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In an exploratory inquiry, involving informants in 19 global manufacturing companies in six sectors of the process industries, ideation, and concept integration during the pre-development of non-assembled products was studied. New and previously deployed constructs and concepts related to innovation in a process-industrial context have initially been developed, refined, and empirically tested. The findings demonstrate the importance of an early integration of constructs and concepts for raw material innovation, innovation-related process technology, and product innovation, as a prerequisite for successful ideation of new or improved products in the process industries. Companies in different sectors of the process industries can implement and use the novel "integrated framework" for contextualization and conceptualization of new product ideas in their development or reconfiguration of an enhanced work process for non-assembled products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve positive economic, environmental, and social benefits, many incumbent manufacturing firms attempt to apply circular economy principles to their business practices. However, these firms often struggle to change their existing linear business models to circular models because the steps required for successful transformation are still poorly understood. Based on a multiple case study of eight business model transformation journeys, this article proposes a roadmap for circular business model transformation. It provides a step-by-step process to enable circular transition, allowing companies to meet environmental, social, and financial objectives and proactively address sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2008.07.002 Byline: Ulrich Lichtenthaler, Eckhard Lichtenthaler, Johan Frishammar Abstract: This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the authors. The first author proactively informed the editor that the paper uses data from the same dataset as other articles by the first author, including Lichtenthaler, U. and Ernst, H., Research Policy, 36(2007)37-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2006.08.005. The first author takes full responsibility. Author Affiliation: (a) WHU -- Otto Beisheim School of Management, Technology and Innovation Management, Burgplatz 2, D-56179 Vallendar, Germany (b) Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ETHZ, Technology and Innovation Management, Kreuzplatz 5, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland (c) Lulea University of Technology, Department of Business Administration and Management, S-97187 Lulea, Sweden Article History: Received 8 February 2008; Revised 1 July 2008; Accepted 2 July 2008