How B2B suppliers articulate customer value propositions in the circular economy: Four innovation-driven value creation logics

Abstract

The transition toward the sustainability-driven circular economy is emerging across global markets. The circular economy refers to a regenerative and restorative economic system that aims to optimize resource usage and reduce waste, and offers potential to innovate novel value creation opportunities in B2B markets. However, how the value creation opportunities in circular economy are captured in supplier firms’ customer value propositions (CVPs) remains underexplored. To address this critical gap, we develop a theoretical framework that illustrates the architecture of CVPs, and use it to conduct an extensive multiple-case study across several industries, offering types, and firm sizes, analyzing 74 documented CVPs in the Finnish circular economy. The results reveal that CVPs in the circular economy embody four alternative value creation logics (resurrect, share, optimize, and replace value) that are built on different forms of innovations, and highlight different design elements. This study advances current marketing theory by illustrating how suppliers articulate CVPs in the circular economy, and highlighting the key differences to prevailing insights from linear economy. For managers, this study offers important insights into designing CVPs that resonate with circular economy–oriented customers and broader stakeholders.