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Dr Okechukwu Okorie - Circular business models in high value manufacturing: Five industry cases to bridge theory and practice
Dr Okechukwu Okorie, Ph.D, MIET, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Circular Technology has recently published a paper with the journal of Business, Strategy and the Environment (ABS3), titled, “Circular business models in high value manufacturing: Five industry cases to bridge theory and practice”.
This paper is linked to ongoing EPSRC Circular 4.0 research; the researchers investigate and capture value, cost and other non-traditional factors that influence CE adoption in selected high value manufacturing (HVM) firms. This is the first paper that examines circular business models (CBMs) within the HVM context and develops a CBM canvas for high value manufacturing. It employs a qualitative methodology to develop a novel framework for theory to practice to support HVMs transitioning to CBMs or optimising their existing CBMs.
A key finding was, that irrespective of firm size, digital technologies can help in the process of value creation and capture as well as remain critical enablers of FOIs, useful in the process of CBM implementation. In addition to the conventional social, economic, and environmental dimensions of value identified in CBM literature, the researchers found that HVMs can access CBM-specific value propositions that include nonconventional forms of value that influence and motivate the adoption of CBMs. These include educational/research value, organizational value, generated data, customer value, and information value.
You can read more about the findings here: “Circular business models in high value manufacturing: Five industry cases to bridge theory and practice”.
Dr Okorie has proceeded to the next research question and will investigate how different types of value and cost and in-service data streams can be analysed to calculate a circular efficiency metric that informs optimal CE strategies and the timing of intervention. For more information contact circular-economy@exeter.ac.uk
Date: 20 January 2021