Financing solutions for circular business models: Exploring the role of business ecosystems and artificial intelligence
研究了产品公司从线性销售转向循环商业模式（如产品即服务）时面临的融资挑战，探讨了商业生态系统中金融角色的作用，并展示了利用人工智能预测二手产品残值以评估金融风险的解决方案。
Abstract The circular economy promotes a transition away from linear modes of production and consumption to systems with circular material flows that can significantly improve resource productivity. However, transforming linear business models to circular business models posits a number of financial consequences for product companies as they need to secure more capital in a stock of products that will be rented out over time and therefore will encounter a slower, more volatile cash flow in the short term compared to linear direct sales of products. This paper discusses the role of financial actors in circular business ecosystems and alternative financing solutions when moving from product‐dominant business models to Product‐as‐a‐Service (PaaS) or function‐based business models. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates a solution where state‐of‐the‐art artificial intelligence (AI) modeling can be incorporated for financial risk assessment. We provide an open implementation and a thorough empirical evaluation of an AI‐model, which learns to predict residual value of stocks of used items. Furthermore, the paper highlights solutions, managerial implications, and potentials for financing circular business models, argues the importance of different forms of data in future business ecosystems, and offers recommendations for how AI can help mitigate some of the challenges businesses face as they transition to circular business models.