TY - JOUR
T1 - Do circular economy business models capture intended environmental value propositions?
AU - Manninen, Kaisa
AU - Koskela, Sirkka
AU - Antikainen, Riina
AU - Bocken, Nancy
AU - Dahlbo, Helena
AU - Aminoff, Anna
N1 - Accepted author manuscript
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - The circular economy (CE) can be a driver for sustainability and CE can be promoted and supported by the creation of new and innovative business models, which embed CE principles into their value propositions throughout the value chains. This study focuses on the environmental value propositions of the CE business models. The term environmental value proposition refers here to an absolute value being a promise of environmental improvement, which a company provides to the environment by its impacts throughout the whole value chain. The aim of this study is to outline a framework for evaluating the environmental value propositions of CE business models. The framework consists of an environmental value propositions table (EVPT) and a step-by-step approach towards an evaluation process. The framework was tested in three CE business model cases. The outlined framework enables a better understanding of circular economy principles, combining them with the environmental value proposition. With the framework, companies can plan and design new CE business models or they can verify intended environmental benefits and analyse their contribution to sustainability. The biggest challenges, when applying the framework, were related to the estimation of environmental benefits gained from the environmental value propositions at the system level. In the future, intensive scientific work should concentrate on developing environmental assessment methods specifically for companies developing new CE business models.
AB - The circular economy (CE) can be a driver for sustainability and CE can be promoted and supported by the creation of new and innovative business models, which embed CE principles into their value propositions throughout the value chains. This study focuses on the environmental value propositions of the CE business models. The term environmental value proposition refers here to an absolute value being a promise of environmental improvement, which a company provides to the environment by its impacts throughout the whole value chain. The aim of this study is to outline a framework for evaluating the environmental value propositions of CE business models. The framework consists of an environmental value propositions table (EVPT) and a step-by-step approach towards an evaluation process. The framework was tested in three CE business model cases. The outlined framework enables a better understanding of circular economy principles, combining them with the environmental value proposition. With the framework, companies can plan and design new CE business models or they can verify intended environmental benefits and analyse their contribution to sustainability. The biggest challenges, when applying the framework, were related to the estimation of environmental benefits gained from the environmental value propositions at the system level. In the future, intensive scientific work should concentrate on developing environmental assessment methods specifically for companies developing new CE business models.
KW - Circular economy
KW - Business model
KW - Environmental impact
KW - Value creation
KW - Environmental value proposition
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d777eb8e-3061-4a3d-8ba9-58f5a0ab8115
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.003
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 171
SP - 413
EP - 422
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
ER -