Mistra REES company Volvo Penta faces this question and is getting support from Mistra REES PhD Candidate Lisa Heldt and MSc student Martina Forbicini from the IIIEE at Lund University to develop answers. Today, they visited Volvo Penta’s Vara plant together with Niklas Thulin (Director of Electromobility, Volvo Penta) to learn more about the operations and speak with several company representatives.

Research on circular business models often presupposes that the company is end-user facing. This study focuses on how companies further upstream in the value chain can drive the transformation to circularity. The research develops circular business model options for first-tier suppliers that have limited access to the end customer, usage data or end-of-life stage. Among other findings, strategically developing internal and external collaborations with the right partners helps overcoming these challenges.

Stay tuned for more results from this Mistra REES study. Findings will be presented at Martina’s public MSc defense in early June and at the New Business Models Conference 2022 in Rome.