Circular economy inspired imaginaries for sustainable innovations

In this chapter, Narayan and Tidström draw on the concept of imaginaries to show how Circular Economy (CE) can facilitate values that enable sustainable innovation. Innovation is key for sustainability, however, understanding and implementing sustainable innovation is challenging, and identifying the kind of actions that could direct sustainable innovations is important. The findings of this study indicate that CE-inspired imaginaries enable collaboration and by relating such imaginaries to common and shared social and cultural values, intermediaries could motivate actors into taking actions that contribute to sustainable innovation.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Unsustainable business models-Recognising and resolving institutionalised social and environmental harm

Academic and business interest in sustainable business models (SBMs) as a potential solution to pressing global sustainability issues has grown significantly over the past decade. Yet, to date sectoral progress on business model innovation has been insufficient to address much of the social and environmental harm caused by, or facilitated by industry, and progress against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been disappointing. This study investigates the following research question: What are the dominant “unsustainable business model” types per sector that institutionalise social and environmental harm, and hold back progress on the SDGs, and what are the potential sustainable business model responses? This paper first investigates the dominant unsustainable business model types and potential sustainable business model solutions per key sector. Based on this analysis, a comprehensive overview of nine dominant unsustainable business model (UBM) archetypes and potential sustainable business responses are developed. The UBM archetypes are: 1) Environmental resource exploitation and waste; 2) Human resource exploitation and waste; 3) Economic exploitation; 4) Unhealthy or unsustainable offering; 5) Quantity over quality and value; 6) Addictive consumption pattern; 7) Complex opaque global value chain; 8) Short-term shareholder – not stakeholder value and 9) Financing and supporting unsustainable practices. Furthermore, a hierarchy of sustainable business model responses is introduced, showing the need for business to develop multiple initiatives, and a recognition that the focus for SBM innovation should be to some extent sector specific. Finally, directions for future research to transform dominant unsustainable business models are provided

Circular business models for the fastmoving consumer goods industry:Desirability, feasibility, and viability

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are products that have a short useful lifetime and are typically designed for single or limited uses followed by disposal. The disposable nature of FMCGs combined with ineffective waste recovery systems is causing global environmental problems. Various reusable packaging business models have emerged to tackle these problems; however, their influence is still low in practice. Testing the feasibility, desirability, and viability of innovative circular business models enables their implementation and scaling. In this context, this study explores the success factors, drivers, and barriers of an FMCGs reuse business model. The case company is an internationally scaling company pursuing a potentially disruptive circular business model. A mixed methods approach is used, involving semi-structured interviews with innovators on two variations of the FMCG reuse business model (in-store and e-commerce) followed by a consumer survey in the city of Berlin to test perceptions of these business models. Five success factors were identified: brand and retailer partnerships, consumer participation, operations efficiency, business model profitability, and the establishment of an ecosystem. The main driver for consumers to participate in the circular business model is the potential positive environmental impact, although there were concerns about added environmental impact related to logistics in the e-commerce model. In addition, convenience and accessibility of the reuse model are important for consumers. Costs are identified as a predominant barrier for companies to engage in reusability. Based on the research findings, recommendations for expanding FMCG reuse business models are developed

Creating sustainable value through remanufacturing : Three industry cases

Remanufacturing is proposed as a strategy to develop circular business models to manage resource loops in the future circular economy (CE). If remanufacturing is to occupy a central role in the CE it needs to be considered from a series of complementary and synchronous business activities. Thus, the aim of this article is to investigate how such an integrated perspective can drive sustainable value creation within the context of remanufacturing business models. This is explored through three business cases: Philips Healthcare Refurbished Systems, Siemens Wind Power, and Orangebox. This ‘integrated view’ considers remanufacturing activities according to: product design and development; remanufacturing processes; value chain design and management; and marketing and consumer/user relationship. The research question asks, ‘Can an integrated perspective drive sustainable value creation in remanufacturing contexts?’ To answer this, the research maps a set of triple-bottom-line indicators across the chosen cases. The work contributes to the field by mapping a set of business mechanisms (e.g. warranties, service approaches, partnerships) that can be utilised to co-develop necessary activities in unison for a successful remanufacturing approach. In certain cases, remanufacturing has the potential to add to the triple-bottom-line through such an integrated approach. However, each of the firms are investing in remanufacturing predominantly for profitability and market protection measures and therefore environmental and social components of the triple-bottom-line must be proactively considered

The Business Model in Sustainability Transitions:A Conceptualization

Business models direct a firm’s activity to move in coherence with the objectives of the business. Current literature suggests business models can act as vital forces to facilitate sustain-ability transitions and highlights the urgent research call to understand the role of business model innovations in stimulating sustainability transitions. This paper addresses this research need by investigating how firms create business model innovations for system-level transformation towards sustainability. Through a systematic literature review and deductive content analysis methodology, we identify and categorize different combinations of innovative activities in a firm’s business model. Furthermore, two cases are illustrated to demonstrate the proposed conceptual model. The proposed conceptualization bridges a significant gap in the theme of sustainability and business and presents a defensible and researchable problem for transitions literature. Specifically, we find (1) shared vision and strategic dialogues among firms in different sectors as essential to develop value propositions and leverage business opportunities for sustainability in the long run; (2) companies ensure sustainable value creation and value delivery in the medium term through creation of an interdependent network of the green supply chain and collaboration with stakeholders; (3) in the short term, companies adopt sustainable practices, controlling daily operations, conducting awareness campaigns and experimenting with collaborations to deliver values based on sustainable practices

The Business Model in Sustainability Transitions: A Conceptualization

Business models direct a firm’s activity to move in coherence with the objectives of the business. Current literature suggests business models can act as vital forces to facilitate sustainability transitions and highlights the urgent research call to understand the role of business model innovations in stimulating sustainability transitions. This paper addresses this research need by investigating how firms create business model innovations for system-level transformation towards sustainability. Through a systematic literature review and deductive content analysis methodology, we identify and categorize different combinations of innovative activities in a firm’s business model. Furthermore, two cases are illustrated to demonstrate the proposed conceptual model. The proposed conceptualization bridges a significant gap in the theme of sustainability and business and presents a defensible and researchable problem for transitions literature. Specifically, we find (1) shared vision and strategic dialogues among firms in different sectors as essential to develop value propositions and leverage business opportunities for sustainability in the long run; (2) companies ensure sustainable value creation and value delivery in the medium term through creation of an interdependent network of the green supply chain and collaboration with stakeholders; (3) in the short term, companies adopt sustainable practices, controlling daily operations, conducting awareness campaigns and experimenting with collaborations to deliver values based on sustainable practices

Business model experimentation for circularity: driving sustainability in a large international clothing retailer

Business model experimentation for sustainability is an intentional and systematic approach to identify, test and learn about value creation strategies that could be adopted by a business in response to current unsustainable trajectories. For businesses such as large clothing retailers the need to alter course is acute as pressure builds from economic, environmental and social angles. The circular economy concept provides a potential powerful lever for change. To date, however, scant research has been conducted on how circular business model experimentation is conducted. We present an in-depth action research case study of a large international clothing retailer embarking on a journey of business model experimentation for circularity: the processes, methods, roles and the organisation in light of the need to address broad sustainability challenges in the business. It was found that experimentation activities oscillated between slow and loaded, and faster and un-weighted modes. While an intentional and stepwise process was sought, in reality it was largely emergent and highly iterative. Through this iterative process, new circular business models were generated that co-exist with current non-circular ones. Confidence in experimentation as a business capability also increased through this collaborative project. This study provides insights into how to conduct lean startup type business model experimentation for circularity in a large organisation. For practitioners, the benefits of academic-industry collaboration, and the oscillating dynamics of business model experimentation are illuminated