preferred option for the consumer.…”

Section: Background Sufficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the business level, in line with Bocken and Short (2016), Freudenreich and Schaltegger (2020) and Gossen and Heinrich (2021), sufficiency is necessarily closely linked to the product and service offering, sales strategy, and marketing and customer engagement. First, at the level of product-service offering (i.e., value proposition) products needs to include design for longevity, and long product life and quality should be supported (e.g., maintainability, repairability), along with sufficiency in the use phase (energy and consumables use, etc).…”

Section: Business For Sufficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…( 2021) survey agreed with the statement "We need to consume less to preserve the environment for future generations." Furthermore, the rise of anti-consumption advertising on Black Friday-following the "Don't buy this jacket" advert in the New York Times by Patagonia in 2011suggests that the timing is right to reposition the CE toward sufficiency (Gossen and Heinrich, 2021). Circular economy may well be at an important crossroad: it can continue to propose incremental changes to resource flows, leaving the wider, unsustainable, economic system unchanged, or it can join a transformative movement toward a sustainable circular society (Velenturf et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Sufficiency-Based Circular Economy—An Analysis of 150 Companies

2022

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The circular economy has become a popular paradigm in the business and policy spheres. It can support sustainable development by aiming to safeguard the resources to mitigate negative impacts on the climate and the environment and to sustain our current and future generations. Yet, despite progress with circular economy initiatives, there is a risk of focusing on incremental innovations with little real impact, and possibly even creating serious negative rebound effects. This study suggests that the concept of “sufficiency” is inadequately represented in the current circular economy discourse and innovations, and this may be undermining real progress. In this paper, the Sufficiency-based Circular Economy paradigm is introduced. We investigate the following questions: What is the role of business in the sufficiency-based circular economy? What are the institutional limitations to the role of business as a driver for the transition and how might these be overcome? We conduct a “practice research” by analyzing company cases of sufficiency practices in a business context. We analyse 150 business cases to identify how their organizational strategies support sufficiency and what type of innovations they exemplify within this transition. We investigate seven core business elements for economic transformation (purpose, ownership, governance, finance, networks, scale-up and impact) of these businesses to understand how they drive the value propositions and their impact on the wider transition. This is followed by a discussion on a broader business and policy perspective of the Sufficiency-based Circular Economy.

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Section: Background Sufficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Business For Sufficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Sufficiency-Based Circular Economy—An Analysis of 150 Companies

2022

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“…UNEP [81] talks of circularity: "Circular processes contributing to circularity include: reduce by design (reducing the amount of material used, particularly raw material, should be applied as an overall guiding principle from the earliest stages of design of products and services); from a user-to-user perspective, refuse, reduce and re-use; from a user-to-business intermediary perspective, repair, refurbish and remanufacture; and from business-to-business: repurpose and recycle". Bocken et al [82] advocate for a sufficiency-based circular economy, with more effort to change individual behavior and reduce resource consumption (sensu Gossen & Heinrick [83]).…”

Section: Definitions and Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioeconomy and Circular Economy Approaches Need to Enhance the Focus on Biodiversity to Achieve Sustainability

Stephenson

Damerell

2022

Sustainability

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Bioeconomy and circular economy approaches are being adopted by an increasing number of international organizations, governments and companies to enhance sustainability. Concerns have been raised about the implications for biodiversity. Here, we present a review of current research on the two approaches to determine their relationship to each other and to other economic models, their impact on sustainability and their relationship with biodiversity. Bioeconomy and circular economy are both poorly defined, inconsistently implemented and inadequately measured, and neither provides a clear pathway to sustainability. Many actors promote goals around economic growth above environmental issues. Biodiversity is often addressed indirectly or inadequately. Furthermore, many traditionally disadvantaged groups, including women and indigenous people, may be neglected and rarely engage or benefit. These challenges are compounded by capacity gaps and legal and governance complexities around implementation, influenced by traditional mindsets and approaches. Countries and companies need to plan their sustainability strategies more explicitly around the biodiversity they impact. Opportunities include the relevance and timeliness of sustainable economics for delivering Sustainable Development Goals in a post-COVID world, the existence of work to be built on, and the diversity of stakeholders already engaged. We propose five main steps to ensure the sustainability of economic approaches. Ultimately, we can ensure sustainability only by starting to shift mindsets and establishing a more focused agenda for bioeconomy and circular economy that puts species, ecosystems and the wellbeing of local people at the center.

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“…Reichel ( 2013), Bocken et al (2018, Wells (2018) Marketing for consumption reduction Bocken et al (2014), Gossen and Heinrich (2021), Gossen and Kropfeld (2022) Moderate sales and promotions Bocken et al (2014 (2020), Niessen and Bocken (2021) as economic production and consumption goods, start-ups, social organizations, or businesses, are grounded in a nexus of connected social practices (Schatzki, 2002(Schatzki, , 2018. For instance, businesses are reproduced by a complex set of interlinked social practices such as advertising, financing, strategic planning, or human resource management (ibid.).…”

Section: Decluttering (Less)mentioning

confidence: 99%

How to make more of less: Characteristics of sufficiency in business practices

Beyeler

Jaeger‐Erben²

2022

Front. Sustain.

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Sustainable transformation toward a circular society, in which all ecosystems and livelihoods are protected and sustained, requires the integration of sufficiency in circular production and consumption practices. Beyond the technological promises to decouple resource use from economic growth, sufficiency measures to reduce production and consumption volumes in absolute terms are necessary. Businesses integrating sufficiency act as agent of change to transform current unsustainable practices along the entire supply chain. By observing the operationalization of sufficiency in 14 pioneer businesses, this study identifies dimensions and practice elements that characterize sufficiency in business practices. This study observed that the sufficiency in business practices mainly represents a rethinking of business doings on three dimensions: (1) rethinking the relation to consumption; (2) rethinking the relation to others; and (3) rethinking the social meaning of the own organization. Sufficiency practitioners understand production and consumption as a mean to fulfill basic human needs instead of satisfying consumer preferences. They co-create sufficiency-oriented value with peers in a sufficiency-oriented ecosystem and they redefine growth narratives by envisioning an end to material growth. Additionally, this study revealed that care, patience and learning competences are essential characteristics of sufficiency in business practices. Sufficiency practitioners reshape their business doings by caring for others and nature; they demonstrate patience to create slow, local, and fair provision systems; and they accept their shortcomings and learn from mistakes. Integrating elements of care, patience and learning in business practices reduce the risks of sufficiency-rebound effects. Ambivalences between the sufficiency purpose and growth-oriented path dependencies persists for sufficiency-oriented businesses. Further research should investigate pathways to overcome these ambivalences and shortcomings that sufficiency practitioners experience, for instance, by exploring political and cultural settings that foster sufficiency-oriented economic activity.

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Encouraging consumption reduction: Findings of a qualitative study with clothing companies on sufficiency-promoting communication

Cited by 23 publications

References 45 publications

The Sufficiency-Based Circular Economy—An Analysis of 150 Companies

The Sufficiency-Based Circular Economy—An Analysis of 150 Companies

Bioeconomy and Circular Economy Approaches Need to Enhance the Focus on Biodiversity to Achieve Sustainability

How to make more of less: Characteristics of sufficiency in business practices

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