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

Nußholz, Julia L.K. LU (2017) In Sustainability 9(10).
Abstract
To aid companies in transitioning towards a circular economy and adopting strategies such as reuse, repair, and remanufacturing, the concept of circular business models has been developed. Although the concept draws on contributions from various academic disciplines, and despite its increasingly frequent use, few scholars clearly define what a circular business model is. Understanding about what makes a business model circular is diverse, hampering the theoretical development and practical application of circular business models. This study aims to help 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. Expanding on... (More)
To aid companies in transitioning towards a circular economy and adopting strategies such as reuse, repair, and remanufacturing, the concept of circular business models has been developed. Although the concept draws on contributions from various academic disciplines, and despite its increasingly frequent use, few scholars clearly define what a circular business model is. Understanding about what makes a business model circular is diverse, hampering the theoretical development and practical application of circular business models. This study aims to help 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. Expanding on these findings, a review of how the concept is used in recent academic literature is provided. It shows that a coherent view is lacking on which resource efficiency strategies classify a business model as circular. This study clarifies which resource efficiency strategies can be deemed as relevant key strategies for circular business models, and suggests a new definition of the 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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
circular economy, product life cycle, resource efficiency, circular business models;, business model innovation;, product life extension
in
Sustainability
volume
9
issue
10
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85031029649
  • wos:000414896200140
ISSN
2071-1050
DOI
10.3390/su9101810
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
72d0a0b3-f416-453f-95eb-8f0777cd814c
date added to LUP
2017-10-11 11:27:01
date last changed
2022-04-25 02:53:39
@article{72d0a0b3-f416-453f-95eb-8f0777cd814c,
  abstract     = {{To aid companies in transitioning towards a circular economy and adopting strategies such as reuse, repair, and remanufacturing, the concept of circular business models has been developed. Although the concept draws on contributions from various academic disciplines, and despite its increasingly frequent use, few scholars clearly define what a circular business model is. Understanding about what makes a business model circular is diverse, hampering the theoretical development and practical application of circular business models. This study aims to help 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. Expanding on these findings, a review of how the concept is used in recent academic literature is provided. It shows that a coherent view is lacking on which resource efficiency strategies classify a business model as circular. This study clarifies which resource efficiency strategies can be deemed as relevant key strategies for circular business models, and suggests a new definition of the 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.}},
  author       = {{Nußholz, Julia L.K.}},
  issn         = {{2071-1050}},
  keywords     = {{circular economy; product life cycle; resource efficiency; circular business models;; business model innovation;; product life extension}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Sustainability}},
  title        = {{Circular Business Models : Defining a Concept and Framing an Emerging Research Field}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su9101810}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/su9101810}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}