Circular business model innovation in consumer-facing corporations

Consumer-facing corporations have started setting ambitious circular economy goals. However, it is unclear what innovators in corporations do to help meet these targets. The literature on circular business model innovation (CBMI) has focused on business-to-business contexts, efficiency, and recycling, but lacks insight into the innovation activities within consumer-facing corporations to pursue higher strategies in the waste hierarchy such as repair and reuse. Because of the size and potential impact of such organizations, it is important to better understand these activities. The aim of this study is to investigate the essential activities innovators in consumer-facing corporations carry out as part of CBMI. We use a dynamic capabilities lens to review the literature on innovation activities according to the CBMI stages of visioning, sensing, seizing and transforming. The following research question is investigated: What practices and tools help corporations build dynamic capabilities during the CBMI process? We conduct in-depth interviews with key informants dealing with CBMI in three corporations (H&M, IKEA, and Philips), and use thematic analysis to analyze and map the data to the four stages. We thereby add a range of CBMI innovation activities to the current literature and provide additional guidance for practitioners in large corporations.