Strategies to innovation and value creation in the circular economy: a contextual analysis of Brazilian e-waste recycling

Keywords: Economic Geography. Circular Economy; Global Value Chains; Sustainability Transitions; E-waste; Brazil
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 69

Abstract

This presentation investigates underlying strategies to innovation and value creation in circular economy value chains. The transition towards a circular economy is receiving growing attention in the literature. Contrasting prevailing linear economy conceptions, the circular economy advocates that material resource extraction can be minimized through the creation of closed-loop production cycles and value chains. Discarded waste electric and electronic equipment (e-waste) represents both an emblematic case study of already implemented circular economy practices and at the same time uniquely organized value chains. Studies into e-waste thus expand scholarship of global value chains beyond the final customer and also go beyond the forefronts of contemporary technological advancements in sustainability transition studies. However, recent calls to stronger investigate the role of innovation and value creation in e-waste recycling chains have mostly been left unanswered. Bridging this gap, this presentation undertakes a qualitative empirical analysis of the Brazilian e-waste value chain – an emblematic case of a circular economy value chain. The findings show varying strategic approaches to innovation and value creation in the Brazilian e-waste value chain. Echoing calls towards a broadened understanding of innovation in contemporary debates, the findings stress the importance of different forms of innovation and value creation in e-waste recycling. In the context of circular value chains, such innovation and value creation strategies potentially transcend prevailing notions of technological innovation, including frugal and bricolage approaches to innovation. Finally, the findings also suggest varying propensities towards innovation and value creation contingent upon actors’ positioning within value chains.