Circular Economy as a Glocal Business Activity: Mobile Phone Repair in the Netherlands, Poland and China

Abstract

Repair of mobile phones fits with the vision of a circular economy in an urban context and with the Sustainable Development Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. Drawing on the literature about firm level competitiveness and closed-loop design through repair, remanufacturing or recycling, we analyze the business ecosystem of independent mobile phone repair shops in the Netherlands, Poland and China as a glocal business activity. The analysis is based on primary data collection through a questionnaire to independent repair shops in the Netherlands (n = 130), Poland (n = 443) and China (n = 175) with response rates of 13%, 12%, 40%, respectively; and 17 interviews in the Netherlands, 40 in Poland, and 70 in China. Findings indicate that to maintain a strong position in the local market and to sustain the trust of customers, independent mobile phone repair shops offer a range of customized services based on direct contact with customers. In China, the increasing prices of spare parts and falling prices of mobile phones constitute the most important challenges, whereas in the Netherlands and Poland, the most important challenges are the competitive pressures from informal repair activities, and new repair shops. Our research also revealed that repairability strongly depends on the global manufacturers’ circularity choices.

A Critical Review of the Role of Repair Cafés in a Sustainable Circular Transition

“…However, the decision concerning whether to repair or not is initiated by the users of the products, making consumers' repair behaviour key to a sustainable transition [28,29]. At the consumer level, drivers and barriers to repair are affected by a variety of factors stemming from technical, emotional and value aspects [29], including a lack of financial means to buy new products, saving money [30] and increasing environmental awareness [14]. This has led to the emergence of consumer groups living less wasteful lifestyles, including 'self-repairers' [31].…”

“…In the category of electronic products, media technologies are one of the most common types of products brought to repair cafés [47]. This includes computers and computer equipment [9,47,52], laptops [52], smartphones and mobile phones [14,47,52,53], radios [47,52], and slide projectors [52].…”

“…Household items are also commonly brought to repair cafés. Firstly, these include household electrical and mechanical devices [14,45,48], in particular small domestic appliances [50] like toasters [44,53] and vacuum cleaners [44]. Secondly, clothes [30,44,45,48,53]including shirts with loose buttons [44] and the 'hem of their trousers' [53] (p. 70)-are brought to repair cafés, which gives a glimpse of the type of repair carried out on clothes.…”

“…The international Repair Café Foundation has the following goals: (a) to bring back repairing into local society in a modern way; (b) to maintain repair expertise and to spread this knowledge; (c) to promote social cohesion in the local community by connecting neighbours from very different backgrounds and with different motives with each other through an inspiring and low-key event (https://repaircafe.org/ wpcontent/uploads/2013/09/Information_package_Repair_Cafe_USA.pdf) (accessed on 13 March 2021). Thus, repair cafés are examples of community repair in which the community aspect is in the foreground [10] and the drivers to repair are based on shared value creation or sustainable thinking [14].…”

Achieving the Circular Economy: Exploring the Role of Local Governments, Business and Citizens in an Urban Context

“…Türkeli, Huang, Stasik and Kemp's article, titled "Circular Economy as a Glocal Business Activity: Mobile Phone Repair in the Netherlands, Poland and China" [3], looks into the repair of mobile phones. Repairing mobile phones is an excellent example of circular economy in an urban setting.…”