Circular Business Models in Industry

The growth of environmental problems and the intensification of consumption foreground the search for ways to modernize the industry aimed at the transition to sustainable development. The answer to emerging challenges can be a transition to circular business models in industry. This paper continues our study of the business models transformation in industry and contributes to the study of the transition to circular business models. The object of our study is the circular business models in industry. The objective of this study is the systematization of the notions and approaches to circular business models in industry. The methodology of the authors is based on the subject-activity approach. Research works of scientists-economists, data of our own research reports were used to write this article. General scientific methods, system approach, institutional approach were applied during the research. We developed a classification criterion for circular business models and identified four types of circular business models focused on the production of goods with a long life cycle, on extending the life cycle of manufactured goods, on creating a circular life cycle of goods, on eco-neutral completion of the product life cycle. This allows advancing in the field of the research of the circular economy and the place of industrial enterprises in it. We also showed the significance and limitations of the conclusions as well as the prospects for further research.