What businesses might benefit from product repair? Insight from different stakeholders

Repair represents a more sustainable alternative to disposal as it maintains the functionality of products, whilst improving resource security and material efficiency. However, consumers may face a wide range of difficulties when making repair decisions due to uncertain residual life, the inconvenience and high cost of repair, concerns about access to information in repair manuals and service quality. Businesses are often considered responsible for these problems. This paper presents preliminary findings on how innovative business activities could resolve these issues and how business might benefit from these activities. Opportunities for, and challenges to, the adoption and execution of the activities are also discussed based on the practices of five businesses interviewed from three industries: furniture, textiles, electrical and electronic goods. The findings offer an insightful base for an upcoming study, with a larger sample, which will provide evidence for business stakeholders interested in developing commercial activities with a greater focus on product repairability and repair services as a form of business model innovation, and for policymakers to regulate and support commercial repair.