| 1. |
- Aagaard, Annabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Creating and capturing sustainable value through business model and service innovation
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A number of researchers and practitioners emphasize the potentials of creating value through sustainable business models. However, little attention has been paid as to how sustainable value is created and implemented into the organization and how sustainable value is perceived by the customers. This research gap is explored empirically through a case study of active facilitation and implementation of sustainable business models as experience internally and externally among two hotels’ employees and customers. The findings reveal different key control mechanisms in sustainable value creation and value capture through sustainable business models and sustainable service innovation. The managerial implications of creating and implementing sustainable business models in ways that are perceived sustainable by customer, stress the need for employee engagement, customer involvement, and targeted and personal communication educating internal and external sustainability ambassadors.
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| 2. |
- Aagaard, A., et al.
(författare)
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The critical aspects of co-creating and co-capturing sustainable value in service business models
- 2019
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Ingår i: Creativity and Innovation Management. - : Life Science Publishing Co. Ltd. - 0963-1690 .- 1467-8691.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Numerous researchers and practitioners emphasize the potential to create value through sustainable business models (SBMs). However, little attention has been paid to how sustainable value is proposed, created, delivered, and captured in the organization, and how customers perceive sustainable value in service. The aim of this paper is to explore this research gap empirically through a case study of sustainable value (co-)creation through SBMs of sustainable service innovations as experienced among two hotels' managers, employees and customers. The contributions of the study relate to the development of SBMs in service, where the value processes happen simultaneously and where the element value perception has to be added to the extant SBM literature, which is closely related to the creation and delivery of physical goods as in product-oriented industries. The study also contributes through the dual perspective (providers and customers) on sustainable value proposition, value creation and value capture. The findings reveal different key aspects in creating and capturing sustainable value through SBMs and sustainable service innovation. The managerial implications for creating and implementing SBM in service stress the need for employee engagement, customer involvement and targeted and personal communication educating internal and external sustainability ambassadors.
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| 3. |
- Arekrans, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Analysis of Innovation Management Issues in Barriers to Circular Economy
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The current linear system of extract-produce-consume-dispose poses considerable challenges for achieving sustainability goals and will eventually lead to the depletion of non-renewable natural resources. Circular Economy (CE) is promoted as a possible sustainable way forward. The suggested transition questions society at large and the business-as-usual of existing firms in particular.Barriers to CE implementation have become a growing stream of literature across several sectors and relating to different levels of society. However, this emerging stream of research and how it handles issues of management appears not to be helpful to managers and organizations. This study is, therefore, a systematic review of the current state-of art of circular economy barriers where we scrutinize issues related to management. Attention is brought to matters concerning innovation in management, in particular, business model innovation and innovation ecosystems. Our findings suggest that these topics are indeed indicated as important in the CE literature, yet in very diverse ways depending on the studied case. Implications for future studies within CE are drawn, with suggested point of departure in innovation management topics.
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| 4. |
- Arekrans, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Barriers to access-based consumption in the circular transition : A systematic review
- 2022
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Ingår i: Resources, Conservation and Recycling. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-3449 .- 1879-0658. ; 184
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Barriers to access-based consumption (ABC) have been extensively studied in different strands of literature. However, cumulative knowledge is not organized to date, and a comprehensive overview of barriers identified by empirical studies in diverse strands is lacking. Such a picture is essential for laying the ground for further change-oriented research and actual changes in practice. This article reports on the results of a systematic review on barriers to transitioning from ownership- to access-based consumption. The review focuses on the literature strands product-service systems, circular economy, sharing economy, and collaborative consumption. Through open and axial coding of 289 barriers reported in 45 empirical studies, we found 17 themes of barriers concerning consumers, business, and society. The analysis of the barriers reveals four significant insights important for the research and practitioner community:the overall experience of ABC and trust mechanisms need to be better understood;organizational aspects in traditional business need a system change;regulation plays a fundamental role in making ABC work for business, society, and sustainability; andsharing risks and experimentation for new learnings are necessary.These four major insights suggest that consumers need business and government to offer enabling conditions for ABC – spanning from raising awareness and understanding to improving user experience. Furthermore, businesses need governments to create the necessary structures to support ABC offerings – from decreasing risks to increasing incentives. How and which mechanisms can further facilitate circular behaviors is a salient topic for future investigations.
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| 5. |
- Arekrans, Johan, 1993-
(författare)
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Circling the Squares : Radical Innovation and Management Control Systems in the Circular Economy
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- An economic system built upon the sale of tangible goods produced using finite resources is inherently unsustainable. The idea of a Circular Economy (CE) as a viable pathway to sustainability has gained considerable attention from academia, policymakers, and the business community. The CE builds on a new logic in the business environment in which industrial firms operate that requires substantial changes. We face a significant knowledge gap concerning how firms internally manage the implementation and adoption of CE. Filling in this knowledge gap is critical to understanding how to implement CE at large and established firms with a considerable history of a linear logic, which are known to favor incremental improvements to existing business opportunities over radical innovation.This thesis aims to delve into the managerial challenges that large, established industrial firms encounter when implementing CE principles, and how they address these challenges, particularly through managerial controls. Additionally, it aims to provide insights into how management can facilitate radical circular innovation and support the circular transformation of incumbent firms. To accomplish this aim, existing knowledge on barriers to CE has been synthesized through a systematic literature mapping and a systematic literature review. Next, interviews (n=68) at five large and established industrial firms provide empirical insights concerning the implementation and adoption of CE principles. In addition to the four appended papers, this comprehensive summary theorizes about the empirical findings using literature on radical innovation, sensemaking, and managerial controls. Building on the empirical papers, this analysis sheds light on two distinct patterns in how managers frame CE: incremental framing versus radical framing. It is argued that this has considerable consequences concerning with respect to ambitions, operationalization, and the means used to achieve a CE. In addition, the thesis theorizes about the relationship between the management control systems and the prevailing framings of CE. Based on an understanding of this relationship and the tensions and conflicts associated with the different framings, it is argued that managerial controls can act both as barriers to and enablers of CE adoption at incumbent firms. In addition to the practical and theoretical implications of this finding, the thesis pinpoints limitations and assumptions concerning managerial control systems in relation to CE and propose new avenues in light of this. Finally, the analysis is synthesized into an integrative framework that differentiates three different modes of organizational behaviors within the context of CE transitions: optimizing, transforming, and systems building. This framework integrates the theoretical foundations of the thesis, acknowledges the identified issues, and offers actionable implications for researchers and practitioners.
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| 6. |
- Arekrans, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Circular Economy Transitions : The Maturity of Incumbents
- 2021
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A circular economy (CE) transition poses new challenges and opportunities for industrial incumbents. When implementing CE, the existing processes, routines, and behaviors are questioned. As such, practitioners must consider the required changes related directly to CE and contextual factors in managing the transition. For this purpose, this study conceptualizes a maturity model, highlighting critical elements to consider to facilitate the transition. The model builds on both state-of-the-art literature in CE and empirical findings from three large industrial firms.The proposed model consists of the CE practices:(1) design of product-service systems,(2) processes and logistics in manufacturing and supply,(3) circular business model innovation,(4) circular innovation in the ecosystem,and the management practices:(1) strategic sustainability integration and(2) management controls.The model is intended to help practitioners define a CE roadmap to facilitate the transition towards a more circular business.
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| 7. |
- Arekrans, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Management Controls in a Circular Economy Transition
- 2023
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Ingår i: 30 Years of Research in Innovation and Product Development Management.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Management control systems offers powerful ways of guiding employee behavior and implementing organizational strategy. Given the new business logic and the extensive and complex challenges that industrial firms face in light of a circular economy transition, this paper is oriented around two questions. First, the compatibility between traditional management control systems and circular economy. Second, how management control systems can support the radical transformation of firms that circular economy entails. By scrutinizing extant research on MCS, six propositions are developed and grounded in empirical illustrations. These propositions hold relevant implications for practitioners, and several promising avenues for future research are highlighted.
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| 8. |
- Arekrans, Johan, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Managing Circular Innovation Goals and Measurements
- 2022
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Ingår i: 29TH IPDMC.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- For industrial incumbents seeking business opportunities in line with sustainable development needs, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has gained significant traction. However, getting from a strategic ambition toward actions and innovations entails many challenges for organizations. In particular, one frequently overlooked issue relates to the use of management controls in relation to the CE strategy. Using data collected through a participatory action research collaboration spanning five years, this paper aims to give a detailed and empirically based description and analysis of how a frontrunner company has approached innovation goals and measurements in light of its CE strategy deployment. By analyzing the development in the case organization, key purposes behind CE metrics are discussed and analyzed together with challenges expressed by interviewees. In particular, our findings advocate the need for experimentation, ideation, and learning, rather than highly specific and restricting control measures.
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| 9. |
- Arekrans, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Tensions in management controls : Enabling radical innovation for a Circular Economy
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- While several existing firms have begun making changes to meet a circular economy transition, it is clear that they meet with several managerial challenges. Management control systems can help managers make the radical changes and facilitate the innovation processes that is required to meet circular economy. However, little is known about how management controls are applied in the context of a circular economy transformation, and whether traditional management controls are compatible with a circular logic. This paper aims to provide detailed and empirically based insight on these issues.This study examined three large industrial incumbent firms to see how they utilize action-, result-, and cultural controls to implement circular economy principles, and what tensions they have experienced. We used semi-structured interviews (n=38) to collect data, and thematic analysis for the analysis.The analysis suggests that while circular economy principles are not integrated in all parts of the management control system, there are still several factors that can both enable and impede a circular transformation. Furthermore, imbalances and inconsistencies were found concerning different types of managerial controls used. Alarmingly, circular economy initiatives are at risk of being reduced to minor incremental improvements if the radical changes needed are not better understood, and changes made to the management control system to facilitate these.This research provides rich qualitative insights bridging the new phenomenon of circular economy adoption in incumbent firms with research on innovation management and management controls.
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| 10. |
- Arekrans, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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The role of radical innovation in circular strategy deployment
- 2022
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Ingår i: Business Strategy and the Environment. - : Wiley. - 0964-4733 .- 1099-0836.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Circular economy (CE) is gaining interest among industrial firms in light of sustainability concerns, and several incumbent firms are integrating it into their strategy. In this study, we scrutinize learnings from three large established industrial firms with a clear CE agenda and that are front-runners in CE strategy deployment. We analyze exploitation and exploration approaches to CE and problematize how these approaches relate to radical innovation, which we argue is critical for achieving CE. Semi-structured interviews (n = 30) were used to collect data. We found several issues referring to(1) challenges and approaches to normative management,(2) how the innovation ecosystem is engaged,(3) how goals and metrics relate to CE, and(4) resources and coordination regarding the CE initiative.Overall, current exploitative approaches are favored over explorative, mirroring an undesired imbalance between the two. We suggest several ways to counteract this. For example,(1) addressing existing norms so that they align with the ambitions in CE,(2) actively managing collaboration in the innovation ecosystem, including radically new setups of different actors, and(3) that managers need to carefully consider when and how to use goals and measurements in a circular strategy deployment, to foster both radical and incremental innovation.
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