Data Sources in Data Driven Circular Business Models: An explorative Approach

Abstract

This article discusses the role of data sources in data-driven circular business models (CBMs) that support sustainability. The circular economy (CE) is a response to the challenge of meeting sustainability targets, and CBMs have gained traction in recent years. Big data is seen as a driving force for the new circular economy, and can help overcome barriers to CBMs. Data sources are key elements of data-driven solutions, and this paper collects use cases that contain data-driven business models that contribute to CE, analyzes those use cases, identifies circular strategies in businesses, and displays the connection of them with data sources. The most frequently used circular strategies in the analyzed use cases are Reduce, Rethink, and Recycle, and the most frequently used data sources are Product-generated Data, Process Data, Open Data, Geographic Data, and User-generated Data. The paper recommends businesses focus on collecting product- and user-generated data for implementing circular strategies in their business model.