Circular Economy Business Model Innovation Process - Case Study

The concept of the Circular Economy has recently caught the attention of academia as well and businesses and decision makers offering an attractive solution for an environmentally sustainable economic growth. Companies need to consider how to close material loops, reduce the resources needed and think more about how materials and products are kept in the loop as long as possible. In order to do that, companies need to find new collaboration partners and reconsider the value offered for stakeholders. To solve that, we need new or modified innovation tools and processes to guide businesses in their innovation journey resulting in novel business models in a circular economy. Thus, the aim of this study is to increase our understanding of the circular business model innovation process. Our main focus is to explore what kind of mixed methods create value in circular business model innovation and what kind of challenges there are related to each method and how is it possible to overcome those challenges. The paper highlights the importance of involving different perspectives, stakeholders and using mixed methods during the innovation process.