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Abstract: Start-ups renew circular industries as they can develop and test new business opportunities in a more committed way than established larger businesses. There is, nevertheless, a lack of empirical research on what startups contribute to circular ecosystems. This study analyses circular start-up cases collected from a large international database. It applies network analysis to the examination of start-ups' market offerings, activities, and business strategies. Eight start-up clusters are recognized, with the largest three involving design strategies in the fashion industry which transform waste to production resources, new business models in leasing and renting in the manufacturing industry, and product life extension in the service industry. The remaining five circular start-up clusters concern electricity grids, recycling and waste in construction, education and its impact, design concerning well-being and environment, and sport kits. Our findings provide an empirical foundation for the role of start-ups in circular ecosystems.
Keywords: Start-ups; circular economy; circular start-ups; market offerings; business strategies; fashion; production; services; network analysis; database cases.
1. Introduction
Studies on circular business models and ecosystems have examined mostly established companies and overlooked the contributions of start-ups and how these change entrepreneurial markets (Rok and Kulik, 2020). In the field of circular economy, start-ups have also been found to bridge a gap between conventional businesses and environmental non-profits, and accordingly given rise to the formation of both for-profit and non-profit circular start-ups (Henry et al., 2020). Circular start-ups are unusual in that they often connect business targets with non-profits as well as environmental and social aspects, with the specific focus on circularity providing more practical tangibility than other broader sustainability concepts. Although circular start-ups are likely to be important change agents in the circular economy, there is limited knowledge of the sectors in which they operate and which emergent business ecosystems they generate - which is what this study explores.
Our research in progress seeks to develop a better understanding of how start-ups have established themselves in emerging circular economy ecosystems. We are particularly interested in examining which business strategies start-ups rely on in their market offerings across different industries. To address this question, we perform a network analysis of circular economy initiatives in the fields of fashion, manufacturing, and services in 40 countries collected from a large...