Business Models: from Linear to Circular to Regenerative

Regenerative Business Model of a Beer Brewery, source: https://vimeo.com/channels/asknaturenuggets

In the 25+ years that I worked in regular companies in The Netherlands as Marketing and Business Unit Manager, I never knew what I am going to tell you now. But luckily the world is changing, we are innovating on all fronts.

Not only technologies are inspired by nature, but also the business models that drive our economy. And let me state some facts from the beginning:

• Economy and ecology share the same etymological root
• The economy is made by people, so people can change the basics
• Humans have a heart, so the economy should be driven by heart as much as by a fair money-system
• Humans are part of ecosystems, so we should take the complete web of life into account when (re)designing our economy

The good news is: it can be done! And it’s happening all over the world…

Linear Business Model, the Usual One

Let me start with the business model I knew for so long: the linear one. We take resources (creating pollution by mining, etc.), produce a product (often toxic, creating waste, pressure on people, pollution of air, water, soil, etc.), supply to a market (creating waste, pollution, unfairness between wealthy and poor countries, etc.) and in the end, all…