Managing Circular Business Model Uncertainties with Future Adaptive Design

Thomas Nyström, Katherine A. Whalen, Derek Diener, Marcel den Hollander and Robert H. W. Boyer
Additional contact information
Thomas Nyström: Sustainable Business Unit, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Lindholmspiren 3A, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden
Katherine A. Whalen: Sustainable Business Unit, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Lindholmspiren 3A, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden
Derek Diener: Sustainable Business Unit, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Lindholmspiren 3A, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden
Marcel den Hollander: Marcel den Hollander Circular Design Consulting and Research, 2264 KP Leidschendam, The Netherlands
Robert H. W. Boyer: Sustainable Business Unit, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Lindholmspiren 3A, 417 56 Gothenburg, Sweden

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-18

Abstract: Designing products that can adapt to changes over time is crucial for managing product-related business risks in circular business models. However, there is limited circular economy research on how product adaptivity can contribute to more circular products and business models, especially in the early phases of business development and design. To address this research gap, this conceptual paper builds on the adaptable design concept and incorporates ideas from research on circular business models and circular design literature. It proposes a framework we collectively term “Future Adaptive Design” to help manage product-related business risks in circular business models and investigates related design strategies for product-based companies aiming to adopt circular business models.

Keywords: circular economy; product life extension; circular business model innovation; circular product design; product obsolescence; business strategy; adaptability framework (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10361/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10361/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10361-:d:636918

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().