Industry has been considered a major actor regarding the actions and changes needed to achieve sustainable development. Different approximations to the topic have been developed to face the challenges of having a more responsible production of goods and services. These approximations include cleaner production, green design, ecodesign, eco efficiency, design for sustainable behavior, sustainable design, and more recently concepts like circular economies among many more. In all these approaches, the attention has been mainly on the production side while consumption has been tackled indirectly. The majority of laws and ordinances that have motivated the emergence of these approaches have traditionally been oriented to producers. However, an European Union (EU) directive launched in October 2019, called “right to repair”, could change this paradigm, empowering consumers by giving them more possibilities of repairing their products instead of discarding them. This paper presents a preliminary discussion about the effects this directive might have on how we consume products now and how we will consume them in the future.

Background: The Institute of Medicine reported that more than 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events occur annually in the United States. Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM) is the medication review process to improve clinical outcomes, enhance patient adherence, reduce drug therapy problems and reduce health care costs. University of Texas (UT) Physicians implemented a CMM program in several community-based clinics. We evaluated the effectiveness of CMM to reduce drug therapy problems and achieve medical cost savings. Methods: This was a retrospective, observational study of CMM participants from October 2015 to September 2016. Program participants included patients aged 18 years or older who had taken more than 4 prescribed medications and were diagnosed with at least one of the following chronic diseases: hypertension, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma or diabetes. Under the CMM program, a clinical pharmacist reviewed patients' electronic health records and created action plans to resolve identified drug problems. As part of the evaluation of the clinical process, two independent physicians conducted peer review on the recommendations issued by the pharmacist in order to establish inter-rater reliability of drug therapy problems and potential consequent medical services. The drug therapy problems were identified and classified into four categories: indication, effectiveness, safety and/or compliance. The average cost of avoided medical services was obtained based on cost extrapolations from the literature, combined with hospital discharge data. Potential medical services avoided were linked to the average cost of those services to calculate the total cost savings of the program from the payers' perspective.

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Sustainable product-service systems (PSSs) have proven to be a very good alternative for developing new business models and transforming traditional offers into sustainable ones. Environmental, social and economic benefits support the idea of developing this type of system. However, there are identified challenges that have stopped the expansion of the concept into the market. The framework that explains the principles and building blocks of a circular economy according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation can be an interesting lens to analyse the challenges companies faced when they wanted to implement a sustainable PSS. This framework is particularly useful to understand the internal and external forces companies are dealing with in a transformation from traditional business models to ones like sustainable PSSs that need special conditions of operation. Design for sustainability as an area of study will shift in the coming years to focus its attention on the requirements of circular economics as the paradigm of production and consumption. Sustainable products, services and systems will be developed according to the conditions established by those circular conditions.

Purpose With this work, the authors seek to advance knowledge in this field mentioned above. The purpose of this paper is to stress the role of two groups of components related to individuals’ knowledge: the intrinsic base of existing knowledge and exposure to external knowledge. Design/methodology/approach The present study examined the impact of knowledge in the business creation process. Data came from aggregated panel data at the country level taken from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor over a five-year period (2009-2013). Findings Results show that knowledge affects the business creation process. The research identifies the following factors as influential: detection of capabilities, entrepreneurial experience, and experience investing in other firms. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the research relate to the data aggregation at the country level. Future research should examine disaggregated GEM data for the three economic stages at the classification level. Practical implications The perception of self-efficacy appears to be critical in understanding the planning of intentional behavior because of its influence on the formation of intentions through situational perceptions of viability. Originality/value Generally, the literature that emphasizes the role of knowledge and entrepreneurship in small firms is theoretically limited and focuses solely on the role of knowledge in the decision to start a business.