What is valuable?
What is valuable? Value can be defined in a lot of ways depending on the context, but there is one characteristics that applies at all stages.Value can be added through adding extra benefits that are useful to a person or group. And sometimes, this extra benefit actually shows up not as an addition but rather as a subtraction. Sometimes less is more.
This can be one way to think about waste and what leads to the creation of it. As it is right now, consumerism is really the backbone of our economy, thus we are lured to buy more and consume more. But do we actually need it? I think this is a philosophy that can be applied not just in our personal lives but also in the way business is done. Instead of business models that focus on its customers buying more, alternative business models could be more valuable and more in harmony with nature. Such alternative models include product rental/leasing instead of ownership and integrated life cycle design that builds upon a circular economy. The Product Service System (PSS) could be considered the pinnacle of this philosophy, as it seeks to create business models that are as balanced as possible in terms of what would be better for the environment as a service instead of a product, or a product instead of a service.
What are your thoughts on this topic/issue?
Innovation Specialist
3yI agree with much of this, Tivadar. And isn't it interesting that, during the coronavirus crisis when many of us have been locked down for weeks at a time and told to only shop for essentials, the economy is collapsing. What does that tell us?!?!