Products to services. A report for Friends of the Earth

This report explores the way in which products supply particular functions to consumers and the proposition that products should be regarded as 'deliverers of services'. It identifies various options for reconfiguring the relationship between products and services in order to meet people's needs while reducing the consequential environmental impact. These new 'productbased services' could form the basis of a trend towards a more sustainable 'functional economy'

Modern circular economy: Corporate strategy, supply chain, and industrial symbiosis

This paper analyses the firms\u2019 chances to consider circular economy as a part of the corporate strategy. The analysis of four Italian firms engaged in circular economy programs allows us to detect its connections with the corporate strategy, the real activities involved, the supply chain network ensuring circularity, the industrial symbiosis, as well as the links with performance. Our findings highlight that circular economy is a true business lever when the corporate strategy complements and supports its development. This allows firms to achieve high level targets that go beyond the traditional targets of social, environmental, and economic performance, and include circular supply chain, eco-innovations, and industrial symbiosis

Modern circular economy: corporate strategy, supply chain, and industrial symbiosis

This paper analyses the firms’ chances to consider circular economy as a part of the corporate strategy. The analysis of four Italian firms engaged in circular economy programs allows us to detect its connections with the corporate strategy, the real activities involved, the supply chain network ensuring circularity, the industrial symbiosis, as well as the links with performance. Our findings highlight that circular economy is a true business lever when the corporate strategy complements and supports its development. This allows firms to achieve high level targets that go beyond the traditional targets of social, environmental, and economic performance, and include circular supply chain, eco-innovations, and industrial symbiosis

The interplay between circular economy and productivity : multiple case studies in remanufacturing companies

The circular economy (CE) refers to a cluster of strategies which are necessary to create more sustainable production-consumption systems. Although remanufacturing is a key principle of CE, there is limited empirical research investigating its relationships with the productivity of firms, supply chains, or nations. This study therefore aimed to investigate the interplay between CE (with a focus on remanufacturing) and productivity. Underpinned by a critical realist philosophy, eight qualitative case studies were conducted in remanufacturing firms in the UK. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and triangulated with financial statements and publicly available information. As a key result, this research demonstrated that the relationship between remanufacturing and firm productivity is moderated by the firm’s chosen value proposition. Specifically, it found that remanufacturers offering specialised and quick solutions can be productive, whilst competing through price might reduce the productivity of remanufacturers over time. Supply chains can benefit from speedy remanufacturing which prevents disruption in their operations. The productivity of the studied remanufacturing firms was found to be somewhat in between the productivity of the services and the manufacturing sectors. This study contributes to develop the literature in CE and management through the development of eight propositions to guide future research, and highlights implications for managers and policymakers.Heriot-Watt University fundin

Green profit design for lifecycle

“Green Profit” refers to economic profits generated by an environmentally sustainable business. As awareness of sustainability increases and environmental regulations become more stringent, manufacturers are faced with the challenge of making a green profit in their businesses. Recovering end-of-life products after customer use is a promising solution to this challenge. Various recovery options, including reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and material recovery, can make it possible for companies to comply with environmental legislation and also gain social and economic benefits. This dissertation presents a design approach, referred to as “Green Profit Design,” to help maximize green profits from end-of-life recovery of products. Green Profit Design is a Design for Recovery approach that facilitates green and profitable end-of-life recovery of products by establishing a clear link between product design and end-of-life recovery. Product design features, including product architecture, functional performance, and material properties, greatly affect the economic and environmental performances of end-of-life recovery. Therefore, the most important factors in achieving green profit are an understanding of how design decisions affect actual end-of-life recovery and understanding the economic and environmental implications of the design. The Design for Recovery methods introduced in this dissertation evaluate product design from a recovery perspective and provide a quantitative assessment of how good or how bad a product design is in terms of both recovery profit and environmental impact. The methods can be utilized for either design improvement or design selection. An original contribution of this dissertation is that it provides the foundation for integrating the different perspectives on end-of-life recovery of different domains, i.e., design engineering, environmental engineering, and business. Another important contribution is its thorough coverage of recovery processes. In addition to technical and operational issues, the methods in this dissertation also cover the recovery processes at the front end (i.e., product take-back and reverse logistics) and the back end (i.e., remarketing of recovered items) and suggest an advanced approach for coordinating and managing the entire process more effectively. This dissertation presents two empirical studies, four Design for Recovery methods, and three extended studies on further refinement of the four methods. Using statistical analyses, the empirical studies investigate the challenges that the Design for Recovery approach must overcome. The current industry practice of electronics recovery is examined to gain a better understanding of the design issues associated with end-of-life recovery. The Design for Recovery methods focus on evaluating the design of the original product from a recovery perspective. The first three methods consider the case in which the second-life products recovered from the end-of-life products have a pre-defined design. Optimization models for evaluating a single product and for evaluating the design of a family of products are presented, and the effects of product obsolescence and deterioration at the time of end-of-life recovery are also analyzed. The fourth method is focused more on how to remarket end-of-life products, and it provides the advanced tools required for market positioning to optimize the design and the price of a second-life product. The three extended studies focus on environmental implications of end-of-life recovery and discuss appropriate timing utilizing recovery principles. End-of-life recovery is basically a strategy for extending the life of a product by reusing, refurbishing, or remanufacturing that product. The studies demonstrate that an extended lifetime may not always be environmentally sustainable, and that shortening the lifetime may actually be better in some cases. To help decide on the optimal lifetime strategy for a given product, lifecycle assessment (LCA) approaches for a large-scale system are discussed, and an analytical model is proposed for planning optimal lifetime of a given product based on the LCA approach

Driving in the wrong lane: towards a change in paradigm for optimal passenger car lifespans

Passenger cars are responsible for high demands of energy and materials, both from manufacturing and use stage; raw material resource extraction, transformation, use and disposal. Their energy and material efficiencies are far from perfect, despite the car, and its incumbent industry, being present and influential in society for almost a century and half. The premise of car design, manufacturing process, business model and use have scarcely evolved or changed drastically. Nations have been producing and consuming this product unsustainably. The surge of developing nations and their consumption demands is adding further pressure on resources and energy use. This PhD is focused on how to reduce passenger car impacts through two alternative consumption models; longer lifespans (extensive) and car share (intensive). These may contribute towards a necessary transition of the overall incumbent car regime and its different elements – business models, design, manufacturing, sales, usage and disposal – towards more sustainable use of materials and energy by reducing their demand and consumption. It aims to understand the role of some of its different actors but also to understand why alternative - and less impactful - forms of car use have not succeeded and how a transition to a different car regime can be triggered. The literature review looked critically into the automotive industry's failure to become more sustainable. It compared extensive and intensive use, the desirable design aspects of the former and impacts of the latter. It looked into transition models, car cultures, their influence in car consumption and use. Finally, it discussed how personal behaviour can have a role in changing norms and attitudes in societies. Two different sets of research interviews, three informative interviews and a consumer survey were undertaken to collect data to help fulfil the aims and objectives of this research. The three interviews aimed to understand the different business models, incumbent car industry, start-up car manufacturers and car sharing business models respectively. The first set of - exploratory -interviews with car designers and engineers helped to explain the barriers and opportunities of car design for extensive and intensive use. It raised questions about society's readiness for such alternative forms of consumption. The second set of interviews looked into the systemic barriers of car sharing; the role of policy, society, technology and the shift from ownership to shared use. It also explored the service-life of shared cars. Finally, the consumer survey helped to explain the attitudes, norms and behaviour of car users and verify some assumptions made throughout the different interview sets. There are substantially more obstacles to purposely designed cars to have an extensive lifespan than for an intensive one. Nonetheless, some aspects of design for longevity can be adopted by designers to optimise the lifespan of cars. Consumer behaviour may also be of key importance in extending passenger car lifespans. The set of interviews with car sharing experts and the consumer survey explored and analysed reasons behind the low uptake of and readiness towards car sharing in order to understand barriers and opportunities. Interview and survey data were thematically and systematically analysed. If the vision of less unsustainable, socio-technical transition of car usage is taking place, from a top-down technological approach, there is no equivalent change in the social, bottom-up car ownership culture. Given that policy makers are systemically compromised - by the relevant stakeholders - where they operate, changes in ownership culture could stimulate and mandate the necessary policy action where relevant. It is also debatable if the promised lower impact of car sharing is occurring. Car share has a lower uptake, cars are driven low annual mileages and have a short service life. This research contributes to the understanding of how the social facet of socio-technical transitions can help replace the car culture status-quo and provide opportunities for nudge policy action using Cultural Theory and the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour. The research reports on consumer mindfulness of car sharing and barriers and drivers for social transitions towards different cultures of car ownership and use. The data brings new insights into UK car consumers, addressing calls for understanding car user behaviour, and creating mechanisms to overtake the car culture status quo

The role of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and the Internet of Things in the acceleration of circular economy

Abstract. Circular economy is the alternative to the current linear (make, use, dispose) model. In business model literature, circular economy has emerged recently, affirming more practical methods to solving business challenges and developing innovative solutions for business processes, directly concerning the climate crisis. Circular business models propose to change the product-oriented business models in which the main objective of firms is maximizing profits by the number of products sold, to a service-based business model in which firms make profits by the services they offer. In this context, business models like Product-Service Systems have been identified as enablers of Circular Economy in companies. As a result of this, data and digital technologies presented by Industry 4.0 or the 4th Industrial Revolution, have proven to be tremendous catalysts of circular economy for industries. But despite this knowledge there is very limited implementation of circular economy processes and of Industry 4.0 tools for its acceleration. Academic literature highlighting the specific co-relation of digital technologies to Circular Economy is also limited. There is still a lot of scope to explore the nexus of these topics, by academicians and industry alike. In an attempt to bridge this gap, this study aims to provide an analysis in the role played by Industry 4.0 tools, especially Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and the Internet of Things, in the implementation and acceleration of Circular Economy. Based on the findings of the empirical research, the role of the selected Industry 4.0 tools is examined and discussed