Recycling Technology Innovation as a Source of Competitive Advantage: The Sustainable and Circular Business Model of a Bicentennial Company

La Farga Yourcoppersolutions is a bicentennial Catalan company that manufactures semifinished copper products. As copper is a 100% recyclable material, much of the sector’s production comes from secondary copper, scrap, not from mined copper. In the case of La Farga, not only a good part of its outp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Corral Marfil, José A., Arimany Serrat, Núria, Hitchen, Emma, Viladecans Riera, Carme
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:UVic-UCC
Repositorio:RiUVic. Repositori institucional de la UVic-UCC
OAI Identifier:oai:dspace.uvic.cat:10854/7615
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10854/7615
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147723
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Economia circular
Innovació del model de negoci circular
Coure -- Indústria i comerç
Reciclatge (Residus, etc.)
Descripción
Sumario:La Farga Yourcoppersolutions is a bicentennial Catalan company that manufactures semifinished copper products. As copper is a 100% recyclable material, much of the sector’s production comes from secondary copper, scrap, not from mined copper. In the case of La Farga, not only a good part of its output comes from recycled copper, but it is also a world leader in copper-recycling technology. The objective of the paper is to describe La Farga’s business model from the point of view of sustainability and the circular economy. What have been the causes and effects of recycling on the business model? Regarding the methodology, the work follows the research strategy of the case study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from a variety of primary and secondary sources. Economic, social and environmental sustainability of the firm was assessed through financial and nonfinancial indicators; value-added generation and distribution were calculated from accounting data; and the circular business model was analysed via a thematic analysis: its components, innovation, enablers and barriers. Results show that the presence of barriers forces the implementation of circularity to be gradual and to combine linear and circular models to maintain competitiveness.