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Unravelling the design process of business models from linear to circular: An empirical investigation
Author(s) -
Franzò Simone,
Urbinati Andrea,
Chiaroni Davide,
Chiesa Vittorio
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
business strategy and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.123
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1099-0836
pISSN - 0964-4733
DOI - 10.1002/bse.2892
Subject(s) - circular economy , commercialization , business model , new product development , process (computing) , marketing , product (mathematics) , value (mathematics) , business case , business , process management , industrial organization , computer science , mathematics , ecology , geometry , machine learning , biology , operating system
In the last years, circular economy has represented one of the most‐debated topics in management research. Although the understanding of this industrial paradigm has significantly improved over the last decade, a number of important research questions still remain unanswered. Among them, the design process of business model through which established firms evolve from being linear to circular deserves further investigation. Existing research still falls short to investigate how companies design the dimensions of value creation, value transfer, and value capture of their business models to launch circular products into the market. By leveraging a multiple case study analysis of four companies in the paper and beverage industries that have launched six circular products, the paper examines the process that these companies have followed to face the transition toward a circular business model. The paper contributes to the research field in the intersection between new product development and circular business models, by showing that the process toward a circular business model occurs along three major phases, that is, idea generation, product development, and commercialization. In each phase, companies implement peculiar managerial practices for launching circular products into the market, which typically address all the dimensions of the business model and follows a recurrent path over time.