Sustainable Production and Consumption 27 (2021) 1728–1742

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Sustainable Production and Consumption

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/spc

Review article

The role of product design in circular business models: An analysis of

challenges and opportunities for electric vehicles and white goods
Colin de Kwant a,∗, ABM Fazle Rahi b,c, Rafael Laurenti d
a
Department of Production Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
b
Department of Business and Economic Studies, University of Gävle, Sweden
c
School of Business, Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, Sweden
d
Department of Machine Design, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Pursuing sustainability implies setting a multitude of open-ended goals to address environmental and
Received 30 September 2020 socioeconomic issues today as well as those for future generations. The circular economy (CE) paradigm
Revised 26 March 2021
appears more focused regarding goals and agency to address environmental issues by using the eco-
Accepted 28 March 2021
nomic system. However, companies and governments aiming to operationalize CE in practice, it has been
Available online 1 April 2021
claimed, will face six key challenges limiting the CE “net sustainability impact” potential. This work fo-
Editor: Prof. Konstantinos Tsagarakis cuses on the challenges for manufacturers to adopt and operationalize CE for their business. The two key
levers for manufacturers to navigate on their path from the linear (take-make-dispose) to a sustainable
Keywords:
Circular business models CE are innovating and designing of the business model and of their products. To date, however, under-
Product design standing the role of product design in developing circular business models has received little attention
Electric vehicles in research. This review article builds upon the CE literature foundation, including definitions, challenges,
White goods and business modeling frameworks needed to better understand the role of product design. Building on
Circular economy the work of several highly cited CE-centric literature reviews and voices in research and industry, we
Business model innovation framework selected and merged complementing frameworks: Slowing-Closing-Narrowing, Circular Design, and the
Circular Business Model Innovation framework. To understand how to put these frameworks into prac-
tice, we analyzed CE’s links with electric vehicle and white goods research and industry perspectives
respectively and collectively. The review and analysis of CE and selected industries’ research was sup-
ported by a co-occurrence keyword analysis of 5,960 most cited papers in CE as well as the two product
categories, electric vehicles and white goods. The analysis indicated limited maturity and linkage of cir-
cular business models and role of product design toward a CE in the research literature for the product
categories. This result corroborated the knowledge gap and guided our focus in searching for further re-
search and industry clues. We structured the clues of interest that were specific to or common across
product categories and industries, using the integrated framework to visualize our Design for X conclu-
sion. The merged framework visualizes how paths toward CE by design and logic of value creation, de-
livery, and capturing may differ. To conclude, the authors’ own experience and literature examples from
relevant industry-leading and start-up companies are used to apply the framework and reveal strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Future research and industry experiments focused on the circular
business models based on product service systems and design for CE strategies identified, will be needed
to test and extend the framework to other product categories and industry sectors.
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

1. Introduction Corporate values (purpose), strategy, and economic opportuni-

ties motivate enterprises to explore CE-based value propositions
The circular economy (CE) is becoming more prominent in busi- and develop circular business models (CBMs) (Lieder et al., 2018;
ness organizations (Ferasso et al., 2020; Korhonen et al., 2018). Bocken et al., 2013; Lewandowski, 2016). A CBM includes and
aligns a company value proposition with the creation, delivery, and
capturing of value (Bocken et al., 2013). It differs from business-
∗
Corresponding author. as-usual, linear business models in its focus on high-value and
E-mail address: [email protected] (C. de Kwant). high-quality material cycles (Korhonen et al., 2018). An exam-

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.030
2352-5509/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
C. de Kwant, A.F. Rahi and R. Laurenti Sustainable Production and Consumption 27 (2021) 1728–1742

ple of a CBM is connecting product leasing with refurbishment, Building on the work of several comprehensive literature re-
thereby recovering material value inside an access-based pay- views and dominating voices of the CE and CBM field, this work
ment model (Sumter et al., 2018). The notion of design is cen- assessed CE and CBM’s links with key characteristics in product
tral in creating and transitioning to a CBM (Thomas, 2013), but as design research, supported by a co-occurrence keyword analysis
Sumter et al. (2018) point out, “In spite of the widespread recog- on “circular economy” and the two selected product categories. To
nition of the importance of design in a circular economy, there is structure the clues of interest we found, we merged three frame-
very little empirical research into the role of design during the de- works to connect business model design with product design and
velopment of a circular business model.” subsequently applied this integrated framework for EVs and WG.
In the development of new CBMs, product design plays a fun- The remainder of the article is organized as follows:
damental role. If the fundamental logics of value creation and cap- Section 2 presents the study method and approach; there,
ture must change for CBM innovation to be viable, then product readers can also find keyword co-occurrence maps visualizing
design must also fundamentally change: A product, a service, or a the overarching features and characteristics for the EV and WG
product-service system (PSS) that is designed based on noncircular research fields and connection with CE. Section 3 describes our
business models cannot stand as the mechanism for creating value results regarding CE in general and the concept of the CBM.
in a CBM. One example can be seen in Sumter et al. (2018) case Existing frameworks for circular design strategies and circu-
study on baby strollers. Therefore, this review analyzed the role lar business models as proposed by Bocken et al. (2016) and
of product design, opportunities, and challenges for the design of Moreno et al. (2016). Circular business model innovation
CBMs in practice. “In practice” means considering industry sector– frameworks based on Guldmann et al. (2019) and Joyce and
specific challenges such as path dependency or “lock in,” design Paquin (2016) were interpreted and incorporated. Finally, in
complexity, and maturity in design and companies’ value chains. Section 5, the integrated framework is adapted for EVs and WG
We conducted an analysis of two product categories: electric vehi- as a structure to explore the specific and general role of product
cles (EVs) and white goods (WG). EVs and WG were selected to en- design and CBM for these product categories. Identified strengths,
able and focus our analysis of both different and shared challenges weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are presented using two
and performance levers within the design of CBMs and products SWOT tables, with examples of specific or common implications
to shift to- and operationalize a CE in practice, starting from the for the EV and WG industry that can also guide future research.
current state and shifting toward a more circular future.
The automotive sector is one industry that might benefit eco- 2. Method
nomically from working toward CE (Groenewald et al., 2017a,
2017b). The immature but potentially huge increase in the EV mar- The previous section introduced the key terms and scope of this
ket and demand for batteries and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recy- review and suggested its importance, due to the limited research
cling in near future (Gnoni et al., 2017; Planing, 2015) make the attention to the role of product design for the CE and CBMs. This
electric automotive industry a truly relevant if not urgent product section describes the method and iterative process by which this
category for CE discussion. Furthermore, industry is already chang- literature review was conducted, as well as some examples of the
ing. Tesla, Waymo (Google’s self-driving car project), and Uber visualizations used to guide our analysis and uncover linkages.
have emerged and challenge dominant business models and design As illustrated in Fig. 1, we employed snowballing as a liter-
strategies at a mobility system level. ature review technique, as recommended by Wohlin (2014) and
In contrast, the maturity of domestic appliances and WG de- used in CE research (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). We used VOSviewer
sign is remarkably high, and challengers to the dominant business software for bibliometric analytical purposes (Van Eck and Walt-
model for appliance manufacturers are few. The penetration rate man, 2010). We conducted a co-occurrence keyword analysis on
of domestic appliances per household in developed markets is sat- the 20 0 0 most cited papers in each of the CE, EV, and WG fields
urated. Europeans, for example, use an average of 36 appliances (5960 unique papers). VOSviewer has the benefit of being easily
per household (CECED, 2017). But like the automotive industry, the applied and suitable for visualizing overarching features and char-
appliance industry in Europe (WEEE, 2020) and Japan (Japan Min- acteristics of a bibliometric dataset (Van Eck and Waltman, 2017),
istry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 2020) is required to follow which allowed for a guided iterative analysis of RQ1.
evolving end-of-life schemes and targets for recovery, recycling, or The main research literature input was collected using Scopus
preparation for reuse. EVs and WG also share challenges in design: database first in 2019 and updated January 2021, searching for the
both are electrical equipment and thus share values and poten- following keywords and search strings (Table 1).
tial constraints on energy consumption and efficiencies, given the The analysis and visualizations from VOSviewer are based on
electric power supply available for users, households, society and a co-occurrence keyword analysis combining the 20 0 0 most cited
its environmental impact. The rise of EVs, the internet of things documents (articles, books, or conference papers) resulting from
(IoT), and smart-home households’ power electrical systems con- searches 1, 2, and 3 in Table 1, respectively (5960 unique docu-
nected to internet and power grid may also lead to a stronger ments). Exported data from Scopus was processed, adding a the-
link between EVs and appliances in design and service-oriented saurus to merge synonyms and highly related concepts before us-
business models (vehicle-to-home or V2H systems) (Lieder and ing the VOSviewer to generate interactive visualizations like Fig. 2,
Rashid, 2016; Liu et al., 2013). which shows the most used keywords and co-occuring keywords
Exploring both research and industry literature, we aimed linking different (sub)clusters of research. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are two
therefore to answer the following three questions: examples of many visualizations analyzed. VOSviewer’s density vi-
sualization, shown in Fig. 2, provides a quick overview of keyword
co-occurrence and linking five clusters of co-occurring keywords:
• RQ1: What characteristics of the product categories electric ve- domestic appliances (white goods) in blue; circular economy in
hicles (EV) and white goods (WG) clarify the role of design in red; electric vehicles in green; energy, air, electricity, and fuel-
the context of the circular economy? handling systems, including economic analysis, in yellow; and an
• RQ 2: What, if any, possible circular business models (CBM) ex- EV subcluster regarding lithium-ion batteries and their chemistry
ist that are suitable for these characteristics? (purple).
• RQ3: What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and Fig. 3 is another example of our analysis using VOSviewer,
threats for EVs and WG to develop such CBMs? visualizing the dominant keywords that link (co-occur between)

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Fig 1. Literature review process.

Fig. 2. Density visualization from VOSviewer indicating five clusters of keyword co-occurrence: domestic appliances (white goods) in blue; circular economy in red; electric
vehicles in green; energy, air, electricity, and fuel-handling systems, including economic analysis, in yellow; and an EV subcluster regarding lithium-ion batteries and their
chemistry (purple).

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Table 1
Initial Keywords and Search Strings Used in Scopus Search.

# Search string Results

1 TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "circular economy" ) 8790 documents

2 TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "electric vehicle∗ " ) 71,349 documents
3 TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "domestic appliance∗ " OR "white good∗ " ) 10,889 documents
4 TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "circular economy" AND "electric vehicle∗ " ) 77 documents
5 TITLE-ABS-KEY ("circular economy" AND ("domestic appliance∗ " OR "white good∗ ")) 25 documents

Table 2
Additional Keywords and Search Strings Used in Scopus Search.

6a TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "circular economy" AND ( "electric vehicle∗ " AND ( "domestic appliance∗ " OR "white good∗ " ) ) ) 0 documents
6b TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "circular economy" AND ( "business model∗ " OR "product design" ) ) 933 documents
7 TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "circular economy" AND ( "electric vehicle∗ " OR ( "domestic appliance∗ " OR "white good∗ " ) ) AND ( "business model∗ " 20 documents
OR "product design" ) )

Fig. 3. The main keywords (co-occurring) connecting circular economy, electric vehicles, and white goods (domestic appliances), based on the 5960 most cited documents
in Scopus, using VOSviewer density visualization.

the main clusters circular economy, electric vehicles and white 3. Results
goods (domestic appliances), based on 20 0 0 most cited documents
for each (5960 unique). These links suggested which product The following results are based on insights from our iterative
characteristics to study and documents to review to clarify the literature review process. Section 3.1 aims to clarify the concept
role of design in the context of the circular economy for the two of CE in relation to sustainable development, limitations, and driv-
studied categories. ing forces from research and industry perspectives. Section 3.2 in-
Different visualizations consistently revealed the weak link of troduces the perspective of a business model, sustainable busi-
CE with these product categories in the main body of research in ness model archetypes (Bocken et al., 2014), and framework
general, and a very weak link on the role of design and circular to link a CBM with design strategy: Slowing-Closing-Narrowing
business models. Search results 4 and 5 (see Table 1) provided in- (Bocken et al., 2016). Sections 3.3 and 3.4. review our findings re-
put for the review of product category–specific CE research. Addi- lated to the larger concept of CE and sustainable development from
tional searches in Scopus were done (see Table 2), using all docu- the EV and WG perspectives. Section 3.5 returns to CE and sustain-
ments (instead of the 5960 most cited) to check the research gap able development but takes a more practical “how to” perspective
assessment and retrieve additional literature for review for more by complementing and merging circular business model innova-
specific examples on the role of design and or (circular) business tion, circular design, and strategy frameworks. Section 3.6 builds
models in the context of CE for these product categories. on the CBM innovation framework by mapping product design op-

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Fig. 4. Selected differences between the sustainability and circular economy concepts.

tions and key partners (value chain stakeholders) to align with viewed and implementation examples found CE appears be too im-
value proposition, value creation, value delivery, and value capture mature a concept to define CE conclusively this review adopted
in the context of a CE. Korhonen et al. (2018) suggested definition of CE as:
“an economy constructed from societal production-
3.1. What is the circular economy? consumption systems that maximizes the service produced from
the linear nature-society-nature material and energy throughput
Over 100 CE definitions exist (Kirchherr et al., 2017), indicat- flow. This is done by using cyclical materials flows, renewable
ing that CE as a concept has ambiguous boundaries resulting from energy sources and cascading-type energy flows. A successful
the perspectives of different CE actors. We have reviewed both re- circular economy contributes to all three dimensions of sustain-
search and industry perspectives. able development. Circular economy limits the throughput flow
The research literature suggests there is no commonly accepted to a level that nature tolerates and utilizes ecosystem cycles in
definition of CE (Yuan et al., 2008). But in brief circular economy economic cycles by respecting their natural reproduction rates”
can be said to be a logic for operationalizing the global political (page 39).
position of sustainable development, encapsulated in the now fa- A crucial aspect of CE stressed by Korhonen et al. (2018) is the
mous statement by the Brundtland Report: “meeting the needs of “global net sustainability” contribution that any CE effort might
the present without compromising the ability of future generations have, and that this is the single gold standard to assess an effort
to meet their own needs” (UN, 1987). Fig. 4 provides some key dif- against. Korhonen et al. (2018) identified six limits challenging the
ferences between sustainability and the circular economy based on implementation of CE and its “global net sustainability” contribu-
Geissdoerfer et al. (2017) and our own literature review. tion:
Following Geissdorfer et al.’s (2017) comparison, the circular • Thermodynamic limits,
economy paradigm appears more focused in goals and agency to • System boundary limits,
address environmental issues by using the economic system. The • Limits posed by the physical scale of the economy,
origins of CE, as presented by Geissdorfer et al. (2017), can be • Limits posed by path dependency and lock-in,
traced back to the late 1960s and 1970s, when a circular eco- • Limits of governance and management,
nomic system was suggested as a closed system, necessary to • Limits of social and cultural definitions.
sustain life on Earth, but also as a general systems theory and
part of industrial ecology (IE). Uniting these influential schools of Three of these challenges are to be considered unmanageable
thought is the aim to describe and grasp economic systems, as limits (thermodynamic, system boundary, and limits posed by the
well as how such systems are controlled or regulate each other. physical scale of the economy). Presenting at the Royal Institute
IE includes a proactive perspective for companies or governments of Technology (KTH) on the CE topic in February 2019, Korhonen
to use these systems concepts to build their roadmaps for sus- further stated that the remaining three challenges are very diffi-
tainable development. Here CE builds upon IE’s foundation, scal- cult, in some cases impossible, to manage. Cultural values, social
ing up to economy-wide system for sustainable development. The acceptance, and behaviors are known to delay, redirect, or under-
question is how governments and companies are to apply the mine the uptake of any new or innovative circular business models
CE logic for operationalizing sustainable development. This oper- (Singh and Giacosa, 2018). Limits of governance and management
ationalization question is, as Korhonen et al. (2018) state, “what (Korhonen et al., 2018) include sectoral alignment of interests,
the entire circular economy research field is about.” And answer- technology investments, and implementation challenges to realize
ing these questions may be a precondition for sustainable devel- and sustain new business models. As a CBM includes and aligns a
opment (Geissdoerfer et al., 2018). Considering the literature re- company value proposition, value creation, delivery, and capturing

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Fig. 5. Merli et al., (2018) review of the circular economy literature classified in pillars of the ReSOLVE model.

of value (Bocken et al., 2013), operationalizing such CE logic will model archetypes: technological, social and organizational innova-
require more parties and collaboration at various intra- and inter- tion (Bocken et al., 2014). A later study by Bocken et al. (2016) pro-
organizational levels than a more traditional (linear) product sales posed a framework covering both design and business model
model. strategies for CE in the following three overarching dimensions:
Regarding the general features of the CE research field,
Merli et al. (2018) structured a review of over 500 articles into ana- • Slowing resource loops
lytic categories, classifying the state of CE research into three main • Closing resource loops
areas of interest: changing social and economic dynamics at the • Narrowing resource loops
macro and administrative levels; supporting firms in circular pro- “Slowing” concerns creating longer-life products and establish-
cess implementation at a micro level to spread new forms of con- ing product reuse practices. “Narrowing resource flows” is about
sumption and product design; and discussing meso–level industrial resource efficiency and aimed at using fewer and less resources
symbiosis experiences. The ReSOLVE model dominating in indus- per product, as successfully applied also in most linear economy
try publications on CE, promoted strongly by the Ellen MacArthur business models, but in itself not addressing the speed nor looping
Foundation (2012, 2015, 2019) and McKinsey Report (2015), was of resource flows. “Closing” focuses on creating value from what
used by Merli et al. (2018) to categorize reviewed CE research liter- would traditionally be seen as “waste,” a concept that some ar-
ature. When classifying circular economy research literature in the gue no longer exists in CE (Bocken et al., 2014; Sumter et al.,
ReSOLVE categories (see Fig. 5) Merli et al. (2018) found a strong 2018). Others (e.g., Korhonen et al., 2018) argue that a dynamically
focus on closing the resource loop, with optimization a distant sec- changing societal temporal construction of the waste concept will
ond with only half as many occurrences. Among the “Loop” and strongly influence how material resources are perceived and man-
“Optimize” categories, waste reduction, recycling, and energy ef- aged in the design of CBMs. The next two sections aim to provide
ficiency appear to be dominating the academic debate. Examples a review of the state-of-art industry perspective and dominant re-
of business models that impact value propositions, those involv- search identified for the two chosen product categories. Mindful of
ing long-life or upgradable product design, or using new technol- the CE literature debate, as well its business model archetypes and
ogy to “Virtualize” parts of the product delivery experience remain strategy framework mentioned above, we reviewed the research
marginal in the academic debate. and industry literature looking for key characteristics of electric
vehicles and white goods respectively and collectively that might
3.2. Doing business in the circular economy – a research perspective clarify the role of design in the context of the circular economy.

Business models describe the rationality of a company, how it 3.3. State of the circular economy – An electric vehicles perspective
creates and captures value in economic, cultural, social, or other
contexts (Singh and Giacosa, 2018). A company designs its products Given that (1) the automotive sector has been pointed to as
and services based on its business model. For example, in a cul- one industry that might benefit economically from working to-
tural context where people prefer to use new products, companies ward CE (Groenewald et al., 2017a, 2017b), especially in relation
tend to adopt a business model based on introducing new products to remanufacturing (Benoy et al., 2014; Rizos et al., 2016), and
frequently with a shorter lifespan. In contrast, in a context where (2) in the near future a huge increase in end-of-life EVs (End-of-
people seldom buy new products or rather prefer to use second- life vehicle statistics, n.d.) and batteries from EVs will be generated
hand products, companies’ business models are based on produc- (Groenewald et al., 2017b; Richa et al., 2017) the electric automo-
ing long-lived products that survive fashion and keep their value tive industry is a relevant product category for CE discussion. The
in the market. In other words, product design and business models European Directive on ELV treatment has heavily influenced poli-
are interrelated, and a business model is considered a blueprint of cies in many countries and encouraged car manufacturers to recon-
the company’s operation (Singh and Giacosa, 2018). sider their product design and platform strategy to enable better
Bocken et al. (2014) assert that a business model framework ELV treatment. EVs are highly complex mechatronic systems that
shall distinguish value proposition, value creation, value delivery, functionally and spatially (at lower system levels) integrate hetero-
and value capture. Based on their framework, three groups of busi- geneous system components into their design (Kumar et al., 2017;
ness innovation form a comprehensive set of sustainable business Janschek, 2011). They are high-value and highly complex prod-

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ucts, although very standardized, with little deep unit customiza- versus budget car and large-car/small-car polarities. As such, their
tion: they typically use the same chassis, motor, battery platform, business model archetypes (Bohnsack et al., 2014) cannot be said
wheelbase, etc. Research on EV technology has focused on a few to be CBMs but may be suitable for linking to them or applied in
areas according to Yong et al. (2015): a CE context.
In the electric vehicle case, Tesla has explored remanufactur-
• Battery technology (Groenewald et al., 2017b; Speirs and Con-
ing and refurbishing strategies they presented in 2013 by enabling
testabile, 2018), especially LiPo batteries as the primary locked-
the swapping of battery packs for the Tesla S and testing a bat-
in battery technology in the EV market (Kurzweil, 2015)
tery swap station as a complement to their charging stations dur-
• Charging and power grid infrastructure (Poullikkas, 2015)
ing 2015–16 (Lambert, 2016). Swapping of battery packs was later
• Power train.
rejected by Tesla (Lambert 2021) and design for long life and
The power train is the categorization scheme based on a ve- module-level refurbishing now appears to be the company’s cho-
hicle’s hybridization ratio, ranging from hybrid electric vehicles sen design strategy (Lamber 2019a). Using high-end components
(HEVs) to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to battery elec- and manufacturing appears to have contributed to the fact that
tric vehicles (BEVs). HEVs supplement an internal combustion en- only a very limited number of Tesla batteries have actually reached
gine with a battery that is solely charged by the car’s opera- end of life (Lambert, 2019a). While the company uses third-party
tion, not the power grid, which distinguishes it from PHEVs. EVs recyclers to recover high quality recycled components and dispose
are powered only by their own batteries and electric motor(s) of other components with environmental responsibility. Tesla’s “Gi-
(Yong et al., 2015). Among them, Kumar et al. (2017) argue that gafactory 1 in Nevada, USA, cooperative endeavor with Panasonic,
PMBLDC (permanent magnet brushless direct current) motors are is said to be developing a “unique battery recycling system” of
state-of-the-art. its own (Lambert, 2019b; Tesla, 2018, 2019). The company believes
Despeisse et al. (2015) points out how today’s ELV manage- that closing the loop will result in significant savings over the long
ment mainly focuses on recycling the metal fraction of ELVs be- term (Lambert, 2019b; Tesla, 2018; 2019). These reports suggest
cause the technology exists and is well-established. However, the Tesla is pursuing several CE strategies, such as intensifying, nar-
evolution of material technology and the diversity of materials rowing, and closing resource loops to ensure long-term economic
used in newer vehicles also makes the recycling and recovery pro- performance and meet stakeholders’ interests in sustainability.
cesses more challenging. With current trends in material substi- Focusing on environmental and ecological net sustainability,
tution for fuel efficiency and safety, the percentage of electron- Tesla, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Nissan each introduced V2G and
ics, plastics, composites, and other nonmetallic parts is increas- G2V technology with the aim of allowing owners and stakehold-
ing. This trend is heightened by the exponential increase in EVs. ers to optimize electric supply and demand. A project initiated in
Zhang et al. (2018) found an increasing stream of hazardous ma- Denmark (the Parker project) has demonstrated V2G possibilities,
terial, namely rechargeable batteries containing the poisonous ma- including the economic and environmental benefits of using the
terials nickel, cobalt, and lead. Batteries are generally not designed technology (Graham, 2017).
for recycling or reuse, making the processes hazardous and costly, To conclude, both researchers and the EV industry have many
as well as yielding impure or lower-value recycled materials. This sustainability-related research interests, but most of these are spe-
further emphasizes the need for integrating end-of-life strategies cific to engineering design and economic questions, not the overar-
at the product design stage. ching issues facing CBM design and innovation. “Firms often took
Our keyword search for publications on electric vehicles and their existing business model for conventional cars as a start-
circular economy resulted in only 77 out of over 70 thousand ing point to incrementally adjust it to compensate for the down-
publications relating only to EVs until January 2021 (See Table 1, sides of EVs for customers, suggesting path-dependent behavior”
search #4). Among this literature, design and or business models (Bohnsack et al., 2014). It might be the case that smaller en-
issues relating to EVs and Circular Economy (See Table 3, search trepreneurial actors in the automotive industry are the only ones
#7) are very few. Here the focus is on the battery design, bat- structurally capable of transitioning to a CBM for an EV business
tery chemistry and charging. Nonetheless, strong indirect connec- (Bohnsack et al., 2014). Tesla may be such an actor (though now
tions exist, especially based on the sustainability logic in both re- large and still growing). Earlier mentioned Tesla lithium-ion bat-
search fields and their respective interests in energy efficiency, as tery plant “Gigafactory 1 can be considered as an candidate for
shown by the VOSviewer visualizations (see Fig. 3) discussed in the operationalization of a business model and design strategy close to
Section 2 (method). the idea of a CBM.
An EV is only an operation-zero-emission transportation op-
tion if the power generation infrastructure that charges it 3.4. State of the circular economy – A white goods perspective
has zero emissions, which is termed “well-to-wheel efficiency”
(Poullikkas, 2015; Yong et al., 2015). This is in line with the ar- For the white goods part of the domestic appliances indus-
gument that the global net sustainability contribution should be try, which business model(s) and design approach(es) appear most
the baseline assessment, both in an absolute and a comparative promising in the transition to a circular economy? To answer this
sense (Korhonen et al., 2018). As such, much of the research on question, we have considered both the voice of industry and re-
CE motivated by environmental sustainability directly relates to en- search. Publications by industry, consultancies, and other organiza-
ergy policy and energy grid research (Kempton and Tomić, 2005), tions supporting CE are typically easy to digest and to the point,
and especially research on possible interactions and energy trans- but their factualness or scientific method may be questionable,
fers between vehicles and the power grid (V2G, G2V). Charging unclear, or somewhat “greenwashed.” Research papers can be as-
schemes and infrastructure is thus important for the future sus- sumed to be more methodical and objective, yet frameworks, mod-
tainability of EVs, particularly irrational charging behavior and its els, and cases are conceptual, not (fully) realized or possibly con-
power-demand impacts (Poullikkas, 2015). textually out of date, due to the fast pace of industry and technol-
An overview of specific cases of EV development in relation to ogy developments.
their business models was conducted by Bohnsack et al. (2014), A 2017 report by the European Committee of Domestic Equip-
covering most of the big automotive actors making EVs at that ment Manufacturers (CECED, 2017), the European Committee of
time, but without a strong presence of either CE or sustainability Domestic Equipment Manufacturers, in collaboration with the
logic. Instead, the dominant analytical categories were luxury car United Nations University and based on Eurostat data, states the

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Table 3
SWOT Analysis of the Two Product Categories in Relation to a Product-Service System Business
Model.

PSS CBM Electric Vehicles White Goods Common

Strengths Service and leasing Rental business of

business already appliances
established in the emerging for high
automotive quality and
industry long-life products
Weaknesses Dealership model Fixed mounting in Product sales path
lock-in, service private dependency in
infrastructure home/kitchen channels and
system scale of limiting sharing manufacturers
change platforms
Opportunities Sharing economy Pay per use
and ridesharing enabled by IoT /
trend reduce the smart homes and
need for vehicles new revenues from
per capita consumables
Threats Privately owned, Competition from Recycling/recovery
autonomously linear paradigm cost, consumer
driving and and poor acceptance
perceived economies of scale
“zero-emission”
EVs may increase Policy
total traffic and counteracting
resource use reverse and
Culture/mindset remanufactured
and social status flows
symbol

penetration rate of domestic appliances per household in Europe is and reverse flow of used machines for efficient reuse, recovery of
saturated. Of an average 36 appliances per household in use, seven reusable materials, and treatment of non-reusable content. Another
are large appliances including refrigerators (2.6 per household) and study (Bressanelli et al., 2017) suggests that the adoption of such a
washing machines (0.9 per household). Production of new home PSS scheme, if incentivized and widely adopted, could also save
appliances uses 6 million tons of raw materials, of which the main 0.6% and 1% on the electricity and water consumption at a na-
components are steel (50%) and plastics (18%). The installed base tional level, when calculated for France, UK, Germany, and Italy.
of appliances in use is estimated at 8 billion products (67.3 mil- Bressanelli et al., (2017) account for the differences in energy and
lion tons). Again, the bulk of this material is steel (30 million water cost, as well as the washing habits and equipment perfor-
tons) and plastics (12 million tons). Similar to the European direc- mance per country. From a design approach point of view, any
tive for ELVs, a product responsibility was first introduced in the and all combinations of the Slowing-Closing-Narrowing framework
EU in 2002. Industry recycling schemes currently collect and treat proposed by Bocken et al. (2016) can be considered, as well as
about 1.7 million tons of appliances annually, but the total of dis- the opportunity of IoT, but their paper does not detail if there is
carded appliances is estimated at 5 million tons, 50% being large any trade-off or additional benefits for users, producers, or other
appliances (white goods) and 24% refrigeration products. No EU stakeholders. Also, business model variants are mentioned but not
data is available on the fate of discarded appliances outside indus- quantified as a net benefit. One CBM mentioned is sharing of ma-
try schemes, though a UK study European Committee of Domestic chines and even washing cycles, to improve the current average
Equipment Manufacturers (CECED, 2017) found that 80% or 3.6 mil- utilization of 4% of available time and 2.5% of theoretical wash-
lion tons of all discarded appliances are collected for recycling. The ing capacity. Another option is providing a more “full-service” PSS
rest, 20% or 1.4 million tons (mainly small appliances), ends up in offer, including detergent, water, and energy. Aside from potential
waste treatment or unknown destinations in about equal amounts. new revenues for the producer, more intelligent machines could
Based on our finding that recycling is one of the main re- optimize their consumption and cycle based on sensor inputs, ma-
search topics in literature linking domestic appliances with CE, to- chine learning, and variable rates for utilities. Despite challenges
gether with the CECED annual quantities of undocumented dis- due to the system boundary or limits of governance and manage-
carded product, we first explore the CBM and design options to ment as argued by Korhonen et al., (2018), one can envision in-
improve the recycling rate of appliances. This means closing the telligent and connected appliances playing a role in smart-homes
loop with the producers or cascading circular supplies (downcy- energy management and wastewater quantity and composition, to
cling), so no discarded appliances are lost as e-waste to unknown realize further “net sustainability impacts.” The washing machine
treatment and undocumented destinations. To achieve a better case, in different forms and extent, has been found in industry lit-
closing of the loop by recycling and reuse of end-of-life appli- erature though with little or no changes to its design. Bosch offers
ances with a circular business model, the product service system a “full service” leasing scheme that includes warranties over the
(PSS) model has been studied using system dynamics modeling contract term (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2012), but more re-
(Gnoni et al., 2017). Switching from traditional purchase of a ma- cently also introduced machines that, similar to competitors Miele
chine to monthly payments enables consumers to obtain a higher and Samsung, manage their own dosing of detergent. Miele was
quality machine than they would have considered if traditionally. recognized by start-up company Bundles as a superior perform-
Such washing machines can pay off with a 55% lower operating ing and long-lasting product to build up a pay-per-use business
cost for the washing location. The producers retain ownership con- model using the existing Miele washing machines, tumble dryers,
trol of the machine to ensure efficient operation and maintenance and dishwasher equipment along with a “smart plug” and con-
as well as controlled replacement with new best-in-class machines nected device to measure the energy use and calculate the usage

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to be invoiced (Bundles, 2019; Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019). spective, we used the term extended customer relations and seg-
The Bundles founder however also stated that Miele is the only ments. A CBM aims for the highest value utilization from prod-
washing machine designed for 100% reuse or recycling. Electrolux ucts or services, which means value capture is to account for the
also tested the service business model for the consumer market on “triple-layered” exchange and balance of sustainable values served,
the Swedish island of Gotland (Electrolux, 1999) but this initiative resource and energy captured, and lost per unit of time. This re-
appears to have halted due to the utility Vattenfall discontinuing sults in an economic, social, and ecological cost–and-benefit per-
smart metering service (Ellen MacArthur, 2012) demonstrating ear- spective, based on the logic proposed by Joyce and Paquin (2016).
lier mentioned system boundary or governance and management Companies may initiate different strategies when design-
limits ( Korhonen et al., 2018). Panasonic was said to be planning ing sustainable circular business models. As introduced earlier
to start fixed-rate rental service of appliances like refrigerators for (Section 3.2) Bocken et al., 2016 structured main strategies to slow,
household use as soon as 2020 (Kawai and Suzuki, 2018). In the close, and narrow resource loops. Geissdoerfer et al., (2018) em-
Panasonic case, the motivation is a strategy to “lock in” customers phasize ”intensifying” and “dematerializing” as key sub-strategies
and secure recurring revenues as it faces tough competition from worth separating out from “slowing”. “Intensifying” is defined as
Chinese and Korean appliance producers, rather than sustainabil- the use of resources and products through more intense usage,
ity or CBM. Similarly, Panasonic offers TV rental services, which such as sharing services and “dematerializing” a resource loop in-
it uses to gather data on TV channels users watch as input to tai- volving substitution of physical products and material resources by
lor promotions and develop new products and services. Panasonic’s services and software solutions.
examples of design and business model innovations may very well These strategies may be attained using both product and busi-
open doors for sustainable and circular design strategies as we will ness model design as a starting point (Bocken et al., 2016), but they
show in the next section, but presently seem not to be driven by should be evaluated and balanced as each may face its challenges
CE logic. or obstacles in the four themes and three layers of the framework.
Sustainable inputs are separated to emphasize sustainable sourc-
3.5. Toward a more circular economy by design ing of energy and virgin, recycled and recyclable material inputs,
but we will consider sustainable input to be an integral part of the
Despite the many possible archetypes for business model inno- value creation design strategies and its operation or consumption
vation, designing and implementing a viable new business model in value delivery.
is challenging in practice, particularly for circular business mod-
els. Rizos et al., (2016) identified six basic obstacles to establishing 3.6. Integration of design for circularity into business model
CE as a regenerative and restorative business model, compliment- frameworks
ing, and partially reinforcing earlier mentioned (Section 3.1) ob-
stacles to CE operationalization and “net sustainability impact” by Emphasizing the Circular Business Model Innovation framework
Korhonen et al., (2018): concept, Lieder et al. (2016) and Bocken et al., (2016) suggest that a
CBM should integrate environmental and economic value delivery
• Cost
and capturing strategies in the value creation process by design.
• Raw material availability
Only this way can product, supply chain, and life cycle manage-
• Cultural differences
ment (recovery) systems successfully implement a continuous flow
• Stakeholders’ interests
of reused products. Considering the strategies’ impact on product
• Policy and practice related to the economy
design requirements (Bocken et al., 2016), obstacles and challenges,
• Business environment.
enabling or even enhancing the relationship between circular busi-
Guldmann et al., (2019) noted these obstacles and introduced ness models and product design activities as discussed is worthy
a circular business model innovation framework where they have of exploration. Two supportive approaches to do this are suggested
addressed the economic, supply chain, and stakeholder impact of (Pieroni et al., 2018):
being circular by slowing, closing, or narrowing resource loops.
• Combining a backcasting approach to business model develop-
However, to be sustainable, the framework needs to be three-
ment with eco-design (Mendoza et al., 2017)
dimensional, addressing economic, social, and ecological impacts.
• Introducing circular strategies of CBM and product design
Addressing the dimensional issue, Joyce and Paquin (2016) pro-
(Bocken et al., 2016, 2018; Korhonen et al., al.,2018).
posed a framework widely known as the triple-layered business
model framework or canvas. For this paper, a simplified frame- Pieroni et al., (2018) found the adoption of such frameworks
work for circular business model design is proposed, based on as an add-on to the business model development process to be
Guldmann et al., (2019) and Joyce and Paquin (2016) (see Fig. 6). most common. Pigosso and McAloone’s (2017) review of design
Based on our literature review on business models, we will con- literature aimed to reveal how design science can contribute to
sider this framework as the suitable model for developing and the circular economy. Pigosso and McAloone (2017) scanned across
evaluating CBMs across product categories. The framework consists a range of topics including management and organization of de-
of earlier introduced themes or principles: value creation, value sign, design methods and tools, information and knowledge man-
proposition, and value delivery and value capture whereby each of agement, and design education. They conclude that design sci-
the themes establishes an economic, environmental, or social layer ence should focus on product, services and systems design and
to the business model. product-service systems (PSSs), in particular “Design methods and
The framework themes’ economic, environmental, and social tools” and “Design for X, design to X” (DfX). They also identified
layers can be summarized as follows. We defined the value propo- the need for business model research and a gap in “design infor-
sition as a quantity of product or service offered in relation to mation and knowledge management” to enable the transition to
the functional or experience value served. Value creation includes a circular economy (Pigosso and McAloone, 2017). Moreno et al.,
all forms of resources (sustainable inputs) utilized by design to (2016) present a “circular design framework” based on the evo-
provide this value. Value delivery is where and how the business lution of DfX that considers not only business model and design
model interacts with its customers and utilizes society, time, space but also governance through policy and regulation. Bocken et al.,
for the forward, reverse, and end-of-life flows of resource and en- (2016) use the example of Miele’s long-life design strategy for its
ergy to generate revenues. To emphasize this wider customer per- washing machines and modest growth ambitions at the company

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Fig. 6. Triple-layered circular business model innovation framework.

level to demonstrate the fit with a “slowing” and “sufficiency” ship holds psychological essentialism and encourages individuals
business logic. Moreno et al., (2016) find that several business log- to consume (Singh et al., 2018). Some consumers will prefer tem-
ics support a long-life design strategy ranging from supporting ser- porary ownership in the short term and sacrifice more durable
vices and the refurbishment business, building more emotional and economic life in the long term, following a “bird in the hand is
long-lasting customer relations, to enabling product-as-a-service worth two in the bush” mindset (i.e., not calculating net present
or sharing models. Such differences underline the expression, “all value of future product upgradability). In addition to these cogni-
models are false or at least imperfect, but some are useful.” Con- tive biases, additional nonacceptance risks of CBM were identified
cluding this section, we find there are many models and frame- by Planing (2015), such as the conflict of interest within compa-
works to support aligning circular economy business with design nies and misaligned profit-sharing along the value chain. The latter
strategy (RQ 2). By merging these frameworks and models into a can also be a result of a lack of governmental policy for products
proposed Integrated Business Model framework (Fig. 7), a more ex- at their end-of-life phase. These factors involving non-acceptance
plicit, cross functional, framework emerges featuring the key circu- of CBM may be more manageable in environments where society
lar value proposition and creation strategies to apply in design and and business organizations are genuinely concerned about environ-
business models and how these may be implemented in value de- mental degradation and governments are determined to formulate
livery and capture. and execute CE-friendly policy, whereas other environments will
be much more locked into a linear value delivery and capturing
4. Discussion paradigm with value propositions. The “bottom line” and bottom-
up constraints visualized in the lower sections of the integrated
Combined researcher and industry perspectives on CE and CBM framework (see Fig. 7) should not be underestimated. These will
reveal a growing field of environmentally focused sustainability need further attention as well as contextualization in future re-
and business logic. The academic debate on CE is dominated by search.
investigations into closing the loop of resource flows as far as pos-
sible or optimized and sustainable energy and waste management, 4.1. A design for X framework for electric vehicles and white goods
also referred to as narrowing. Industry CE perspectives appear fu-
eled by human ingenuity, technology, and emerging policy to bring The use of an integrated business model framework is recom-
economic advantages for companies as part of a larger social and mended for our two chosen product categories. To elaborate and
economic dynamics toward sustainability at the macro level. evaluate the proposed integrated framework (Fig. 7) for the chosen
The frameworks and archetypes for business model innovation product categories (EVs and WG) we studied selected papers from
proposed in CE research are useful both for reviewing and struc- the keyword co-occurrence analysis, websites of manufacturers for
turing the growing CE research, linking product category–specific CE-related strategy statements, implementation cases resulting in
and industry literature as well as adapting frameworks for CBM a more focused Design for X framework shown in Fig. 8. The De-
development to be suitable for our selected product categories EVs sign for X framework is intended to capture shared vision, guide
and WG (RQ 2). However, categorizing and selecting business mod- understanding and help explore scenarios of how a CBM may be
els according to product category from a manufacturer perspec- enabled and challenged along the value chain from value proposi-
tive is considered a top-down, inside-out approach. In many cases, tion, -creation, - delivery and -capture given a case context, includ-
such top-down approaches run a high risk of nonacceptance by ing product design category, sector situation, and key stakeholders.
consumers, due to cultural, social, or individual bottom-up and The Design for X framework uses all business model canvas el-
external (outside-in) factors (Singh and Giacosa, 2018). In many ements but centers on value delivery instead of value proposition.
cultures, usage of brand-new products or services is embedded The framework does not impose a specific order of work, and an
in a cultural belief in high power distance. Society undermines iterative approach across the elements is recommended. Based on
the concept of recycling and reuse when possession and owner- the challenges and obstacles presented in this review, we believe

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Fig. 7. Integrated framework for circular design strategies connecting with circular business models, applied on the circular business model innovation framework. Adapted
from Guldmann et al., (2019) and Moreno et al., (2016).

value delivery to be the critical bottleneck for a successful imple- uct values such as regular upgradation, maintenance, and refur-
mentation of a CBM, at least for the studied product categories. bishment at subsystems or module-level to prevent premature ob-
A manufacture is likely to serve multiple customer segments and solesce. A design for system change and multiple cycles of use,
channel configurations facing different cultural challenges or stake- reuse, and reconfiguration will be challenged by the dominant ve-
holder conflicts of interest. We recommend separate sheets to de- hicle ownership model, but necessary to avoid an unsustainable
fine segments and channels to explore customer relations and as- rate of new EV production. On the other side of the “X” spec-
sess multiple value delivery options for the same or similar value trum, white goods are very mature and low-complexity products,
creations. less frequently demanding upgrades or maintenance. The more
Notice how the boxes in Fig. 8 form an “X”. Reading from profitable domestic appliances are those that are “built-in” part
the top of the model, following Bocken et al., (2018), a company- of a larger more complex system: homes and commercial real-
specific “Value purpose and proposition” should state why the or- estate. Considering these segments home/households, facility man-
ganization exists and state why “Slowing resource loops” and “Cy- agement, real-estate, construction companies KPIs for value deliv-
cle products for as long as possible” makes business sense and ery in product life extensions (sustaining real estate value) and
guide design strategies and KPIs for value creation and delivery. hassle-free operation corresponds with design of long-life prod-
Reading from the bottom of the “X”, Bocken et al., (2016) and ucts, with consumables and services as “integrated” parts of the
Lewandowski (2016) suggest an access- and performance-based value proposition. It is therefore interesting to observe the industry
business model for complex products like EVs. This corresponds cases on subscription/rental models for both EVs and WG. These
with value delivery through sharing platforms and extended prod- appear to be growing and successful in at least some customer

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Fig. 8. Design for X framework for our chosen product categories.

segments, and coexisting with more traditional product sales and recycling process capabilities, overall life cycle energy cost, avail-
leasing, if quality (long life) and modularity (upgradation, refur- ability and cost of virgin material, and a feasible, two-way sup-
bishment and configurability) is properly considered in design. For ply chain infrastructure. These challenges capture the challenges
example, premature obsolescence for styling or new technological and obstacles identified by Korhonen et al., (2018) and Rizos et al.,
features, may be less frequent or decoupled by design of style- and (2016). These highly depend on which policies and regulations ap-
upgrade modules. In that case, a combination of long-life durable ply, which is therefor place between costs and revenue in the bot-
products and life extension “modules,” such as EV battery module tom value capture theme of the framework. Policy certainty and
refurbishment or upgrades or WG self-dosing/cleaning and energy global sustainable development rules can incentivize further circu-
metering modules can deliver value to suit the needs of different lar business model innovation and design of electric vehicles and
customer segments, but even channel partners (in forward and re- white goods, which for now may not be economically viable or
verse flow). limited by stakeholder conflicts of interest or linear business “lock
Across the center vertical axis of the “X”, we find the cur- in”.
rent state of CE strategies dominating our bibliometric research The current state analysis and the resulting integrated frame-
co-occurrence analysis and industry cases. These are focused on works and recommendations we presented answer research ques-
the narrowing of resources (energy, consumables, and materials), tions 1 and 2, we believe. It should be noted that firstly, as the key-
waste management, and recycling, which are a good complement word co-occurrence analysis and literature review confirmed, CE
and increasingly driven by policy and regulations, but not sufficient and CBM are still a limited priority topic in the academic debate
by themselves. These apply to both WG and EVs. Effectively closing and product design for these product categories. And secondly,
the loop of materials will depend on the predictability and control consistent with the literature (Camacho et al., 2018; Cherry and
of the forward supply chain in receiving quality supplies. These Pidgeon, 2018; Haines-Gadd et al., 2018; Korhonen et al., 2018),
supplies may come from recycled, remanufactured, or reusable we assert culture, consumer behavior in general and acceptance in
content of used products, but this in turn will also require de- particular at present may play a greater role than product design to
signer choices on material and design for disassembly, in line with determine the suitability and boundaries of discussed CBMs, par-

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Table 4
SWOT Analysis of the Two Product Categories in Relation to Design for Circular Economy.

Design for CE Electric Vehicles White Goods Common

Strengths Modularity of EVs Mature technology,

enabling upgrading long life, and
and life extension predictable wear
Weaknesses Battery Low-end, design Path dependency
range/weight for cost leadership and cultural focus
Technology change path dependency on stand-alone
rate product level
Infrastructure- efficiencies rather
related than system net
design sustainability
impact
Opportunities Charging, power Consumables and Modularity-
storage, and supply energy enabled
system change by management remanufacturing
design optimization and product life
extension
Material cost
saving from
circular supply
Threats Rare-earth Consumer IoT/connectivity
elements perception of content, increased
availability, hygiene issue, complexity of
End-of-life inhibiting reuse e-waste and
processing cost and recycled end-of-life
and waste materials or parts treatment, and
use. longevity

ticularly PSSs. This does not contradict there is great untapped po- tives and scenarios, but this remains to be further studied in future
tential for product design to realize CBMs but the value proposi- research.
tion and value delivery to customers and by stakeholders along the
value chain deserve to be centric in product design, rather than the
5. Conclusions
economic and environmental value captured (or lost) and related
challenges stated as limits and obstacles for the operationalization
Despite much research on CE and CBM alone, the connection
of CE.
between these topics with new innovative product design of EVs
or WG is very limited. Following a review of the literature, we
4.2. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for electric identified the gaps and trends in research and accentuated the im-
vehicles and white goods portance of developing business models considering cultural and
behavioral aspects of value delivery within a CE logic. Our review
Significant uncertainties remain on how to best shift to a cir- showed that thermodynamic and system boundaries may limit EV
cular economy. Experimentation in markets and product categories and WG (as well as other) companies from recovering and looping
where circular economy and sustainable development are matur- materials without losses, but strategies focused on design and cir-
ing will be needed to validate our recommendations. In order to cular business models have been recommended. Furthermore, we
answer RQ 3, we conclude with a more speculative analysis of found evidence that researchers struggle to provide more detailed
strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). A recommendations on the operationalization of these strategies and
SWOT analysis was conducted both from a product-service system circular business models. Identified key characteristics linking EVs
CBM perspective (Table 3) and Design for CE strategy perspective and WGs with circular economy, and innovation frameworks clar-
(Table 4). The columns exemplify some key clues of interest spe- ify how product design and business models trade-offs relate to a
cific of common for two chosen product categories EVs and WG. company’s value purpose (reason for being) and value proposition
These examples are based on the accumulated understanding from (versus competitors in a market). Obstacles to create, deliver, and
the literature review and authors own industrial experience. capture CE value will differ due to the product or industry sector-
The integrated framework for design and business model in- specific challenges or “lock-in”, product maturity and complex-
novation, elaboration on its application for EVs and WGs using ity, global and local value chain structure, applicable policies, and
the Design for X framework and SWOT example is intended as a regulations. Product design characteristics and strategies brought
useful and easy-to-replicate starting point for companies and re- together in this review aim to guide EV and or WG companies
searchers to reflect upon a more specific set of opportunities and toward a more holistic CE strategy evaluation. We conclude the
challenges. For this purpose, the Supplementary Material Informa- integrated- and Design for X framework suits not only the selected
tion provides a blank template (Fig. 9). This template does not pre- product categories (WG and EV) but most likely also other prod-
sume a product category but leaves space to evaluate two defini- ucts with similar characteristics as well as combined value propo-
tions of value creation side by side or combination of interacting sitions linking EVs and appliances in design and business models
value creations, as well as allowing the choice of any combina- (vehicle-to-home systems). Observations and reflections from the
tion of circular value delivery types. The choice, amount, and con- provided SWOT analysis or other product case self-assessment can
sistency of value delivery types (green boxes) is intended to pro- provide a valuable input to experiment with the use of the inte-
vide a clear classification and guide selection of appropriate sus- grated framework and Design for X framework. Only through re-
tainability metrics. The value delivery space is layered, encourag- peated practice in using such models, assessing their case-by-case
ing the user to assess multiple customer segments independently. implications, experiments, and observation of outcomes can we ac-
Other spaces may also benefit from exploring as design alterna- celerate our understanding of the role of design and validate circu-

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C. de Kwant, A.F. Rahi and R. Laurenti Sustainable Production and Consumption 27 (2021) 1728–1742

lar business models as suitable or unsuitable given a set of prod- Graham, K., 2017. Parked electric vehicles can earn money supplying the power grid.
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parked- electric- vehicles- can- earn- money- supplying- the- power- grid/article/
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curring literature reviews and benchmarking product categories on Groenewald, J., Grandjean, T., Marco, J., 2017a. Accelerated energy capacity measure-
CE topic should be captured reusing a consistent literature review ment of lithium-ion cells to support future circular economy strategies for elec-
tric vehicles. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 69, 98–111. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.
method(s) such as presented in this review, to gain understanding 017.
of trends, design for CE or CBM principles and best-practices. Groenewald, J., Grandjean, T., Marco, J., Widanage, W., 2017b. Testing of commercial
electric vehicle battery modules for circular economy applications. SAE Int. J.
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Declaration of Competing Interest
Guldmann, E., Bocken, N.M., Brezet, H., 2019. A design thinking framework for cir-
cular business model innovation. J. Bus. Models 7 (1), 39–70.
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. Haines-Gadd, M., Chapman, J., Lloyd, P., Mason, J., Aliakseyeu, D., 2018. Emotional
durability design nine—A tool for product longevity. Sustainability 10, 2018.
doi:10.3390/su10061948.
Supplementary materials Janschek, K., 2011. Mechatronic Systems Design: Methods, Models, Concepts.
Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin.
Supplementary material associated with this article can be Joyce, A., Paquin, R.L., 2016. The triple layered business model canvas: a tool to de-
sign more sustainable business models. J. Cleaner Prod. 135, 1474–1486.
found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.030. Kawai, Y., Suzuki, K., 2018. Panasonic Eyes Rentals For New Busi-
ness Model Nikkei Asia, December 13, 2018. https://asia.nikkei.com/
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