“3G” Business Model for Marketing 4.0: Implications for Circular Economy

During the last decades the world is in a permanent flux due to the rapid development of ICT. Marketing practice is changing with the same pace while marketing academia is still lagging behind. Digital technologies are being integrated with marketing activities continuously or disruptively to reach Marketing 4.0, a new generation of marketing approaches, methods, tools, and practices (Jara et al., 2012). In this paper, the author argues that technologies will transform marketing organization and reshape market space, and companies should acknowledge that they have to transform their business models to ensure a sustainable market leadership position. During the last few years digitization and sustainability are closely related with the principles of circular economy. It is considered that digitization is changing business models by removing cost and waste and by stepping up the company’s development. The aim of this paper is to explore how organizations can transformed successfully their business models to fit to the requirements both of digitization and circular economy. Following the literature review a conceptual model of “3G” business model is proposed. It integrates contemporary marketing practice and digital transformation of value creation. Comparative research on the attitudes toward circular economy and its benefits in six European countries is accomplished. Based on the results from the study several implications for the implementation of “3G” business model according to principles of circular economy are drawn.