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

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