Prioritizing Barriers to Circular Business Model Innovation in Iran Renewable Energy Sector: A Multiple Case Study

Abstract

Sustainable development holds the key to assembling stable and secure societies and is crucial because it may be a thanks to conserve natural resources. Resource efficiency is becoming an increasingly critical factor for long-term success of all sectors including renewable energy. Circular economy is main pillar of sustainable development and may lead to resource efficiency, real environmental benefits and economic feasibility. The adoption of circular business models and devise new configurations and innovation at company level, may be a key element within the transition to a circular economy and creating values. In this paper, we prioritized the barriers already defined for circular business model innovation in renewable energy sector in Iran by investigating ten companies active during this field. The results indicate that almost all companies believed organizational level barriers should be considered mostly and therefore the key barriers are special product design requirements, hesitant approach to promoting the circular economy agenda and regulatory barriers, respectively. The final result of the research should aid managers in renewable energy industry to develop effective action towards more successful implementation of circular business model innovation.