• Be able to apply relevant models, concepts and theories from the syllabus to a circular economic business case of interest.
• Identify and analyze the relationships between these models, concepts and theories mutually in relation to the circular economic business case challenges.
• Critically assess the value of these models, concepts and theories for developing circular economic business innovations and strategies.

The objective of the course is to give the student a deeper understanding of the competitive possibilities of circular economic businesses. Further to illuminate, the innovative and entrepreneurial business opportunities, by development and marketing of circular product, service and process designs as a competitive strategy compared to the linear take-make-use-waste approach. More precise is circular economic thinking related to “Managing the molecules from the point of sales – not only up to the point of sales”.

The rise of the global consuming class creates a larger pressure on the finite resources challenging a global sustainable production and consumption regime. On August 1^st 2018 did the global village meet this limit, a limit that is reached ever earlier each year. Researchers have for the last five decades tried to address the challenges of overshooting the ecological ceiling and shortfalls of the social foundation. Yet the challenges is just recently acknowledged, as market failures of the neo-classical growth economy, which lack incorporation of impact from fossil fuel energy input and use of natural capital as input resource to production and consumption.

In short is the circular economy an economy perspective that is; regenerative and restorative by design, powered by renewable energy, minimizes leakages to incineration and landfills, keeps the resources at highest possible value at all times, demands cross-sectoral collaboration, have a higher complexity than linear business models and value chains and constitute a the potential to decouple monetary economic growth, from growth in virgin resource extraction.   

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 followed by higher and more volatile prices on minerals and materials, then will the European competitiveness in relation to the rest on the world decrease. A main reason for the EU-Commission to emphasize circular economy as a business strategy that will have profound effects on future development possibilities for European corporations being competitive in the single inner- and the global market.

In other words does the Commission envision a future where companies have to think differently and innovate new circular business models with a different approach to how resources are sourced for production and consumption for continued European competitiveness.

Key business topics include the following related to circular economic thinking:

• Circular theory in general with related business model opportunities
• Product, service and business process innovation within the circular economy
• Multi-stakeholder networks supporting circular economic innovations
• Entrepreneurship, Design and Business Models for Sustainability
• The impact of eco-labels, political frameworks and quantification tools
• The role of incumbents and societal inertia - Lock-In and unlock when creating markets
• Stakeholder marketing, Ecological sustainability and strategic management
• Transformation of socio-technical-systems and processes