On the Right Path to Circularity or Running Around in Circles? A Fresh Perspective on Circular Business Model Barriers

Abstract

The literature on circular business models (CBMs) has generated barrier categories and taxonomies but provides an incomplete understanding of how firms develop and scale CBMs in practice. We challenge prior literature by relating barriers directly to the CBM dimensions of value creation, value delivery, and value capture. Following this approach, we analyze the Swedish manufacturing industry using qualitative content analysis and arrive at three key contributions. First, there is a distinct set of barriers affecting value creation, value delivery, and value capture. Second, the barriers are underpinned by a unique set of problems, many of which are nondecomposable. Third, most barriers inhibit the scaling of CBMs rather than their initial development. Altogether, this has major implications for understanding the nature of CBMs, productively addressing CBM barriers and problems, and scaling CBMs. We conceptualize these insights into a framework with implications for both the CBM literature and for managers innovating CBMs.