The objective is to provide the student with an
opportunity to obtain insights in circular economic thinking based
on business models, concepts, theories, and guest lectures given by
practitioners’ hands-on experiences from real world projects and
processes. Further the learning objective for the course is to
enable student to manage competently in a context of multiple
stakeholder collaboration, design and innovation processes with an
entrepreneurial circular economic mindset. The student should be
able to reflect academically on topics, processes, and work in a
cross-disciplinary context. To be awarded with the highest mark
(12), the student, with no or just a few insignificant
shortcomings, must fulfill the following objectives:
- To be able to apply relevant models, concepts and theories from
the syllabus to a selected project.
- To identify and analyze the relationships between these models,
concepts and theories mutually in relation to a selected
project
- To access critically the value of these models, concepts and
theories for developing circular economic innovations in relation
to selected projects.
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Circular
Economic thinking in competitive business:
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| Exam
ECTS |
7,5 |
| Examination form |
Oral exam based on written product
In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product
must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The
grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and
the individual oral performance. |
| Individual or group exam |
Oral group exam based on written group
product |
| Number of people in the group |
2-4 |
| Size of written product |
Max. 20 pages |
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Definition of number of pages:
Groups of
2 students 10 pages max.
3 students 15 pages max
4 students 20 pages max
Note that the exam is a group exam. If you are not able to find a
group yourself, you have to address the course coordinator who will
place you in a group.
Students who wish to have an individual exam might be able to write
a term paper in the course. Please see the cand.merc. rules for
term papers for more information. |
| Assignment type |
Report |
| Duration |
Written product to be submitted on specified date and
time.
15 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade,
and informing plus explaining the grade |
| Grading scale |
7-step scale |
| Examiner(s) |
Internal examiner and second internal
examiner |
| Exam period |
Winter |
| Make-up exam/re-exam |
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Re-take exam is to be based on the
same report as the ordinary exam:
* if a student is absent from the oral exam due to documented
illness but has handed in the written group product she/he does not
have to submit a new product for the re-take.
* if a whole group fails the oral exam they must hand in a revised
product for the re-take.
* if one student in the group fails the oral exam the course
coordinator chooses whether the student will have the oral exam on
the basis of the same product or if he/she has to hand in a revised
product for the re- take.
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It was estimated that by 2020 will approximately 60% of the
global population live in the urban environment, driven by a larger
possibility to enjoy rising incomes, which increases consumers
spending power, but at the same time is the rise of the consuming
class also putting a larger pressure on the finite resources
challenging a global sustainable production and consumption regime.
On August 2nd 2017 did the global village meet this
limit, a limit that is reached ever earlier each year. These types
of challenges have been addressed in the last four decades by many
researchers yet, it has just recently been addressed as a design
failure of the linear economy, emphasizing limitations in the
production and consumption system. This is not least visible in
huge amounts of waste that linear production and consumption are
causing, exemplified by Fresh Kills, a landfill in New York that
until recently was the largest manmade construction in the world
supersizing the Chinese Wall. It is now turned into to a huge
recreational area, located on top of a waste mountain. In arears
where there no longer is space for landfills, resources are
incinerated, with the result that the value of finite resources is
lost for future consumption and production re-cycles.
The EU-Commission published in 2015 the Action plan on Circular
Economy, a road map that should kick-of an agenda where the
objective is to change the linear production and consumption into a
circular business model. A main reason for the EU-Commission to
take this path, is that Europe does not hold large amount of mines
where the natural minerals can be sourced, which entails that when
the pressure on virgin resource extraction in the rest of the world
will increase with higher and more volatile prices on minerals and
materials, then will the European competitiveness in relation to
the rest on the world decrease. In other words does the Commission
see a future threat towards the labor market if production cannot
be conducted in a competitive manner due to high prices on
materials and other resources. From this follows that if European
corporations wish to be competitive in the single inner- and the
global market, then companies have to think differently and
innovate new business models that have a different take on how
resources are sourced for a continued production
The course therefore aims to give the student a deeper
understanding of the competitive possibilities for businesses of
the future given by circular economic thinking and the
opportunities by developing and market circular designs and
innovations are perceived as a competitive strategy.
Key business topics include the following related to circular
economic thinking:
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The role of business innovation
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The role of multi-stakeholder networks supporting these
innovations
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Innovation, design and Strongly Sustainable Business
Models
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Stakeholder and project management as cultural and psychological
processes forming the basis for these innovations
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The role of eco-labels, political frameworks and quantification
tools (LCA, PEF, MFA)
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The role of incumbents inertia - Lock-In/Unlock in the pursue of
Creating Markets
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