Original title: Exploring How Usage-Focused Business Models Enable Circular Economy through Digital Technologies
In a usage-focused business model, a company provides access to a product based on how it is used, rather than focusing only on selling it. The paper examines how connected devices, large collections of data, and data analysis can help a company track appliance use and provide support. It identifies eight functions, including maintenance, upgrades, and help with products at the end of their life. The authors connect these functions to using resources more efficiently, keeping products in use longer, and closing the loop by recovering materials or products.
Imagine lending someone a kitchen appliance and staying responsible for it while they use it. It is hard to keep it working well if you do not know how often it is used or when it needs care. In this paper, the lending arrangement stands for a usage-focused business model, while information from connected appliances helps the company maintain, improve, and eventually handle them at the end of their life.
For appliance makers and customers, a usage-focused business model can change what happens after a product is sold: the company may track its use, maintain it, and support upgrades or end-of-life work. The paper maps how digital tools can support those steps and broader circular-economy goals.
The abstract describes a conceptual framework based on literature and a case study of one company in the household-appliance industry. It does not report measured environmental or business outcomes, or establish that the identified functions will work in every industry or business model.
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Exploring How Usage-Focused Business Models Enable Circular Economy through Digital Technologies — Gianmarco Bressanelli, Federico Adrodegari, Marco Perona et al. — Sustainability — doi:10.3390/su10030639
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.