When the circular economy diverges: The co-evolution of biogas business models and material circuits in Finland
以芬兰沼气生产为例，研究了同一经济领域内不同商业模式如何组织物质循环，分析了它们之间的竞争与共存关系，为政策修订提供参考。
The circular economy operates as an umbrella concept for attempts to find sustainable alternatives to linear ‘take-make-dispose’ production and consumption systems. Making a circular economy transformation has sparked interest in business models as means to decouple value creation and the use of virgin raw materials. However, so far, little attention has been given to the differentiating capacities of business models to enhance circularity. Using Finnish biogas production as a case study, this paper shows how business models operating within a single economic domain and within uniform institutional conditions differ in terms of how they organise material circuits. Four business models are differentiated based on what wastes and side-flows they enable to be recovered, and how. Because the business models co-evolve, their potentials are analysed in relation to the business model ecosystem. An emerging business model competes with the dominating model. The newcomer would help to generate more closed material loops, but the existing institutional landscape fails to provide support for its emerging modes of value creation and value capture. Two other business models qualify as niche solutions coexisting with the other models. Knowing the business model ecosystem opens up prospects for policy revisions that can foster a more circular economy.