Title: Resource-miser business models

Authors: Walter R. Stahel

Addresses: The Product-Life Institute Geneva, P.O. Box 3632, CH-1231 Geneva 3, Switzerland

Abstract: In 1994, the |Factor 10-Club| was founded to draw the attention of engineers and society at large to the need to dematerialise the economies of industrialised countries by 90%, or a Factor 10. This ecology-based approach neglected the need for new business models. Around the year 2000, a new political vision of sustainable growth was formulated that was more influenced by economists and policy makers, that is still struggling today. The main challenge of resource efficiency is a change in the economic mindset that goes with it, from the industrial economy of production optimisation to a service economy optimising the performance of goods in utilisation. This paper sketches some of this challenge.

Keywords: new business models; higher resource productivity; performance economy; physical asset management; functional service economy; chewing gum goods; teddy bear goods; technical progress; sustainable growth; resource efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2007.015626

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2007 Vol.7 No.5/6, pp.483 - 495

Published online: 06 Nov 2007 *

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