The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Circular Business Models: Defining a Concept and Framing an Emerging Research Field

free-cell-phone-repair-2-990x500.jpg
Photo: Allgmstips.com

Study published in the peer-reviewed open access journal Sustainability.

Researcher Julia Nussholz at the IIIEE has published the study Circular Business Models: Defining a Concept and Framing an Emerging Research Field in the peer-reviewed open access journal Sustainability.

The study focuses on conceptualizing circular business models and clarifying its key strategies

To aid companies in transitioning towards circular economy and adopting strategies such as reuse, repair, and remanufacturing, the concept of circular business models has been developed. Despite its increasingly frequent use, understanding about what makes a business model circular is diverse, hampering the theoretical development and practical application of circular business models. The study helps to frame the field of circular business model research, by clarifying the fundamentals of the concept from the perspectives of resource efficiency and business model innovation. Some highlights of the piece are:

  • a review of how the concept is used in recent academic literature, which shows that a coherent view is lacking on which resource efficiency strategies classify a business model as circular;
  • clarification of which resource efficiency strategies can be deemed as relevant key strategies for circular business models
  • suggestion of a new definition of the circular business model concept.

With the definition grounded in analysis of the fundamentals in terms of resource efficiency and business models, the study contributes to theoretical advancement and effective implementation of circular business models.