| Abstract |
The Rogers model of innovation diffusion has long Matured in accounts of the penetration of new product technologies into society (Rogers, 2003). The contention in this paper is that this model is in fact only half complete, tor it deals exclusively with the uptake of new technologies rather than their retention or abandonment. Taking the Rogers model as a point of departure, this paper seeks to characterize consumers who retain technologies, then identify business models designed for those consumers. Implicit in the Rogers model is that existing technologies become obsolete, and hence displaced by the emergent technologies. In reality, a new technology may he additional to the suite of products available to consumers, and therefore not necessarily associated with the direct displacement of an existing technology. However, much product innovation is concerned with generational improvements in technologies or with new technologies that, while having no direct equivalent in current use, do indeed displace existing solutions. The paper therefore analyses the contribution of extended product lifetimes within circular economies. The relevance of this contribution is that product longevity is one means by which lifestyles characterised by material affluence are reconciled with resource scarcity. Product longevity has the potential to contribute to slowing down the 'velocity' of material flows within the circular economy, and hence defer the investment of further energy (and materials) into the next cycle of consumption, Bock et al. (2012) identify that there are several pathways by which business model innovation may contribute to more sustainable production and consumption. |
