IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i7p2415-d157359.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Product Design in Creating Circular Business Models: A Case Study on the Lease and Refurbishment of Baby Strollers

Author

Listed:
  • Deborah Sumter

    (Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Conny Bakker

    (Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Ruud Balkenende

    (Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands)

Abstract

In the transition to a circular economy companies are exploring new business models, implying a shift from selling products to offering products in circular business models, such as leasing. Product design is thought to play a crucial role in enabling this. Having a robust overview of relevant design roles and competencies is of foundational importance for the development of circular design tools and methods, and for the development of circular economy-based design curricula in higher education. However, how the role of design and the competencies required by designers need to change has hardly been investigated. Building on insights from literature regarding competencies of designers required to consider sustainability, sustainable design, and circular design, we developed a framework in which these competencies are related to the functional, coordinating, and strategic roles that have been recognized within the literature for designers. To complement the results from the literature with insights from practice, a single longitudinal in-depth case study was carried out describing a lease and refurbishment pilot conducted by a Dutch design-driven manufacturer of baby strollers. This case study allowed verification of the literature regarding the functional and coordinating roles of the designer. In addition, we were able to fill the gap observed in the literature regarding the strategic role product designers can assume when designing offers for circular business models. The competencies that we found are (1) the ability to concurrently develop the circular business model and the product’s design and (2) the ability to anticipate how the circular offering will evolve over multiple lifecycles. These findings have been used to expand the framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Deborah Sumter & Conny Bakker & Ruud Balkenende, 2018. "The Role of Product Design in Creating Circular Business Models: A Case Study on the Lease and Refurbishment of Baby Strollers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2415-:d:157359
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2415/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2415/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Phil Brown & Nancy Bocken & Ruud Balkenende, 2019. "Why Do Companies Pursue Collaborative Circular Oriented Innovation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Rocío González-Sánchez & Davide Settembre-Blundo & Anna Maria Ferrari & Fernando E. García-Muiña, 2020. "Main Dimensions in the Building of the Circular Supply Chain: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Damien Evrard & Helmi Ben Rejeb & Peggy Zwolinski & Daniel Brissaud, 2021. "Designing Immortal Products: A Lifecycle Scenario-Based Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Ingvild Reine Assmann & Francesco Rosati & Sandra Naomi Morioka, 2023. "Determinants of circular business model adoption—A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 6008-6028, December.
    5. Deborah Sumter & Jotte de Koning & Conny Bakker & Ruud Balkenende, 2020. "Circular Economy Competencies for Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-16, February.
    6. Marcos Ferasso & Tatiana Beliaeva & Sascha Kraus & Thomas Clauss & Domingo Ribeiro‐Soriano, 2020. "Circular economy business models: The state of research and avenues ahead," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3006-3024, December.
    7. Ruth Mugge, 2018. "Product Design and Consumer Behaviour in a Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-4, October.
    8. Alessio Franconi & Fabrizio Ceschin & David Peck, 2022. "Structuring Circular Objectives and Design Strategies for the Circular Economy: A Multi-Hierarchical Theoretical Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-26, July.
    9. Deborah Sumter & Jotte de Koning & Conny Bakker & Ruud Balkenende, 2021. "Key Competencies for Design in a Circular Economy: Exploring Gaps in Design Knowledge and Skills for a Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Daniel Borg & Oksana Mont & Heather Schoonover, 2020. "Consumer Acceptance and Value in Use-Oriented Product-Service Systems: Lessons from Swedish Consumer Goods Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-19, September.
    11. Maria Rosa De Giacomo & Raimund Bleischwitz, 2020. "Business models for environmental sustainability: Contemporary shortcomings and some perspectives," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3352-3369, December.
    12. Suphichaya Suppipat & Kulthida Teachavorasinskun & Allen H. Hu, 2021. "Challenges of Applying Simplified LCA Tools in Sustainable Design Pedagogy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohajan, Haradhan, 2021. "Cradle to Cradle is a Sustainable Economic Policy for the Better Future," MPRA Paper 111334, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Oct 2021.
    2. Bruno Michel Roman Pais Seles & Janaina Mascarenhas & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Adriana Hoffman Trevisan, 2022. "Smoothing the circular economy transition: The role of resources and capabilities enablers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1814-1837, May.
    3. Davide Bruno & Marinella Ferrara & Felice D’Alessandro & Alberto Mandelli, 2022. "The Role of Design in the CE Transition of the Furniture Industry—The Case of the Italian Company Cassina," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Monia Niero & Charlotte L. Jensen & Chiara Farné Fratini & Jens Dorland & Michael S. Jørgensen & Susse Georg, 2021. "Is life cycle assessment enough to address unintended side effects from Circular Economy initiatives?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1111-1120, October.
    5. Francesca Gennari, 2023. "The transition towards a circular economy. A framework for SMEs," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(4), pages 1423-1457, December.
    6. Jaroslaw Golebiewski & Josu Takala & Oskar Juszczyk & Nina Drejerska, 2019. "Local contribution to circular economy. A case study of a Polish rural municipality," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 21(3), pages 771-791.
    7. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    8. D. D’Amato, 2021. "Sustainability Narratives as Transformative Solution Pathways: Zooming in on the Circular Economy," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    9. Łukasz Brzeziński & Adam Kolinski, 2024. "Challenges of the Green Transformation of Transport in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-34, April.
    10. Nikos Chatzistamoulou & Phoebe Koundouri, 2020. "The Economics of Sustainable Development," DEOS Working Papers 2005, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    11. Halkos, George & Managi, Shunsuke, 2023. "New developments in the disciplines of environmental and resource economics," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 513-522.
    12. Yu Hao & Yingting Wang & Qiuwei Wu & Shiwei Sun & Weilu Wang & Menglin Cui, 2020. "What affects residents' participation in the circular economy for sustainable development? Evidence from China," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1251-1268, September.
    13. Jose García‐Quevedo & Elisenda Jové‐Llopis & Ester Martínez‐Ros, 2020. "Barriers to the circular economy in European small and medium‐sized firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2450-2464, September.
    14. Kirchherr, Julian & Piscicelli, Laura & Bour, Ruben & Kostense-Smit, Erica & Muller, Jennifer & Huibrechtse-Truijens, Anne & Hekkert, Marko, 2018. "Barriers to the Circular Economy: Evidence From the European Union (EU)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 264-272.
    15. Nuri Cihan Kayaçetin & Chiara Piccardo & Alexis Versele, 2022. "Social Impact Assessment of Circular Construction: Case of Living Lab Ghent," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    16. Anca C. Farcas & Charis M. Galanakis & Carmen Socaciu & Oana L. Pop & Dorin Tibulca & Adriana Paucean & Mirela A. Jimborean & Melinda Fogarasi & Liana C. Salanta & Maria Tofana & Sonia A. Socaci, 2020. "Food Security during the Pandemic and the Importance of the Bioeconomy in the New Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Graziela Darla Araujo Galvão & Steve Evans & Paulo Sergio Scoleze Ferrer & Marly Monteiro de Carvalho, 2022. "Circular business model: Breaking down barriers towards sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1504-1524, May.
    18. Arezoo Ghazanfari, 2023. "An Analysis of Circular Economy Literature at the Macro Level, with a Particular Focus on Energy Markets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-24, February.
    19. Magdalena Rusch & Josef‐Peter Schöggl & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2023. "Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1159-1174, March.
    20. Claudia Marcela Betancourt Morales & Jhon Wilder Zartha Sossa, 2020. "Circular economy in Latin America: A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2479-2497, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2415-:d:157359. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.