About the tool

The Business Ecosystem Mapping tool support you in getting insight into your current stakeholders. The tool can be used to map the interactions between your company and both the up- and downstream stakeholders.

The expected outcome of the tool is a shared understanding within the project team of the current business ecosystem and insight into interconnections that may help or hinder the circular strategy to be implemented. It is suggested that the ecosystem mapping is performed by a diverse group of participants representing different parts of the company.


How to apply the tool?

Step 1: Define what you are mapping
Decide whether you are focusing on a specific product or product group, or on the company as a whole.

Step 2: Create Stakeholder Cards
Create a card with your company on it and put it on the middle of the flipchart. Add cards for different stakeholders, both up- (e.g. suppliers) and downstream (e.g. customers). Also look outside your direct value chain (e.g. industry bodies, knowledge institutes, media, standard bodies and legislative bodies).

Step 3: Organise stakeholders
Organise the stakeholders according to affinity with your company (close: high affinity, further away: low affinity). Group as needed.

Step 4: Draw the most important flows
Identify service and resource flows, as well as finance and information flows on the diagram (use different colours to make the visualization easier). Indicate the direction of flows, as well as their relative importance or magnitude.

Step 5: Analyse
Discuss which stakeholders are relevant to look at for the design of circular value chains. Can you already identify interconnections that may help or hinder your circular strategy to be implemented?


When to apply the tool?

The Circular Ecosystem Mapping tool should be used in the analysing phase and help in defining what value the circular transition has for the different stakeholders (WB6).

The Circular Ecosystem Mapping is one of the tools presented in the CIRCit project to support various circular value chain configurations, seeking innovation through stakeholder collaboration (WB6).

Read more about the results of this focus area, explore other tools which can help in Collaborating and Networking for a Circular Economy and download the inspiring workbook here.

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