Remanufacturing towards a circular economy : the practitioners' perspective

Sammanfattning: The fashion industry has for several years been driven by fast cycles of cheap industrial mass production and unsustainable consumption. At the same time the burden on the environment has been significant. New business models to prevent the environmental impact have therefore been developed, and circular business models have gained interest. Remanufacturing as one of the central activities within circular business model is not a new concept for the fashion and apparel industry, but there is a lack of focus of how to prioritise and develop the concept. The focus of the study is to understand the relative importance of the challenges and the enabling conditions that influence the adoption of remanufacturing as transition towards a circular economy within the fashion and apparel industry. The purpose is also to show the practitioners’ perspective on a relatively new phenomenon within the fashion and apparel industry, which can clarify how to further prioritise and direct the development of the concept. Furthermore, it is also expected to identify and investigate what might be the main challenges and the enabling conditions within remanufacturing. This research is conducted through a mixed method with a deductive approach where knowledge about generic challenges and the enabling conditions within remanufacturing was collected from a systematic literature review, as a modification of a Delphi method. An utilisation of online questionnaires led to verify relative importance of challenges and the enabling conditions for an adoption of remanufacturing as a transition towards a circular economy within the fashion and apparel industry. The result from the online questionnaire was analysed through finding consensus among the collected data. The result shows that the most important perspective for an adoption of remanufacturing was related to business model-, costs- and consumer perspective. Specifically, the challenge with how to change the business model seemed to be essential, and the lack of financial benefits and influencing the consumer behaviour was received to be of great importance. Identified enablers were collaborations and communication. There was no agreement among the most important challenges and the enabling conditions. However, the operations- and core- perspective where considered important by many. Significant consensus was found between the practitioners and their opinion about what influences an adoption of remanufacturing as a transition towards a circular economy. The practitioners’ verification and opinions of challenges and the enabling conditions can serve as support for managers in an adoption of remanufacturing, and provide guidance regarding what is essential to consider for an transition towards a circular economy. This study highlights and identifies what motivates and makes the adoption of remanufacturing attractive, as a way to transition towards a circular economy, in particular it provides support and guidance regarding how strategies can be developed and where to focus further development.