Business model innovation in circular start-ups:Overcoming barriers in the circular plastics economy

Circular start-ups (CSUs) are crucial for implementing a circular economy; yet, little research has been undertaken on the specific barriers they face. Through a case study of CSUs in the Dutch plastics industry, we identify several key barriers encompassing technology dependence, poor credibility, constrained resources, collaboration challenges, lack of knowledge and inadequate institutional support. Additionally, we highlight four success factors (SFs) that enable CSUs to compete in circular plastics: circular value proposition design, market sensitivity, networking prowess and circular ambidexterity. Our study shows that CSUs can enact these SFs as strategies-in-use to overcome barriers. Yet still, CSUs in plastics continue focusing on recycling-centric business models, limiting their potential to drive the transition more radically along the waste hierarchy. This calls for support from various entities such as entrepreneurial ecosystems as well as a multi-stakeholder perspective that considers their business models as interdependent with other actors in the plastics value chain

Living lab business model: towards a sustainable innovation ecosystem

Public living labs, as multi-stakeholder ecosystems, play a principal role indelivering “public value” by leveraging (open) innovation processes. However, asignificant number of public living labs are not sustainable, in effect, they fail tocreate a viable innovation ecosystem. The problem is that presence of a holisticbusiness model which effectively coordinates the efforts of all heterogenousstakeholders in the ecosystem and focuses on value creation at “ecosystem level” ismissing. Drawing on field studies of three public living lab innovation ecosystems inthe Netherlands, we could develop a holistic and multi-perspective business modelin which “ecosystem” is considered as the reference point; including allheterogenous stakeholders, their interdependent activities and the links betweenthem (BM structure). As such, we could introduce “collaborative portfoliomanagement” combined with “challenge-based cocreation” as a method foreffective coordination of heterogenous actors in the ecosystem. We also identifiedthat “lock-in” (due to dependencies and interdependencies), which is created by thismethod, can facilitate not only the process of value creation at ecosystem level, butalso value capturing for all involved stakeholders

Perceptual measures of science parks:Tenant firms’ associations between science park attributes and benefits

Science parks as knowledge-intensive area developments aim to enhance networking, and innovative and economic performances of firms and regions. This paper seeks to explore the perceived benefits (i.e. types of performance indicators) that science park firms associate with specific science park attributes. Association data between twenty science park attributes with twelve benefits is collected through an online interview involving 51 firms on science parks in the Netherlands. Results show that both proximity and managerial attributes are associated with economic, innovation and networking benefits. Real estate attributes, on the other hand, are mainly linked to economic benefits. The role of science park management and their activities is acknowledged by tenants as important. They perceive it as beneficial for developing ties with other firms, while they are perceived to fulfil only an indirect role in enhancing innovation. The reasoning of science park firms provides academics, practitioners and policy-makers with valuable insight in what benefits firms might seek and which attributes are considered essential to acquire these perceived benefits

Perceptual measures of science parks: Tenant firms’ associations between science park attributes and benefits

Science parks as knowledge-intensive area developments aim to enhance networking, and innovative and economic performances of firms and regions. This paper seeks to explore the perceived benefits (i.e. types of performance indicators) that science park firms associate with specific science park attributes. Association data between twenty science park attributes with twelve benefits is collected through an online interview involving 51 firms on science parks in the Netherlands. Results show that both proximity and managerial attributes are associated with economic, innovation and networking benefits. Real estate attributes, on the other hand, are mainly linked to economic benefits. The role of science park management and their activities is acknowledged by tenants as important. They perceive it as beneficial for developing ties with other firms, while they are perceived to fulfil only an indirect role in enhancing innovation. The reasoning of science park firms provides academics, practitioners and policy-makers with valuable insight in what benefits firms might seek and which attributes are considered essential to acquire these perceived benefits

Living lab business model: towards a sustainable innovation ecosystem

Public living labs, as multi-stakeholder ecosystems, play a principal role in delivering “public value” by leveraging (open) innovation processes. However, a significant number of public living labs are not sustainable, in effect, they fail to create a viable innovation ecosystem. The problem is that presence of a holistic business model which effectively coordinates the efforts of all heterogenous stakeholders in the ecosystem and focuses on value creation at “ecosystem level” is missing. Drawing on field studies of three public living lab innovation ecosystems in the Netherlands, we could develop a holistic and multi-perspective business model in which “ecosystem” is considered as the reference point; including all heterogenous stakeholders, their interdependent activities and the links between them (BM structure). As such, we could introduce “collaborative portfolio management” combined with “challenge-based cocreation” as a method for effective coordination of heterogenous actors in the ecosystem. We also identified that “lock-in” (due to dependencies and interdependencies), which is created by this method, can facilitate not only the process of value creation at ecosystem level, but also value capturing for all involved stakeholders