Circular value creation architectures: Make, ally, buy, or laissez-faire

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Slowing and closing product and related material loops in a circular economy (CE) requires circular service operations such as take‐back, repair, and recycling. However, it remains open whether these are coordinated by OEMs, retailers, or third‐party loop operators (e.g., refurbishers). Literature rooted in the classic make‐or‐buy concept proposes four generic coordination mechanisms and related value creation architectures: vertical integration, network, outsourcing, or doing nothing (laissez‐faire). For each of these existing architectures, we conducted an embedded case study in the domain of smartphones with the aim to better understand how central coordinators align with actors in the value chain to offer voluntary circular service operations. Based on the above coordination mechanisms, our central contribution is the development of a typology of circular value creation architectures (CVCAs) and its elaboration regarding circular coordination, loop configuration, and ambition levels. We find that firms following slowing strategies (i.e., repair, reuse, and remanufacturing) pursue higher degrees of vertical integration than those following closing strategies (i.e., recycling) because of the specificity of the assets involved and their greater strategic relevance. The typology also shows that higher degrees of vertical integration enable higher degrees of loop closure (i.e., from open to closed loops) and better feedbacks into product design. Furthermore, we differentiate the understanding on third‐party actors by distinguishing between independent and autonomous loop operators. Overall, we strengthen the actor perspective in product circularity literature by clarifying the actor set, their interrelationships, and how they form value creation architectures.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftJournal of Industrial Ecology
Jahrgang24
Ausgabenummer6
Seiten (von - bis)1250-1273
Anzahl der Seiten24
ISSN1088-1980
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 12.2020

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
The contributions by the authors were partly funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the State of Lower Saxony as part of the project eCoInnovateIT (Project no. VWZN3037) as well as the Endowed Institute for Integrated Quality Design (IQD) at Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), Austria, which is co‐funded by Quality Austria ‐ Trainings, Zertifizierungs und Begutachtungs GmbH, the State of Upper Austria, and the JKU.

Funding Information:
informationThe contributions by the authors were partly funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the State of Lower Saxony as part of the project eCoInnovateIT (Project no. VWZN3037) as well as the Endowed Institute for Integrated Quality Design (IQD) at Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), Austria, which is co-funded by Quality Austria - Trainings, Zertifizierungs und Begutachtungs GmbH, the State of Upper Austria, and the JKU.The research activities underlying this paper stem from the Innovation Network aiming at Sustainable Smartphones (INaS) at the Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM). We thank Stefan Schaltegger for his support of and encouragement to pursue the presented work, Ursula Weber for her contributions in founding INaS, and Julia Zufall for her support of INaS activities. The authors express their gratitude to the interviewees and their organizations. Finally, we thank Reid Lifset, Charles Corbett, and four anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback to our paper. An early version of this research was published as working paper (Revellio & Hansen, 2017). The two authors were listed in alphabetic order because they contributed equally.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Industrial Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Yale University

    Fachgebiete

  • business model innovation, Circular economy, consumer electronics, corporate sustainability, parnterships, product design
  • Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaft

Dokumente

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Comparability of lcas — review and discussion of the application purpose
  2. Corrosion behavior and microstructure of a broad range of Mg-Sn-X alloys
  3. Dimension theory of linear solenoids
  4. The impact of supervisory board composition on CSR reporting
  5. Script and sound
  6. Emotions and multimedia learning
  7. Do overlapping audit and compensation committee memberships contribute to better financial reporting quality?
  8. Vibration analysis based on the spectrum kurtosis for adjustment and monitoring of ball bearing radial clearance
  9. Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Control for Differential Steering Systems in Vehicular Yaw Tracking Motion
  10. Number theoretical peculiarities in the dimension theory of dynamical systems
  11. The Lotka-Volterra Model for Competition Controlled by a Sliding Mode Approach
  12. Addendum to L. Lauwers and L. Van Liedekerke, “Ultraproducts and aggregation"
  13. Case Study
  14. Numerical investigation of laser beam-welded AA2198 joints under different artificial ageing conditions
  15. Evaluation von Unterrichtsstandards
  16. Random walks on infinite self-similar graphs
  17. Do We Really Know The Benefit Of Machine Learning In Production Planning And Control? A Systematic Review Of Industry Case Studies
  18. The Role of Zn on the Elevated Temperature Compression Behavior of Mg5Nd
  19. Do protected areas networks ensure the supply of ecosystem services? Spatial patterns of two nature reserve systems in semi-arid Spain
  20. The multipole resonance probe
  21. A new approach to semantic sustainability assessment
  22. Restricted nonlinear approximation
  23. Risk preferences under heterogeneous environmental risk
  24. Dynamics of Supply Chains Under Mixed Production Strategies
  25. Adaptive Lehrerinterventionen beim mathematischen Modellieren
  26. Feasibility of a worker-directed web-based intervention for employees with depressive symptoms
  27. A review of FEM code accuracy for reliable extrusion process analysis
  28. The IRENA Project Navigator
  29. Classifying railway stations for strategic transport and land use planning
  30. A general result on absolute continuity of non-uniform self-similar measures on the real line
  31. B7-H1 Selectively Controls TH17 Differentiation and Central Nervous System Autoimmunity via a Novel Non-PD-1-Mediated Pathway
  32. Similar factors underlie tree abundance in forests in native and alien ranges
  33. Propagation of particles injected from interplanetary shocks
  34. Bifurcation loads of circular curved beams of glued-laminated timber with continuous lateral support
  35. MICSIM-4J - A General Microsimulation Model
  36. Analysis of observability of a differential equation system describing a synchronous electromagnetic drive
  37. Associations between the financial and industry expertise of audit committee members and Key Audit Matters within related audit reports
  38. Microstructure and hardness evolution of laser metal deposited AA5087 wall-structures
  39. The multi-criteria effectiveness evaluation of the robotic group based on 3D real-time vision system
  40. The ESBW Short Scale A Test for Assessing Teachers’ Standards-Based Educational Knowledge
  41. Intra-specific leaf trait responses to species richness at two different local scales
  42. Traits of butterfly communities change from specialist to generalist characteristics with increasing land-use intensity
  43. Abnormal extrusion texture and reversed yield asymmetry in a Mg–Y-Sm-Zn-Zr alloy
  44. Microstructure and creep properties of MEZ magnesium alloy processed by thixocasting
  45. Efficient Classification of Images with Taxonomies
  46. Anisotropic wavelet bases and thresholding