Moving towards a more circular economic model is necessary in order to secure the sufficiency of vital raw materials and to achieve a balance between both economic and environmental prosperity. However, the discussion regarding circular economy from a business perspective is still rather limited, and the practical applications of circular economy are mostly related to waste management and industrial applications. Needless to say, circular economy is much more than just large-scale recycling. Circular economy, as a system which aims to ensure a more circular flow of resources, materials and energy, can embody a variety of expressions from closing resource loops to redesigning products, services and the nature of ownership towards favoring renting, sharing, reusing and other alternative ways of maximize the resource efficiency and extend product life. Hence, the principles of circularity can be applied across all industries, instead of just those operating in the industrial sector. Standing on the way of the development of a global circular economy is the perceived mismatched objectives of profit seeking businesses and sustainability advocators. Businesses want high sales levels and profit margins, whereas at the core of environmental sustainability is often to promote conscious consumption and cut down on activities resulting in pollution and waste. And because circular economy is often strongly associated with sustainability matters, businesses tend to stray away from it as it is considered to work against a company’s purpose of making profit. Yet here is the catch – instead of seeing circular economy just as a sustainability tool, it can also be considered as a viable business opportunity which when effectively exploited, can be a source of competitive advantage and a source of economic value

There’s increasing evidence that activities from humans are affecting the earth system to a degree that is crossing the planetary boundaries. During the last decade, Circular Economy has gained attention from both academia, companies, and policymakers and is seen as one way to address economical and sustainability issues. A circular transition requires the implementation of innovative business models, but the uptake of circular business models is still slow. In Sweden, 99,9% of all companies are classified as small and medium-sized enterprises. Those companies play an important role in the circular transition, but the process is however slow due to internal factors like lack of resources and competencies alongside other barriers like regulations, market, and lack of support. Despite a lot happening in the field of circular transition for small and medium-sized enterprises, there's still little research focused on the ongoing state of circular economy in practice. In this exploratory study, semi-structured interviews have been used to explore the ongoing state in Sweden. The aim of the study is to explore how intermediaries are supporting small and medium-sized enterprises with adopting circular economy in Sweden and what kind of challenges and opportunities the intermediaries have experienced along the circular transition process. The results show that we should go beyond the general drivers and barriers for adopting a circular economy. The challenging barriers might not be a lack of resources and regulations, it might be the lack of awareness and interest from companies themselves. What became clear during the interview study was that the environmental benefits of adopting circular economy is not the driving force but rather a result of adopting circular economy. The motivation in the first place for adopting circular economy is that it can create a better and a smarter business. There was a consensus among the intermediaries that when one is workings with companies, one must highlight the business values of a circular economy: profitability, resource efficiency, loyal customers, etc. If companies don’t see the opportunities and benefits of adopting circular economy, they won’t prioritize and allocate resources for it. The complexity of a circular transition also requires collaboration on different levels: between companies, regions, business developers, municipalities, research institutes, policy developers, etc. To enable the overall collaboration, there’s a need for a comprehensive facilitator or coordinator on different levels (national, regional, and local) that can unify the national transition.

Purpose – This study aims to explore and provide empirical insights into AI-driven circular business model innovation (CBMI) in industrial symbiosis. In doing so, it addresses the knowledge gap regarding how industrial companies can use AI to amplify circular business models and facilitate AI-driven circular innovation. Method – A thematic analysis was used in the study to answer the research questions. It was based on 32 interviews with informants from five companies conducting an AI innovation initiative and experts, as well as two site visits, four project meetings and 61 company documents.  Findings – The analysis showed how AI can amplify an industrial symbiosis and uncovered three principles and symbiotic facilitators for AI-driven CBMI in an industrial symbiosis. The principles and symbiotic facilitators were combined in a coevolutionary alignment framework for AI-driven CBMI in industrial symbioses. Theoretical contributions – This study contributes to prior literature by (1) depicting how AI changes business models and amplifies an industrial symbiosis, where past research only had conceptualised it; (2) identifying principles that describe how AI-driven CBMI should be approached; (3) uncovering three symbiotic facilitators that create conditions for successful AI-driven CBMI; and (4) conceptualising a coevolutionary framework based on the principles and symbiotic facilitators for aligning the innovation efforts between partners in industrial symbioses. Practical contributions – Managers in industrial symbioses can use this study to comprehend how AI can improve resource flows and the significance of efficient data sharing in collaborative AI-driven innovation. Moreover, it provides a framework to assist companies in aligning innovation initiatives among partners in order to succeed with AI-driven CBMI. Limitations of the study – The study focused on five companies involved in an AI innovation initiative in one specific industrial symbiosis. As a result, the findings’ generalisability may be limited, and validating these findings in other industrial symbioses and different industrial ecosystems or partnerships would thus be interesting for future research. / Syfte – Denna studie syftar till att utforska och ge empiriska insikter i AI-driven cirkulär affärsmodellinnovation (CBMI) i industriell symbios. Genom detta undersöks kunskapsbristen om hur industriella företag kan använda AI för att förbättra cirkulära affärsmodeller och underlätta AI-driven cirkulär innovation. Metod – En tematisk analys användes i studien för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Den baserades på 32 intervjuer med informanter från fem företag som genomförde ett AI-innovationsinitiativ och experter, samt två platsbesök, fyra projektmöten och 61 sekundära källor. Resultat – Analysen visade hur AI kan förbättra en industriell symbios och hittade tre principer och symbiotiska facilitatorer för AI-driven CBMI i en industriell symbios. Principerna och symbiotiska facilitatorerna kombinerades i ett samevolutionärt ramverk för att skapa målöverenstämmelse och underlätta AI-driven CBMI i industriella symbioser. Teoretiskt bidrag – Denna studie bidrar till tidigare litteratur genom att (1) beskriva hur AI förändrar affärsmodeller och förbättrar en industriell symbios, där tidigare forskning bara hade konceptualiserat det; (2) identifiera principer som beskriver hur AI-driven CBMI bör genomföras, (3)  identifiera tre nyckel symbiotiska facilitatorer som skapar förutsättningar för framgångsrik AI-driven CBMI; och (4) konceptualisera ett samevolutionärt ramverk baserad på principerna och symbiotiska facilitatorer som kan användas för att underlätta innovation som partners gör tillsammans i industriella symbioser. Praktiskt bidrag - Ledare i industriella symbioser kan använda denna studie för att förstå hur AI kan förbättra resursflöden och vilken betydelse effektiv datadelning har i kollaborativ AI-driven innovation. Dessutom ger det ett ramverk för att hjälpa företag att innovera tillsammans för att lyckas med AI-driven CBMI. Studiens begränsningar – Studien fokuserade på fem företag involverade i ett AI-innovationsinitiativ i en specifik industriell symbios. På grund av detta kan resultatens generaliserbarhet vara begränsad, och validering av dessa resultat i andra industriella symbioser och olika industriella ekosystem eller partnerskap skulle därför vara intressant.

Circular economy has gained significant attention in the past decade as a potential solution to address sustainability challenges. Implementing circular business model in the core business operation of a company is referred as circular business model innovation (CBMI). It contains a set of dynamic change processes including visioning, sensing, seizing, and transforming. Among all these phases, transforming phase has been in lack of research. This study examines transforming phase of CBMI in the multinational company IKEA. It adopts the business ecosystem perspective to investigate the specific actions and actors involved in the transform- ing phase of CBMI. The paper employs qualitative research with an in-depth case study method with semi-structured interviews. The aim of this research paper is to contribute to theoretical advancements by enhancing our understanding of the transformative phase of CBMI. The findings offer insights and implications about the opportunities and challenges faced by multinational companies during the CBMI process.

Circular economy (CE) is seen as a strategy to achieve sustainable development, requiring commitment and support from multiple actors on all system levels; from companies and products to governments and nations. Circular business models (CBMs) are regarded as an important leverage to implement circularity at an organizational level, and business support is considered an important enabler of these. Communication between practitioners and policy-makers, as well as understanding the barriers of CE in the local context, can facilitate the development of efficient business support. This thesis has from a company perspective explored barriers to circular business model innovation (CBMI) and the impact of firm-specific business support activities on this innovation process. This was done through a multiple-case study of ten Swedish SMEs who had received direct business support for circularity, and thus had initiated a circular project. The study has identified seventeen different barriers across five categories, spanning over the entire innovation process from idea to full implementation. Overall, economic viability appears to be an important factor which relates to and depends on several other barriers, and the novelty of CE contributes to the occurrence of many identified challenges. While some barriers are more common across all ten cases, often challenges related to market demand, financing and knowledge, others are more specific for each case and circular strategy. Furthermore, this study has found that coaching, training, and funding are firm-specific activities that can help SMEs overcome mainly internal barriers in the early stages of the CBMI process, addressing several of the most common barriers identified in this study. This research has also included a company perspective on the costs and benefits of the activities, and pointed at important factors to consider in the development of future business support. / Cirkulär ekonomi ses som en strategi för att uppnå hållbar utveckling, och kräver engagemang och stöd från flertalet aktörer på samtliga systemnivåer; från företag och produkter till regeringar och nationer. Cirkulära affärsmodeller betraktas som en viktig hävstång för att implementera cirkularitet på en organisatorisk nivå, och företagsstöd anses vara en viktig möjliggörare av dessa. Kommunikation mellan utövare och beslutsfattare, samt förståelse för barriärer till cirkulär ekonomi i det lokala sammanhanget, kan underlätta utvecklandet av effektiva företagsstöd. Denna uppsats har ur ett företagsperspektiv utforskat barriärer till cirkulär affärsmodellsinnovation och den inverkan som företagsstöd har på denna innovationsprocess. Detta utfördes genom en fallstudie av tio svenska små och medelstora företag som mottagit stöd för cirkularitet, och som således initierat ett cirkulärt projekt. Studien har identifierat sjutton barriärer inom fem kategorier, vilka sträcker sig över hela innovationsprocessen från idé till full implementation. Generellt framträder ekonomisk livskraft som en viktig faktor, relaterad till samt beroende av flertalet andra barriärer, och nymodigheten i cirkulär ekonomi bidrar till förekommande av flera identifierade barriärer. Medan vissa barriärer är mer vanligt förekommande bland de tio fallen, ofta utmaningar relaterade till marknadens efterfrågan, finansiering och kunskap, är andra mer specifika för varje fall och cirkulär strategi. Vidare finner denna studie att rådgivning, träning och finansiering är företagsspecifika aktiviteter som kan hjälpa små och medelstora företag att överkomma huvudsakligen interna barriärer i de tidiga faserna av cirkulär affärsmodellsinnovation, och som bemöter flertalet av de vanligaste barriärerna som har identifierats i denna studie. Denna studie har även inkluderat ett företagsperspektiv på aktiviteternas nytta och kostnader, samt belyst viktiga faktorer att ta hänsyn till i utvecklingen av framtida företagsstöd.

Sustainability has become a critical issue due to global warming, scarcity of resources, and the high costs of raw materials. It is vital to reconsider linear business models and value creation processes and transition towards circularity. The growth of the electric vehicles market is promising; however, it comes with a major downside. Soon there will be a considerable number of used batteries without the original capacity and potentially hazardous that cannot go to landfill due to environmental and economic reasons. In this regard, the use of electric vehicle batteries in second life (EVBSL) is suggested as a solution. EVBSL comes with benefits such as the extension of the battery life cycle, extracting value from the remaining capacity of the battery, reduction in the upfront costs of the electric vehicle, and create new revenue streams for the companies. And since various actors are involved in EVBSL, it is essential to study this phenomenon from an ecosystem perspective. Despite the recent focus of researchers on EVBSL, there are several gaps in the current literature on this topic. The first gap concerns the challenges and enablers of implementing circular business models (CBMs) for EVBSL. The second gap concerns the second life operations of electric vehicles (EV). There is a lack of research on the solutions that can guide the ecosystem actors to manage EVBSL-related activities. And the third gap concerns the limited research on the preconditions of circular business model innovation for the EVBSL that focuses on the transition from linear business models to CBMs. Therefore, this thesis aims to develop knowledge of the factors that influence the implementation of CBMs for EVBSL from an ecosystem perspective. This study intends to address these gaps by conducting qualitative research. An exploratory research design has been deemed adequate due to its flexibility and compatibility. This research draws on the existing literature on the second life of EV batteries, and circular business models. In total, 20 interviews and 15 workshops have been conducted covering 15 companies in the EVBSL ecosystem. Purposeful sampling was employed to select the EVBSL ecosystem actors with the aim of covering the key actors such as OEMs, battery manufacturer, recycling companies, remanufacturers, energy utility companies, material supplier for battery parts, construction and housing company, and public transportation companies. The collected data was analyzed via qualitative methods such as thematic analysis.  The results of this study have led to the identification of nine key challenges and seven key enablers. Moreover, two dimensions (i.e., time frame and responsible entity) are identified from the empirical data, through which companies can structurally categorize and work with the identified key challenges and enablers. Based on this, a guiding framework is suggested that could support firms in the EV battery ecosystem to establish and manage various configurations for second-life operations in a series of phases such as firm-level initiation, ecosystem construction, firm-level optimization, and ecosystem orchestration. Finally, the current linear business models (traditional sales of products and services, product maintenance and support, R&D, consultancy, and services), upcoming CBMs (regenerating, looping, and sharing), and the preconditions (for value creation, capture, and delivery) for the circular business model innovation are extracted.  This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in several ways. It enhances the current literature on challenges and enablers of EVBSL by covering various actors in this ecosystem and extends the knowledge on the scope of these factors. Moreover, this study is the first one that suggests a guiding framework for the ecosystem actors through configurations for second-life operations while shedding light on the preconditions of circular business innovation for EVBSL. This study also provides interesting insights for practitioners and managers in the EVBSL ecosystem. / RECREATE project