1,721,027 research outputs found
Prioritizing Circular Economy actions for the decarbonization of manufacturing companies: the C-Readiness tool
Full text linkClimate change is pushing manufacturing companies to adopt sustainable solutions for reducing their carbon emissions. Circular Economy emerged as a suitable strategy for the decarbonization of industrial organizations, offering the potential to decouple economic growth from natural resource extraction and waste generation. However, achieving circularity requires significant transformation in several areas, and some Circular Economy actions may be more effective than others in reducing carbon emissions, depending on the product and company carbon footprint structure. Facing low awareness and limited resources, manufacturing companies frequently fail in understanding where to start in approaching such a systemic transition. Despite these challenges, the literature overlooks the linkages between Circular Economy initiatives and their potential for reducing carbon emissions, and in particular how Circular Economy actions can be prioritized for decarbonization purposes. To fill these gaps, this paper develops an original and systemic tool (C-Readiness) for assessing the readiness of manufacturing companies for the Circular Economy, and for prioritizing Circular Economy actions for decarbonization. The tool is developed based on a literature review and critical comparison of existing tools for assessing circularity readiness at the micro level. The tool has been applied to four manufacturing companies, to showcase its potential in designing Circular Economy-based decarbonization paths. This paper contributes to the literature on strategic Circular Economy implementation in manufacturing companies by integrating circularity readiness evaluations with quantitative carbon footprint assessments. It provides a structured approach and a simple yet effective tool to help industrial organizations reduce their environmental impact through Circular Economy practices
Aligning product-service systems with environmental sustainability: Investigating the key role of revenue and pricing mechanisms
No full textProduct-Service Systems (PSS) have a potential to increase environmental sustainability, e.g. by extending product lifespan through multiple usage cycles or enhancing resource efficiency during the usage phase. However, the actual achievement of environmental benefits through PSS has been questioned, due to contradictions between business and sustainability logics. This paper advocates a stronger alignment between PSS and environmental sustainability, through the role of revenue models and pricing mechanisms, in order to move beyond environmental gains as mere "additional effects" of PSS. Based on a conceptual elaboration of the literature, the paper develops morphological boxes to link revenue and pricing mechanisms with environmental value drivers of different PSS types. It shows how diverse revenue and pricing mechanisms may misalign with environmental value drivers and suggests alignment criteria. It also explores innovative “pay-per-emission” revenue models and "emission-based" pricing mechanisms to achieve such an alignment. The proposed framework, presented as a morphological toolkit, includes a process model for practitioners and policymakers to assess the alignment of current and new PSS offerings with environmental drivers
Everything-as-a-Service in manufacturing: a literature analysis and a definition
No full textCurrently, several companies are progressively transitioning from an offering focused on products to providing services and solutions, a phenomenon known as servitization. Manufacturers address this transformation in order to face competition, meet the growing demand for a more flexible offering, minimize capital expenditure, and exploit the opportunities offered by digitalization. Thus, new business models which a focus on selling the usage or outcome of a product rather than the product itself are increasingly receiving attention, as they can give companies the possibility to establish long-term partnerships with customers by providing solutions on a continuous basis in return for recurring payments. In recent years, this approach has become popular, particularly in the management community, with the term "Everything-as-a-service" (XaaS). The concept of XaaS has its origin in the information technology domain but, given the context described above, its application is becoming today more and more relevant for manufacturing companies. Various declinations of the XaaS concept in manufacturing have emerged, generally linked to the sales object and the application sector (e.g. Equipment-as-a-service, Consumable-as service, Heat-as-a-Service, ...). Moreover, the literature on this topic appears very fragmented and scattered across several similar and well-established research domains, such as servitization, integrated solutions, and product-service systems. Thus, a clear and agreed definition of the term is still lacking today and the boundaries of application are also unclear. In order to fill these gaps, this paper provides a structured analysis of the literature, in order to: i) define the current state of art, ii) identify the key elements and characteristics and iii) provide a new comprehensive definition of the XaaS paradigm in manufacturing
Complexity Management in Service Businesses through Platform Adoption
No full textIn recent years, companies have started to offer solutions characterized by the presence of both products and services. This helps solving the challenges deriving from increased competition and market instability, through generation of new sources of competitive advantage. In the literature, this phenomenon is referred with the term “servitization”. Implementing a servitization strategy increases environmental complexity because of the growth in the number of interrelations and interactions of the activities taking place in the service processes, as well as interorganizational and intraorganizational relationships between the different actors. Platform has been identified as an organizational paradigm which may have potential to support companies in managing the increased complexity. However, studies about platform approaches with this focus are limited. Therefore, this study links the theoretical knowledge on complexity management with that of platforms, revealing the potentialities of platforms in managing complexity in service business context. Furthermore, based on the empirical findings from two case companies, the paper elaborates the mechanisms through which platforms can help companies to manage complexity through reducing and absorbing it
Characterizing service networks for moving from products to solutions
No full textManufacturers of capital goods may not be able to master internally all the relevant service activities for moving from products to solutions. As well, it is rarely economically viable for them to do so. Consequently, they increasingly resort to complex service networks that embrace traditional product-orientated and verticallyintegrated supplier-customer relationships. Through multiple case studies this paper identifies four different types of service networks involved in the provision of solutions, and the capabilities necessary for forming and utilizing such networks. The types are:
a). vertical after-sales service network, b). horizontal outsourcing service network, c). vertical life-cycle service network, and d). horizontal integration service network.
Analyzed through the perspective of the “focal firm”, these network types promote understanding of the movement towards providing integrated solutions for products and
services. The service components included in the solution drive the formation of the network along the vertical and horizontal dimension. The formation and utilization of
each service networks type require a specific set of dynamic capabilities (to initiate a specific network formation), and operational capabilities (that allow the network firms to develop, integrate and deliver the service components of the solution), discussed in the paper
Performance measurement systems in after-sales services: the case of durable consumer goods industry
No full textTowards the circular supply chain: a literature review of challenges
No full textThe notion of Circular Economy (CE) has been arisen as a promising approach to promote sustainability
without compromising economic growth. However, companies who are going to redesign their supply chain to
adopt the CE paradigm face several challenges. Despite their relevance in such an early stage of CE practices
adoption by companies, literature still lacks a systemic and holistic identification of this set of challenges. In fact,
previous research either focused on a particular industrial sector, on a geographical context, on a specific firm
category or by limiting the analysis to only some CE aspect. Therefore, this paper carries out a literature review to
identify the main challenges that companies have to face when they want to redesign their supply chain according to
CE principles, i.e. to implement a circular supply chain. As much as 24 challenges have been identified and classified
in accordance with the life cycle phase(s) affected and the CE lever(s) touched as recognized in literature, i.e. product
redesign, servitised business models, reverse logistics and system enablers (e.g. legislation or digital 4.0 technologies).
Findings highlight the multidisciplinary character of CE, and show that the challenges are quite distributed among
the different life cycle phases, implying that companies who desire to implement a circular supply chain should be
prepared to face challenges related to both the direct and the reverse flows of materials, despite the common
thinking that CE is only related to reverse logistics. Moreover, findings show that a non-negligible number of
challenges arises within each CE lever, thus confirming the need for a systemic and holistic approach. Managers may
use the set of challenges to prevent likely barriers that arise in the transition towards CE
A complexity management approach to servitization: the role of digital platforms
No full textPurpose This study aims to enhance the theoretical foundations of servitization research by establishing a theoretical connection with complexity management. The authors develop a conceptual framework to describe complexity management mechanisms in servitization and digital platforms' specific role in allowing synergies between complexity reduction and absorption mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach A theory adaptation approach is used. Theory adaptation introduces new perspectives and conceptualization to the domain theory (servitization, with a focus on the role of digital platforms) by informing it with a method theory (complexity management). Findings This study provides four key contributions to the servitization literature: (1) connecting the servitization and complexity-management terminologies, (2) identifying and classifying complexity-management mechanisms in servitization, (3) conceptualizing digital platforms' role in servitization complexity management and (4) recognizing digital platforms' complexity-management synergies. Originality/value This study highlights that by using digital platforms in servitization and understanding the platform approach more thoroughly, companies can gain new capabilities and opportunities to manage and leverage complexity
Remanufacturing for the Circular Economy: A Business Model analysis
No full textBusiness models based on remanufacturing are among the most promising ones for achieving Circular Economy. However, companies still find difficulties in understanding how business models could be reshaped to remanufacturing for the Circular Economy. In literature there is a paucity of contributions that define common guidelines on how to configure remanufacturing business models for the Circular Economy. Thus, this paper aims to outline a full list of configuration options that can be used in the development of remanufacturing business models for the Circular Economy. Configuration options are defined as key recurrent and common elements that are needed to setup a particular type of business model. A case study approach has been adopted to accomplish this aim. As a result, this study provides a case-based configuration of a generic remanufacturing business model for the Circular Economy. The full list of configuration options can be utilized to assist manufacturing companies in reshaping their value proposition, value delivery, value creation and value capture towards circularity based on remanufacturing
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