138 6 Summary and Implications
concept in other industries such as medical imaging equipment (e.g. x-rays, MRI
and ultrasound) or the automotive industry where products are of higher value
than the products in the industries selected in this case study.
Second, experience with the concept varies (e.g. some cases just started to engagein circular economy and one case started ten years ago), and thus cases might face
different impacts and challenges from the implementation. However, an equal-
ized level of experience could not be realized in the case selection due to limited
availability of potential cases for this research project. To exclude these possible
variations due to level of experience, a homogenous sample would be required.
Hence, future research could follow up to explore if experience really influences
impacts and challenges by selecting more equalized samples on experience level
(e.g. the more experience an organization has with the circular economy concept,
the more positive impacts is it able to realize or if challenges change over time or
remain the same).
Third, the selected cases have their headquarters in four different countries(Canada, USA, Germany, and Switzerland). Circular economy is a concept in which
legislation plays an important role in the transition towards circular economy. Legis-
lative frameworks show major differences within the countries of the selected cases.
This might have an influence on the findings. Again, the reason for this selection
was the difficulty in selecting adequate cases. However, looking at future research
avenues, a comparison including the legislative framework of the countries might
bring interesting insights and contribute to a better understanding of the concept.
Fourth, the research comprises of a comparatively small sample size of ninecases with one interview per case supplemented by case documents. The research
approach was highly valuable to gain a detailed understanding of the implementa-
tion of a circular economy, the impacts, and the challenges. However, large-scale,
quantitative empirical studies would be necessary to validate the findings.
This study concludes that circular economy is a promising concept for organi-zations and is an inspirational source for organizations to re-think their products,
processes and business models. Circular economy hasn’t gained the interest of many
Western researchers so far. It promotes smart growth highly independent from
scarce resources. However, this independence is raised to question in chapter 7.1
since there are high uncertainties if the economic growth can be fed by the amount
of reused material. By fostering competition and encouraging organizations to
innovation the concept might be beneficial for organizations, environment, and
the society. However, it is necessary to evaluate and quantify these benefits in a
few years from now because the major changes the implementation of the circular
economy concept requires might offset its advantages. Benefits should be evaluated
on the three levels: economy, ecology and society in order to come to a conclusion