CIRCULAR BUSINESS MODELS: THE ROLE OF SMART PRODUCTS

The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the role of sustainable strategies in the creation of smart products. The concept of Circular Economy is considered. As well as sustainable strategies' models, their characteristics and value creation through sustainable practices. Digital Product Passport (DPP) has a special place in the research. DPP remains the most recent and very relevant part of European Commission strategy in the sustainable development. It remains in the interconnection between sustainability and business development. A significant portion of the thesis focuses on the role of Scope 3 GHG emissions as a significant and influential component of the DPP. Thus, the DPP's role in promoting the circular economy and reducing Scale 3 greenhouse gas emissions becomes clear and justified. The ways in which products can be enhanced with digital technologies to become 'smart' have been explored. Consequently, the instruments such as big data analytics, mobiles, cloud computing, trace & return systems were described. The thesis includes a practical part where a company belonged to the manufacturing sector, particularly pumps production, was analyzed. It was concluded how the use of digital technologies such as IoT can affect the DPP of a company's product. As a specific part of the DPP analysis, Scope 3 GHG Emissions of DPP was taken. Subsequently, the company's internal marketing data was examined and analyzed in order to receive the answer how installing IoT to products would affect the company's CO2eq results. Therefore, to demonstrate how the marketing position and ESG results of the business can be changed.