Open Access Journals at Aalborg University
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Lean Startup Supporting Sustainability-as-Flourishing during the Early Stages of Enterprise Development
Get PDFPurpose: Many startups face the complex anticipation of offering value sustainably over the long term yet must test market engagement to evaluate an economically viable business model in the near term. This study aims to capture the usefulness of a business model innovation method (Flourishing Startup Method) aligned with sustainability-as-flourishing thinking as perceived by entrepreneurs during the early stages of enterprise development.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Through action research, the utility of the approach was evaluated through multiple applications across two events with a total of 64 entrepreneurs taking place 2017-2018.
Findings: The research revealed insights related to the reaction to the Flourishing Startup Method and its facilitation including the intention to use beyond the events, their perceived learning utility, as well as the overall perceived utility in terms of usefulness and ease of use. The study also showed that to fully leverage the Flourishing Startup Method, entrepreneurs must have time and facilitated opportunities to develop a minimum level of proficiency in a set of entrepreneurial competencies that support business model for sustainability-as-flourishing.
Originality/Value: This research contributes to understanding the process of business model innovation towards novel and impactful business models aligned with sustainability-as-flourishing and offers one of few empirical investigations on a business model innovation method aligned with sustainability-as-flourishing to identify its utility and fit with the needs and expectations during the early stages of startup development
The Eros and Thanatos Entwined: Somaesthetic Explorations in Kunqu Dance
No full textThis paper investigates somaesthetic principles in Kunqu opera, particularly through the classical work The Peony Pavilion, focusing on how dance movements convey the interplay of Eros and Thanatos. It delves into the spiritual influence of emotional commitment on Kunqu’s integrated system of poetry, music, and dance, and considers how traditional Chinese aesthetics may shape the mind-body relationship. This exploration seeks to contribute to the discourse on somaesthetics by suggesting that Kunqu dance offers nuanced insights into existential themes, thereby enriching our understanding of life and death within the arts. 
Unpacking gender issues through contemporary serial drama: High school pedagogical approaches to gender and media literacy
Get PDFThis contribution explores the pedagogical potential of using one scene from one serial drama to teach gender issues in a high school context. The contribution is a text-based argument with an overall media literacy approach to teaching gender issues. As pedagogical examples, we present two different series – Euphoria (HBO 2019-) and Rita (TV2/Netflix 2012-20) – through two individual video excerpts from the series. These scenes have been carefully selected to highlight how specific gender issues may be scrutinised from just one brief sequence. The scene from Euphoria provides an opportunity to analyse toxic masculinity, while the scene from Rita presents a perspective that we identify as banal gender bending. In conclusion, we highlight how this approach not only provides high school teachers with an opportune way to locate usable excerpts as teaching material; this specific approach also provides an occasion for teachers to turn the classroom around and facilitate students’ own search for usable excerpts in and creative appropriation of serial drama
Mobile Fixer Studio: How to repair one item at a time on campus
Get PDFThe belongings at the Arizona State University (ASU) residence halls often have a short lifespan. At the end of each year, dumpsters around campus fill up with discarded personal items, many of which are still in good condition. Despite the efforts of ASU's Zero Waste Initiative to mitigate this issue, the systematic barriers of municipal infrastructure in waste sorting and recycling significantly limit progress. In addition, students often face challenges with practical repair skills, limited resources, and perceived obsolescence. Initial research conducted by the PI of this study through campus-based repair workshops supported the concept of prioritizing repair and offered a potential change of course for personal belongings. This paper explores the conceptualization and implementation of a mobile repair station based on the university's campus through a collaborative case study on the accessibility of repair tools and education on repair techniques. The convergence of campus-based repair initiatives, with the accessibility of a mobile repair station, seeks to cultivate a culture of conscientious consumption amongst the campus community
Exploring take-back recovery strategies in the Circular Economy: A Multiple Case Study Analysis
Get PDFThe take-back of end-of-use products has gained increasing importance with the growing focus on the circular economy. However, not all take-back strategies have been thoroughly explored and understood in relation to consumer engagement. This study examines the role of take-back recovery approaches and strategies in the circular economy, integrating a product design and service lens to address consumer return practices. The research identifies four distinct opportunities under the take-back umbrella: Direct Reuse, Ease of Disassembly, Final Recovery, and Safe Disposal. For each opportunity, potential sub-opportunities are identified and expanded upon. Through a multiple case study analysis, these sub-opportunities are further developed using a "Design for X" approach to form nine distinct take-back strategies. This research emphasizes that the appropriateness of a take-back strategy depends on various factors, such as consumer behavior and context, industry specifics, and material flows. The study highlights the critical role of take-back systems and returns behavior in promoting circular product development and consumption
Extending the Lifespan of Garments Globally through Local Upcycling: A Mixed-Methods Approach
Get PDFExtending the lifespan of garments is considered a solution to counteract a culture that views them as disposable objects. However, how this is to be done in practice remains unclear. Using a multimethod approach, this study aims to investigate how garments can adapt to their local environment(s) and user(s) so that they can go through different life cycles. To this end, the authors combined data from semi-structured interviews conducted in five different countries and enriched them through triangulation with available literature. We discovered that the durability of garments is dynamic in nature, and that upcycling is a method to extend their lifespans. Furthermore, how the materials of the garment are perceived locally, influences if it is considered eligible for upcycling. As local conditions have not been considered in the definition of the concept so far, we have defined local upcycling as: a process in which materials and garments that are considered worth discarding in their current state are transformed into a product of higher value that is suitable for the local environment, eliminating the need for a new product. Although the lack of field research at the organizational level is a limitation of this study, the authors view this as a potential avenue for future research
Redesigning single use to reuse: Identifying opportunities for surgical instrument sets
Get PDFHospitals have a significant impact on the environment due to their size, energy-intensive processes, consumption of resources and waste generation. A trend of increased reusable products usage and so re-sterilized products is becoming visible. Nevertheless, reusable products have to compete with the added values of single use regarding convenience, effort and costs. Although the concept of reusable sterile surgical instrument sets seems valuable to reduce resource consumption compared to single-use instruments, their use is threatened by multiple inefficiencies. This case study aims to understand why the sterile sets usage is not optimal, what the consequences are for the various departments, what journey they take within the hospital, and how communication occurs regarding these sets. Observations and in-depth interviews were conducted in operation rooms, central sterilization department and the healthcare logistics department of a large sized university hospital. This led to a roadmap of the sterile surgical instrument sets within the hospital through each department involved. Using the roadmap, several critical points are discussed to design optimal reuse contexts in hospitals. In sum, we found that sets are often incomplete due to (i) a lack of turnover time for checking completeness, (ii) difficulty of recognizing specific instruments based on their name, (iii) lack of a good communication system to communicate incompleteness. Additional unwanted waste is created due to (iv) extra sets that are opened as a precaution for missing instruments, (v) unused instruments are thrown away or re-sterilized, (vi) broken sterility due to storage problems, which requires repackaging and re-sterilization
Leveraging social norms for sustainable behaviour: How the exposure to static-and-dynamic-norm communications encourage sustainable behaviour towards reduction of fashion consumption.
Get PDFCommunication channels from social media to newspapers abound with examples where static norms, reflecting established behaviours (e.g., eating meat, drinking alcohol at parties) are combined with dynamic norms, illustrating emerging societal trends (e.g., adopting more plant-based diets, attending alcohol-free events). Despite widespread exposure to these combined static-and-dynamic-norm communications, their impact on consumer behaviour remains unexplored. Through two lab experiments, this research investigates how static-and-dynamic-norm communications influence sustainable behaviour towards a reduction of fast fashion consumption. Our findings show that consumers exposed to the combination of unsustainable static and unsustainable dynamic norm purchased significantly fewer fashion items compared to other experimental conditions. This effect is driven by social moral cleansing, as consumers, confronted with widespread unsustainable behaviour of others, felt a highlighted motivation to clean and compensate for the normalized bad behaviour of others by behaving more sustainably in return. This research advances the understanding of social normative influences on sustainable consumption and offers valuable insights for researchers, designers and policy makers. By identifying an effective social norm communication to encourage consumption reduction, it lays the groundwork for future research and policy initiatives aimed at promoting sufficiency in the context of sustainable behavioural change. 
