International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

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International Journal of Production Economics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe

The role of 3D printing and open design on adoption of socially sustainable

supply chain innovation
Ahmad Beltaguia,∗, Nathan Kunzb, Stefan Goldc
a
Operations and Information Management Dept, Aston Business School, Birmingham, United Kingdom
b
Coggin College of Business, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, USA
c
Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Kassel, Germany

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Social sustainability is a growing concern for supply chain management, but questionable practices endure due
Additive manufacturing to insufficient stakeholder pressure on the market leading firms. Meanwhile small, socially oriented firms may
3D printing have the will but lack the means to change dominant practices when entering a market. In this context 3D
Open source innovation printing may offer a solution, by leveraging the voluntary effort of individuals through open design and dis-
Social sustainability
tributed production. A system dynamics approach is applied to the case of a socially oriented mobile phone
Open design
System dynamics
producer, whose fair supply chain practices may initially appeal only to a niche market. We examine how open
design of 3D printed mobile phone accessories helps overcome size-related resource constraints, facilitate market
growth and ultimately generate sufficient consumer demand to alter the market leaders’ supply chain practices,
in favour of social sustainability. Our findings demonstrate the interaction between availability of 3D printers,
consumer attitudes to social sustainability and the market entry. We discuss the implications for technology
management, namely that 3D printing can help overcome resource constraints to support the diffusion of socially
sustainable supply chain innovation.

1. Introduction supply chains (Zorzini et al., 2015). The Brundtland report defines
sustainable development as “a development that meets the needs of the
The increasing adoption of three-dimensional printing (3DP) tech- present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
nologies in a variety of industries necessitates strategic decisions on their own needs” (WCED, 1987, p.8). This is operationalised through
how to use them (Mellor et al., 2014; Weller et al., 2015). This set of the triple bottom line (TBL) that places environmental and social di-
highly flexible, digital production techniques offers many opportunities mensions on the same level as economic sustainability (Dyllick and
in supply chain management (SCM) (Caviggioli and Ughetto, 2019). Hockerts, 2002). Referring to this concept, Hassini et al. (2012, p.70)
These include: minimising material wastage (Huang et al., 2013); re- define sustainable SCM as “the management of supply chain operations,
ducing supply chain complexity through design consolidation (Khajavi resources, information, and funds in order to maximize the supply chain
et al., 2014; Rogers et al., 2016; Candi and Beltagui, 2019; Knofius profitability while at the same time minimising the environmental
et al., 2019); cost-effective low-volume production, e.g. for digital spare impacts and maximizing the social well-being”. For the purpose of this
parts (Thiesse et al., 2015; Baumers et al., 2016; Chan et al., 2018; study, we focus on social sustainability within supply chains. According
Chekurov et al., 2018) and reduced transport cost through localised to the GRI G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, social sustainability
production (Bogers et al., 2016; Schniederjans et al., 2017). These refers to human rights (e.g., forced labour), labour practices and decent
benefits suggest opportunities to improve (environmental) sustain- work (e.g., occupational health and safety), product responsibility (e.g.,
ability (Blowfield and Johnson, 2013; Despeisse et al., 2017). An op- customer privacy), or business-society interaction (e.g., local commu-
portunity that has received much less attention, however, is how 3DP nities) (GRI, 2013). We consider a sustainable supply chain innovation
may support social sustainability in supply chains. to be the introduction of practices that make improvements to one or
Although environmental sustainability has become an important more of human rights, good labour practices, product stewardship, and
concern for SCM theory and practice (Matthews et al., 2016), relatively good business-society relationship.
less attention has been paid to social sustainability in physical goods Due to the complexity, lack of transparency and physical distance of

*
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Beltagui), [email protected] (N. Kunz), [email protected] (S. Gold).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.07.035
Received 11 April 2018; Received in revised form 25 July 2019; Accepted 28 July 2019
0925-5273/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Ahmad Beltagui, Nathan Kunz and Stefan Gold, International Journal of Production Economics,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.07.035
A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

supply chains, consumers often lack awareness of the issues as well as reduces their distance from the supply chain and hence can allow them
motivation to enforce change (Gold et al., 2017). For example, wages to better appreciate and respond to the sustainability issues. It also le-
and worker safety in some Chinese mobile phone factories improved verages consumers' time and intellectual resources, which may com-
only when media reports of suicides raised Western consumers' pensate for firms’ resource shortages. However, the interactions be-
awareness of working conditions (Chan and Pun, 2010). In clothing tween the constructs of interest are complex and difficult to investigate.
supply chains, social responsibility is often overlooked until accidents To this end, we apply a system dynamics approach. This method allows
such as the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh raise consumers' the complex interactions of multiple factors such as the decisions and
awareness of working conditions (Huq et al., 2016). Public attention responses of consumers and competitors, to be accounted for in creating
increased in the aftermath of the accident, which caused over a thou- possible future scenarios (Forrester, 1994. The results suggest that 3DP
sand deaths and led to prosecution of managers. Yet this awareness did enabled open design can indeed help a new firm to improve social
not translate into effective corrective action by businesses or policy sustainability in a supply chain, and the system dynamics method al-
makers and saw minimal long-term impact on social sustainability in lows explanation of the mechanisms by which this occurs.
this supply chain (Chowdhury, 2017). Pagell and Shevchenko (2014) We investigate the case of Fairphone, a Dutch start-up firm that
argue that large firms are unlikely to improve social sustainability seeks to introduce innovation in the mobile phone supply chain through
without sufficient stakeholder pressure, meaning that until consumers an emphasis on fairness and transparency (Chen and Slotnick, 2015). It
stop buying their products, producers have no incentive to adopt sus- has also sought to use open design and 3DP (Fairphone, 2014) to en-
tainable SCM. In the absence of regulation or decisive consumer pres- gage consumers in order to achieve its sustainability goals. Fairphone
sure, change in an industry's SCM practices are more likely to come therefore offers a useful setting in which to investigate sustainability,
from small, innovative and socially-driven firms rather than larger, 3DP and open design. The remainder of the paper is structured as fol-
market leading manufacturers (Shevchenko et al., 2016). Yet the po- lows. Section 2 sets out the background by introducing supply chain
tential of small firms to change the prevailing practices are severely innovation, sustainable supply chain innovation, 3DP and open design.
hampered by resource constraints and limited market share. 3DP may These concepts are connected in the systems dynamics model, which
offer a means to overcome these constraints (Minetola and Eyers, examines how 3DP enables customers concerned with sustainability to
2018). benefit from the efforts of individuals who use open design to create
Research on 3DP and market entry offers several competing sce- printable phone accessories. Section 3 explains how system dynamics is
narios. Where customers value variety, the use of 3DP can give an used as a modelling tool and describes the Fairphone research setting.
important advantage to a challenger, potentially forcing the incumbent Section 4 describes the model, drawing on innovation diffusion and
to exit the market (Hartl and Kort, 2017). If the incumbents adopt 3DP, open source innovation theories to present three categories of custo-
however, the expectation is that economies of scale (in production) and mers, whom we term Fairness, Openness and Regular customers. The
scope (in marketing and procurement) would make it difficult for new model parameters are explained and aligned with empirical data on
entrants to compete (Weller et al., 2015). To date, such predictions Fairphone's sales and performance, before the scenario dependent
have not been empirically tested. Although there is evidence that 3DP parameters related to 3DP and sustainability are explained. The find-
can be rapidly adopted in an industry, for example hearing aids ings are presented in section 5 and discussed in section 6 in relation to
(D'Aveni et al., 2015), in such cases the technology is adopted by the theory and practice. The study makes three contributions to knowledge.
incumbents not entrants. Additionally, while the possibilities for con- Firstly, it provides evidence that small, firms offering socially sustain-
sumer 3DP have been discussed (Anderson, 2012; Fox, 2014; Bogers able supply chain innovation (SCI) can achieve market penetration – in
et al., 2016), the impact this may have on market entry has not yet been this case, Fairphone is now offered alongside more established brands,
seen. by a number of mobile phone network operators because sales have
3DP allows firms to engage with their customers, for example al- reached a sufficient level. We propose this can lead to wider diffusion of
lowing more customised and personalised products (Bogers et al., 2016; socially sustainable SCI as a defence by incumbents who otherwise have
Steenhuis and Pretorius, 2016). The digital nature of 3DP makes it limited incentive for sustainability. Secondly, it demonstrates the in-
possible for small firms to share resources (De Jong and De Bruijn, fluence that early adopters have on the diffusion of socially sustainable
2013; D'Aveni, 2015) and innovate more efficiently (Schniederjans SCI in an established supply chain. Our findings suggest that the soci-
et al., 2017; Rindfleisch et al., 2017). It also opens possibilities for etal climate towards sustainability, i.e. how many people are suffi-
customers to contribute through open design (Raasch et al., 2009; West ciently concerned to buy sustainable products, has a pivotal role in
and Kuk, 2016; Chan et al., 2018; Dalenogare et al., 2018) and by determining whether widespread adoption of SCI is realised. Finally, we
supporting the maker movement (Anderson, 2012; Waller and Fawcett, make a contribution to the understanding of 3DP. Our findings de-
2014; Halbinger, 2018). 3DP may help change the relationship between monstrate that consumer 3DP may support market entry when small
producers and consumers, such that firms support customers who de- firms leverage open design to overcome their resource constraints.
sign and potentially produce products (Van Abel et al., 2011; Chan
et al., 2018). To date, no context has been identified in which such 2. Background
predictions have been empirically tested.
In summary, two barriers to social sustainability in supply chains 2.1. Supply chain innovation
can be identified from literature. Firstly, the distance between con-
sumption and production means that consumers lack awareness of so- Supply chain innovation (SCI) has been broadly defined as “a
cial sustainability and hence are unlikely to demand improvements. change (incremental or radical) within the supply chain network,
Secondly, while small, innovative, new entrants may be most likely to supply chain technology, or supply chain processes (or combinations of
emphasise social sustainability, they lack the resources to challenge these) that can take place … in order to enhance new value creation for
market leaders and hence influence supply chains. The aim of the re- the stakeholder” (Arlbjørn et al., 2011, p.8). Thereby, extant research
search is to investigate whether and how 3DP may help overcome both has explicated that the elements of supply chain innovation—supply
barriers. We therefore pose the following research question: chain network structure, supply chain technology, and supply chain
RQ: How do 3DP and open design compensate for resource con- business processes—are interrelated (Munksgaard et al., 2014). As an
straints when a small firm enters an established market with the aim of outcome, supply chain innovation is directed towards increasing com-
promoting socially sustainable SCI? petitiveness, customer service, and broader stakeholder value (e.g.,
We propose the mechanism by which 3DP overcomes these barriers Krabbe, 2007; Isaksson et al., 2010; Kwak et al., 2018).
relates to open design. Open design engages consumers in a way that SCIs have had considerable impact on modern economies. Yet

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

compared to technological innovations, there are fewer studies of SCI, governments that drives socially responsible supply chain practices
particularly how they are adopted and replace dominant SCM practices. upstream in the supply chain. In our model we refer to this combined
Some SCIs are mainly technology driven, for example using drones to effect as the Societal Climate towards Sustainability. These practices are
deliver parcels or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to track ship- seen to carry a cost, so that a trade-off between cost and reputation
ments (e.g., Jie et al., 2015). More often, however, they are pre- drives decisions such as disclosure of sources, selection of ethical
dominantly driven by identification of customers' and other stake- sources (Chen and Slotnick, 2015) and sustainable supplier develop-
holders' unmet needs that can be satisfied with existing technologies ment (Yawar and Seuring, 2017). In the next sections, we consider how
(e.g., Flint, 2005). Companies including Ikea and Dell have generated 3DP may be connected to sustainable SCI.
novel business models that are SCI driven, by eliminating, adding or
optimising activities in the supply chain (Abdelkafi and Pero, 2018). 2.3. 3D printing in supply chain management
Additionally, business model innovations often have widespread im-
pacts but depend upon SCIs to address resulting operational needs. For The term 3DP, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), refers to a
example, Swift and Company innovated meat-packing in the USA by collection of methods that build objects in layers of plastic, metal or
shipping meat in refrigerated train carriages, rather than livestock for other material, directly from digital design files (Petrovic et al., 2011;
slaughter and Sea-Land Industries’ introduction of standard containers Mellor et al., 2014; Holmström and Partanen, 2014). This definition
helped bring about the era of globalisation (Teece, 2010). More re- captures a broad spectrum of processes and technologies, most of which
cently, a lack of banking infrastructure in Kenya led to the use of mobile use light or heat to create physical objects from metal or polymer
phones for banking by M-Pesa (Crane and Matten, 2016). In each of materials, under computer control (Weller et al., 2015). Production
these cases, the innovation became widely adopted and changed the with almost no geometric restrictions on the product and almost no
prevailing supply chain management, to the benefit of customers. geographical restrictions on place, with minimal wasted material and
no cost penalty for low volumes has fuelled predictions of a new in-
2.2. Sustainable supply chain innovation dustrial revolution (Petrovic et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2013).
Initially developed for producing prototypes in the 1980s (Beltagui
Sustainable SCI may involve novelty in distribution or in contractual et al. forthcoming), industry research suggests a steady growth of 3DP
relationships with suppliers to create value for stakeholders. A case in use in production of end-use parts (D'Aveni, 2015; Bandyopadhyay
point is the increasing market penetration of fair-trade products, which et al., 2015; Li et al., 2017; Schniederjans et al., 2017; Candi and
comes despite challenges such as limited store promotion, consumer Beltagui, 2019). 3DP is now used to produce motorsports parts, where
awareness, limited product range, fragmented supply and higher costs the lack of tooling allows one-off production, on demand. Medical
(Jones et al., 2003; Maloni and Brown, 2006). Fair-trade aims to in- implants such as hip replacements can be printed, with the digital de-
crease the proportion of revenue that goes to suppliers, such as poor sign customised to fit a digital scan of the patient. Aircraft engine fuel
farmers, which by definition, reduces revenues downstream (Porter and nozzles have been redesigned to consolidate a sub-assembly into a
Kramer, 2011). single component that is impossible to produce by traditional means.
As fair-trade labelling has become more mainstream in some pro- 3DP has been tested in the spare parts supply chain for military aircraft
duct categories, customers not only expect such labels (Maloni and (Khajavi et al., 2014). Beyond these niche industrial applications,
Brown, 2006), but demand equivalent performance and pricing to however, the development of low-cost printers has generated hype and
mainstream products (Karjalainen and Moxham, 2013). Nonetheless, even captured the imagination of politicians (Barnatt, 2013; Weller
while consumers expect vulnerable suppliers to be treated fairly, they et al., 2015). Consumer grade 3D printers are available for under US
may not reward such practice since price often dominates purchasing $1000 and are even offered in some supermarkets.1 The availability of
decisions. Fair-trade producers are thus challenged to improve opera- such printers can be traced to the expiry of the earliest 3DP patents,
tional performance, while being hampered by the costs associated with which enabled the RepRap project, an attempt to create ‘self-re-
fair practices and limited by resource constraints and comparatively plicating’ printers (Raasch et al., 2009). While it remains unlikely that
lower volumes. Additionally, while sustainable SCIs such as stricter every home will possess such a printer, their connectivity means they
supplier requirements can help the competitiveness of brands asso- may be easily shared by several consumers or businesses (D'Aveni,
ciated with fairness, such innovations – unlike product and process 2015). Online communities such as thingiverse allow designs to be
innovations – are rather easily imitated, particularly if suppliers are shared and downloaded for 3DP (West and Kuk, 2016). And platforms
shared by competing firms. For example, fair-trade labelled cocoa and such as 3D Hubs allow individuals to advertise available 3DP capacity,
coffee, once considered niche products, are increasingly adopted by so that others may locate and commission 3DP services. Combining
market leaders such as Mars and Nestle. such offerings means that individual consumers may design, manu-
Yet despite arguments that social responsibility may contribute to facture or both. As a result, consumers possess the means to create in-
supply chain performance, many firms fail to adopt socially responsible novative products, which increases the potential of open design.
practices unless forced by stakeholder pressure (Eltantawy, 2016). In
stakeholder theory, the salience and power of stakeholders are parti-
2.4. 3D printing and open design
cularly important factors (Hoejmose et al., 2013). Salience is the extent
to which managers are aware of and concerned about particular sta-
The term open design refers to “free revealing of information on a
keholder groups. If consumers concerned with social responsibility are
new design with the intention of collaborative development of a single
– or are perceived to be – a minority, then their concerns are less likely
design or a limited number of related designs for market or nonmarket
to influence managerial decisions (Shevchenko et al., 2016). Power, on
exploitation” (Raasch et al., 2009, p.383). It is founded on the private-
the other hand, concerns the extent of influence that stakeholders have
collective model observed in open source innovation (Von Hippel and
and the bargaining position that allows buyers or suppliers to determine
von Krogh, 2003). Innovation increasingly originates not in R&D labs,
priorities. A recognised weakness of stakeholder theory is the difficulty
but from external sources including customers (Zhang et al., 2016). And
in defining who are legitimate stakeholders whose concerns should be
the term open source was coined to describe the development of
acted upon (Mitchell et al., 1997). Where stakeholders hold little
power, supply chains may not embrace their claims for more sustain-
able production practices, for example tackling child work in mines 1
https://www.aldi.co.uk/balco-3d-printer-/p/086887240233900?gclid=
(Hofmann et al., 2018). Hoejmose et al. (2013) state that it is typically a EAIaIQobChMIpN2ilpbc3wIViJPtCh1wfgGAEAAYASAAEgJuWfD_BwE&
combination of pressure from consumers and legislation from gclsrc=aw.ds – last accessed 7th January 2019.

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

software through the voluntary and collective effort of users or other Subsequently, a range of user-designed accessories were made available
private citizens, who freely reveal the source code behind the software for customers to purchase, download and print locally. Openness con-
they develop (Lakhani and Von Hippel, 2003). The so-called maker sumers may be motivated by the opportunity to apply their creativity to
movement sees these practices applied to the design of physical goods, as the development of complementary products, which may enhance
opposed to digital software and is a phenomenon closely associated Fairphone's appeal to other customers. The increased availability of
with 3DP (Waller and Fawcett, 2014). accessories in turn helps Fairphone to capture a greater market share by
Anderson (2012) suggests that humans are inherently predisposed appealing to mainstream consumers and thereby develop a stronger
to making, which some express through activities such as gardening or influence over the supply chain. 3DP has therefore enabled Fairphone
cooking, but that the increasingly digital nature of life and work limits to overcome the challenge of limited availability of accessories, which
exposure to physical making. Part of the appeal of 3DP, therefore, is are typically produced in mass volume production lines.
that it allows would-be makers to move from digital design to physical Our simulation model analyses how the sharing of design files and
production, to make and repair rather than passively consume (Fox, ultimately the production of accessories through 3DP has enabled
2014). Studies of makers have focused on physical communities such as Fairphone to increase sales and become a respected player in a market
Fablabs (Walter-Hermann, 2013) or makerspaces (Halbinger, 2018) as dominated by existing manufacturers producing high volumes. Using
well as online communities that practice open design in a similar 3DP has allowed Fairphone to offer a large variety of accessories that
manner to open source software communities. The appeal of such would otherwise have been impossible to produce given the limited
communities lies not in financial gain, but in the opportunities for skills initial production volumes.
development and social interaction (Nambisan and Baron, 2009).
Open design therefore represents an important source of innovation 3.2. System dynamics as a modelling tool
for manufacturers that are able to engage such communities (Van Abel
et al., 2011), while maintaining the spirit of openness that drives them We selected system dynamics methodology for the following rea-
(West and Kuk, 2016). For small firms, seeking to introduce SCIs into sons. First, system dynamics allows modelling of feedback loops
established markets, harnessing the power of the maker movement may (Forrester, 1994), of which there are several in the case of Fairphone.
offer a means of overcoming limited resources. In the following sections Second, our model includes a number of stock variables that are in-
we explain the methods used to examine this proposition using the case creased or decreased at each period. The number of customers is a ty-
of Fairphone. pical stock variable, which increases or decreases over time depending
on the firm's actions. Some effects, like the adoption of Fairphone
3. Methodology products by mobile network operators, occur only once a specific
number of customers is reached. Such thresholds can only be studied
In this section we first explain the overall research setting, and then through dynamic models over multiple periods. Third, a number of
justify the case selection (Fairphone) and choice of system dynamics as functions in the model are non-linear, such as the S-shaped curve de-
modelling tool, before the subsequent section provides details regarding scribing 3DP adoption. Such functions are particularly suitable for
model development and description. modelling with system dynamics (Sterman, 2000). Finally, system dy-
namics is especially useful for analysing the outcomes of different
3.1. Research setting scenarios, by varying parameters in order to compare their effect on the
system in a risk free environment (Santos et al., 2002). System dy-
We selected Fairphone as the research setting because it allows an namics is therefore appreciated by managers because it facilitates
investigation of both social sustainability and open design. Fairphone is brainstorming (Jahangirian et al., 2010).
a start-up firm based in the Netherlands, producing phones using a System dynamics has been widely used in similar studies. For ex-
modular design that can be customised, repaired and updated, in order ample, Reiner et al. (2015) analyse how contextual variables affect
to be fairer to customers. Similar to proponents of the open source economic viability and social performance of a social business targeting
software movement, this stems from a belief that access to the product the poor as consumers, employees, suppliers and distributors. Abdelkafi
should not be restricted by physical or legal barriers (TEDx, 2013). This and Täuscher (2015) represent a business model for sustainability with
contrasts strongly with the industry's current practices, such as use of a system dynamics model, featuring a number of reinforcing feedback
proprietary software, non-removable batteries and even screws that loops that create value for the customer, the firm and the environment.
require a proprietary screwdriver. Li et al. (2017) used system dynamics to compare spare parts supply
In its supply chain design, Fairphone emphasises fairness to chain with and without 3DP. Finally, in the field of humanitarian lo-
workers. This begins with transparency, for example providing a de- gistics and disaster management, Kunz et al. (2014) used this simula-
tailed breakdown of how the price of a product is distributed, as well as tion tool to compare the outcome of different scenarios, as we do in this
disclosure over which suppliers are used. A portion of revenue is do- paper.
nated to a worker managed fund to improve workplace conditions at
suppliers' factories, while Fairphone has a commitment to ensure no 3.3. Simulation approach
conflict minerals are used in its phones. Sales of 5,000 units for the first
batch of Fairphone product demonstrate that there is demand for a We developed the Fairphone system dynamics model based on
sustainably produced smart phone. However, this demand is confined empirical data including news and industry reports, Fairphone's web-
to a relatively small segment that we refer to as Fairness Customers, who site, and the experience of one author as a customer. Our model si-
are attracted by the firm's commitment to social sustainability. mulates the cumulative number of Fairphone customers as a function of
Appealing only to this group restricts the degree to which Fairphone time and variables input parameters. We started building the model 52
can achieve its aim of making mobile phone supply chains in general months (4.3 years) after Fairphone began production, when the mile-
more sustainable. Mainstream consumers are less inclined to pay more stone of 135,000 customers had been reached. It replicates the sales of
for a brand they perceive as more ethical. Fairphone during the first four years of the company's existence, and
Using 3DP, Fairphone is able to target a second group of consumers, estimates expected sales for the subsequent years.
whom we refer to as Openness Customers by facilitating open design of We use our model to show how 3D printing contributed to
accessories for its product. This began with a design competition in Fairphone's growth from a small batch production targeting a niche
2014 in which four phone covers were created by users, with the market (initially 5000 units produced in 2013) to an established phone
electronic design files available to download and 3D print. brand sold by several mobile network operators across Europe. The

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 1. Simplified view of System Dynamics model.

model also shows how Fairphone might become a mainstream product 4.1.1. Fairness Customers
carried by multiple large network operators, thus taking a prominent Fairness Customers are the first customers to buy the Fairphone,
position in the mobile phone industry and inducing change among because of its niche proposition of being produced through a socially
other manufacturer through its social sustainability practices. responsibly supply chain. In the innovation diffusion model (Rogers,
2003), these customers are the typical innovators and early adopters
who play an important role in the purchase decision of future custo-
4. Model mers. There are 5000 initial customers of this type, which represents
the customers who pre-ordered the first batch of Fairphone before it
4.1. Model description was produced (June 2013, t = 0). These customers are motivated by the
vision of Fairphone and they increase at a constant rate of 1920 cus-
Due to space constraints and the complexity of the model, we will tomers per month (historical average calculated based on Fairphone's
describe the model in general terms and focus only on variables of sales). These customers decrease as the number of Regular Customers
particular interest. Appendix A shows the full model, while a simplified increases because they become Regular Customers (i.e., buy the phone
view is presented in Fig. 1. from network operators) or leave the brand because it is no longer a
The number of customers of a firm is a good proxy for its growth and niche product (see balancing feedback loop B2 in Fig. 1).
performance. We therefore model the number of Fairphone customers,
i.e. purchasers of phones, over time. Fig. 1 presents a simplified view of
our model, which we will describe in more detail in the following 4.1.2. Openness customers
subsections. The grey field shows all Fairphone customers, which is the Openness Customers buy the phone because they like Fairphone's
sum of three types of customers, Fairness Customers, Openness Customers philosophy of openness, particularly the availability of design files to
and Regular Customers. Each of these customer groups is represented in allow customers to design accessories. In this sense, they are compar-
green in Fig. 1. The yellow fields represent the variable parameters of able to customers attracted by open source products in the software
our model. Table 1 describes the variables used in the model. industry. We therefore used the market share of an open source web

Table 1
Description of variables used in simplified model.
Variable Description

Number of Fairness Customers Cumulative number of customers attracted by Fairphone's socially responsibly supply chain
Number of Openness Customers Cumulative number of customers attracted by Fairphone's openness philosophy
Number of Regular Customers Cumulative number of customers who buy the Fairphone because it is offered through network operators
Total Number of Customers Sum of all types of customers (Fairness, Openness and Regular)
3D Printing Adoption Speed Parameter defining how fast 3D printing will be adopted by society
Societal Climate towards Sustainability Parameter defining degree to which mainstream consumers' buying decisions are influenced by sustainability values
Fairphone's Willingness to Share Designs Fairphone's decision to share designs of its phone to enable users to design and 3D print accessories
Number of Model Files Number of different files available for customers to print their accessories
Number of Fairphone Accessories Number of different accessories available for Fairphone (function of 3D printing adoption)
Small Operators Adoption Adoption level of Fairphone by small network operators, depends on cumulative sales and availability of accessories
Large Operators Adoption Adoption level of Fairphone by large network operators, depends on cumulative sales and availability of accessories
Adoption of Sustainability by Competitors Competitors' level of adoption of sustainable supply chain practices

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

browser (Mozilla, 13.29%2) to define the portion of Openness Customers 2003). They choose the product among a selection of other phone
compared to Fairness Customers. Openness Customers are innovators and brands when renewing their subscription, for reasons not necessarily
early adopters in the innovation diffusion model (Rogers, 2003). These related to sustainability. Network operators are crucial actors in the
customers started buying Fairphone when it made the files available 13 mobile phone market, since customers mainly purchase their phones in
months after the launch3 (parameter Delay until Fairphone Starts Sharing combination with a subscription renewal. Because network operators
Designs). have access to a large pool of customers, they will have a crucial role in
Fairphone's willingness to share designs combined with the increase helping Fairphone become a mainstream mobile phone brand.
in Openness Customers leads to the design of accessory files by the In order for mobile network operators to adopt the Fairphone in
community. In July 2014, Fairphone for example launched a design their assortment, we consider two important conditions. First,
competition for phone cases. It shared the design files of the phone so Fairphone must offer a number of accessories, in particular protective
that designers in the community could design accessories. The winning accessories like phone cases. Second, the total number of existing cus-
designs are displayed on Fairphone's website and available as free tomers must exceed a specific threshold, otherwise the operator cannot
download. The subsequent increase in accessories designed by the achieve required volume and profitability. We see this adoption as a
community allows a range of complementary products to be sold. These two-step process. Once a sufficient number of accessories was available
are available as digital models that can be produced on the customer's through 3DP (Adoption Threshold Accessories Small Operators) and the
own printer or through 3D Hubs, a worldwide network of 3DP service number of Fairness Customers together with Openness Customers reached
providers.4 Combined with the increased number of 3D printers in use, a certain threshold (Adoption Threshold Sales Small Operators), small
this led to an increased availability of accessories. network operators added the phone to their assortment. This is similar
The low initial volumes and limited resources mean Fairphone to small supermarket chains who started adopting fair-trade coffee and
could not feasibly produce accessories, nor would third parties produce chocolate at the beginning of the fair-trade movement in the early
them due to limited demand. Accessories such as protective cases are 1990s (Low and Davenport, 2006). The adoption of Fairphone by small
nonetheless important for mobile phone users and may be viewed as operators was observed when Swisscom and T-Mobile Austria adopted
order qualifiers for some customers. A brand that does not offer such the phone in March 2016 (t = 34). Small Operators are those who
accessories would therefore be disadvantaged. This is especially true for realised the potential of Fairphone early on and decided to offer it to
Fairphone, which sold its phones exclusively over the internet until the their customers as a niche product. These operators are either niche
product was adopted by small network operators. Offering customers operators in large markets (e.g., the Phone Co-op in the UK), or hold a
the option to buy accessories over its website when ordering a phone large market share in small markets (e.g., Swisscom in Switzerland). In
was therefore particularly important. Using 3DP enabled Fairphone to other words, small operators are those who do not have a dominant
offer a large variety of accessories (including different designs and position in the global European market.
colours) while sales volumes were low, without requiring high invest- The adoption of Fairphone by small operators led to an increase in
ments such as injection moulding tooling used for mass production Regular Customers. We anticipate that once the number of customers
(Minetola and Eyers, 2018). The availability of accessories was also a reaches a higher threshold (Adoption Threshold Sales Large Operators),
criterion for the decision of small network operators to adopt the large operators will add the phone to their assortment as well, similar to
Fairphone. Not only do accessories represent an important source of large agri-food brands who added fair-trade products to their offerings
income for network operators selling the phone in their shops, but they because they saw a significant demand and a growth opportunity (Levi
also respond to the practical and experiential needs of customers. and Linton, 2003; Davies, 2007). These operators have a significant
Openness Customers therefore played an important role in the growth of market share and a dominant position in the European market. Due to
Fairphone by designing accessories and sharing them over the internet. their access to a large pool of customers, these operators have the po-
In December 2017 (Month 55, 4.5 years after start of production), tential to make the number of Fairphone customers grow at a faster
Fairphone announced the end of its policy of sharing model files to be rate. This rate will depend on the parameter Societal Climate towards
3D printed.5 This decision was due to operational issues with the 3D Sustainability. The large network operators will be key in making Fair-
Hubs network, not a sudden change in its open business model. phone become a mainstream brand in the mobile phone market.
Nevertheless, from this point Fairphone did no longer actively promote As the number of Regular Customers increases and Fairphone gains
3D printed accessories on its website, and because of this decision, the market shares, we expect competitors of Fairphone to react by adopting
number of Openness Customers started to shrink. This led to a slowdown sustainability practices in their supply chain in order to tap into
in the number of accessories designed and produced through 3D Fairphone's customers interested in sustainability. This has been ob-
printing, and the firm started offering non-3D printed accessories. Since served in other contexts in which large incumbents react to the threat of
the number of accessories available at this time was already substantial new entrants by imitating sustainable innovations (Hockerts and
(around 1200), the decision did not strongly limit Fairphone's growth. Wüstenhagen, 2010). The speed of this reaction by competitors is de-
In addition to Fairphone's decision, Openness Customers also start to fined by the parameter Societal Climate towards Sustainability. This effect
leave the brand as the number of Regular Customers increases, because it will fulfil the initial vision of Fairphone, i.e., to bring sustainability
is no longer a niche product (balancing feedback loop B3 in Fig. 1). practices to electronics supply chains. It will however also have a ne-
gative effect on sales of Fairphone, because customers who were in-
itially attracted to Fairphone because of its sustainability practices may
4.1.3. Regular customers start leaving the brand and buy competing products (see arrow with
The third segment are Regular Customers, who buy the Fairphone negative sign between Adoption of Sustainability Practices and Number of
once it is offered by mobile network operators. These customers are the Regular Customers). This effect is the result of a balancing feedback loop
early majority customers in the innovation diffusion model (Rogers, (see B1 in Fig. 1) that will ultimately stabilise Fairphone's market share.

2
https://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx. 4.2. Selection of parameters
3
https://www.fairphone.com/en/2014/07/07/launching-fairphone-3d-
printed-cases-with-3d-hubs/. A system dynamics model consists of parameters and equations.
4
https://www.fairphone.com/en/2014/07/07/launching-fairphone-3d- Most of the parameters are based on empirical data and are therefore
printed-cases-with-3d-hubs/. constant. These constants were identified based on company reports,
5
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/3d-printed-accesories-are-no-longer-
available/36069.

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

Table 2
Timeline of Fairphone sales.
Date Month # Cumulative sales all customers Remark

June 2013 1 5000 Preorders of first batch of Fairphone 1 start. Production starts.
January 2014 8 25,000
May 2014 12 37,000
June 2014 13 Fairphone makes model file of phone available to allow customers to design accessories.
July 2015 26 Preorders of Fairphone 2 start.
December 2015 31 First Fairphone 2 delivered.
March 2016 34 93,000a Swisscom & T-Mobile Austria adopt the Fairphone as first small network operators.
December 2016 43 125,000b
September 2017 52 135,000c
December 2017 55 Fairphone stops offering design files of accessories on its website.

a
Interpolation based on other values.
b
https://www.fairphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Fairphone_Shortmailing_Mobilcom-Shops-1.pdf.
c
https://www.fairphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Press-Release_Investment_and_MD-1.pdf.

Fig. 2. Number of customers of Fairphone, observed data and simulated data.

websites and industry news. The parameters defining the growth of Based on our extensive reading of Fairphone's history on the com-
Openness Customers and Fairness Customers were defined in order to pany's website6 and user forums,7 we identified two variable para-
replicate the observed cumulative sales reported by Fairphone during meters that are assumed to have an important impact on the increase in
the first 52 months of operation (4.3 years). Table 2 presents the Fairphone's customers: 3D Printing Adoption Speed and the Societal Cli-
timeline of these first months with major events and cumulative sales mate towards Sustainability. These parameters are represented in yellow
figures. in Fig. 1.
Fig. 2 shows the results of our simulation model in comparison with We empirically identified the value of these parameters for our base
the observed data from Table 2. The modelled values demonstrate a case scenario and validated them by comparing the outcome of the
close fit with the empirical data points, featuring some small deviations system dynamics model with the sales data reported by Fairphone
that may be due to factors not captured by the simulation (e.g., negative (Fig. 2). We then created additional scenarios in which we increased
news reports about poor working conditions in electronic supply chains, and decreased these parameters by 50%. Although the values in the
advertising by Fairphone, positive or negative user experience shared base scenario are empirically validated, the increased and decreased
on social media and forums). parameters are hypothetical and cannot be validated.

4.3. Scenario dependent parameters

4.3.1. 3D printing adoption speed
The 3D Printing Adoption Speed is a parameter that describes how
In addition to the constant parameters described above, there are
fast 3DP will be adopted by society. 3D Printing Adoption Speed is a
other parameters that are not constant, and their value can vary in
normalised parameter varying between 0 and 1, and it multiplies the
different ways in the future. The adoption rate of a technology, like 3DP
number of model files that are available. A faster 3DP adoption rate
in our case, would be a typical example of such variable parameters.
The value of system dynamics simulation resides in its ability to com-
pare scenarios with different values of such parameters and analyse a 6
https://www.fairphone.com.
number of resulting what-if alternatives. 7
https://forum.fairphone.com.

7
A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 3. Number of fairness customers.

means more rapid increase in the number of 3D printers in use. A variables we used in the model are based on real empirical figures.
feature of 3DP is the ease with which resources can be shared by Second, we have validated the result of our model with the data on
sending digital files to a nearby printer. This means, if the adoption rate Fairphone's expansion so far. Based on the model, we are able to
is higher, it becomes easier to access a 3D printer since the likelihood evaluate possible scenarios about the future expansion of Fairphone's
that one will be available in the local area increases. For example, number of customers. There are however multiple variables that we do
public libraries increasingly provide 3D printers, while the number of not control which may impact the expansion of Fairphone in different
makerspaces providing access to 3DP continues to grow and numbers of ways.
companies or individuals who may offer their excess capacity are likely Since the aim is to understand whether and how 3DP can overcome
to increase. This in turn can lead to greater availability of accessories, barriers to social sustainability, the objective of the study is not to
which will encourage network operators to offer Fairphone products to predict a specific number of customers, but to understand the me-
their customers. chanisms that may drive change. We achieve this by varying two sce-
We vary 3D Printing Adoption Speed by changing the parameter nario dependent variables. In this section we first present the results of
Maximal Fractional Adoption Rate Increase, which determines how fast our simulation for the base case scenario (i.e., the one that leads to the
the adoption rate can increase. The original scenario had a value of 0.12 outcome observed at Fairphone so far). We then present the outcome of
(validated with our empirical data). We create a scenario 3D Printing the other scenarios.
Faster in which this value is increased by 50% (0.18) and a scenario 3D
Printing Slower in which this value is decreased by 50% (0.06).
5.1. Base case scenario

4.3.2. Societal climate towards sustainability This scenario is the starting point of our model and fits our ob-
The Societal Climate towards Sustainability is a parameter that mul- servations of practice. When it launched the first product, Fairphone
tiplies the growth rate of Regular Customers as well as the Adoption of started selling to Fairness Customers, and after 13 months to Openness
Sustainability by Competitors. This suggests the degree to which main- Customers, which represent innovators and early adopters (Rogers,
stream consumers’ buying decisions are influenced by social sustain- 2003). These two groups of customers have different motivating factors
ability values. The higher this parameter is, the faster the number of for buying the Fairphone, but both contribute to the initial growth of
Regular Customers will increase. This parameter also influences the sales experienced by the firm during its first three years. This seg-
adoption of sustainability practices by competitors. The higher this mentation of early adopter customers into different groups with varying
parameter, the faster competitors will adopt these sustainability prac- motivating factors has been observed previously in the adoption of
tices. sustainable innovation. For the adoption of sustainable energy solu-
The original scenario has a Societal Climate towards Sustainability of 1 tions, Nygren et al. (2015) for example distinguished between four
(validated with our empirical data). We create a scenario Sustainable groups of early adopters with different sets of motivators, such as en-
High in which the parameter is increased by 50% (1.5) and a scenario vironmental concern, self-sufficiency or economic profit. Similarly,
Sustainable Low in which this parameter is decreased by 50% (0.5). Tran et al. (2013) found that early adopters of alternative fuel vehicles
had differing motivations, such as environmental appeal, reliability or
5. Findings new technology.
In our model, Fairness Customers starts with 5000 first customers
The system dynamics model presented in the previous section en- who pre-ordered the first batch of Fairphone 1 before it was launched.
ables us to simulate the evolution of the number of Fairphone custo- The number of Fairness Customers then increases until Month 130 (10.8
mers over a long time horizon. We believe that our model simulates the years), as presented in Fig. 3. At this point, the number of Fairness
future of Fairphone accurately for two reasons. First, all parameters and Customers starts to decrease due to the fact that Fairphone becomes

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 4. Number of openness customers.

more mainstream, and existing Fairness Customers shift to the category chains.
Regular Customers who buy the phone through network operators (or
switch to other brands that also become more sustainable). Fairness 5.2. Scenario analysis
Customers are early adopters that purchased the phone over un-
conventional distribution channels (crowdsourcing, internet). Once We conducted a sensitivity analysis on two important parameters:
Fairphone becomes available for purchase from usual channels (i.e., 3D Printing Adoption Speed and the Societal Climate towards
shops of network providers), we assume that Fairness Customers become Sustainability. The objective of this analysis is to see how much the
Regular Customers who purchase the phone through these shops as part success of Fairphone would be impacted if these parameters changed.
of their subscription. This effect is represented by the balancing feed-
back loop B2 in Fig. 1. 5.2.1. Impact of 3D printing adoption speed
Openness Customers start with an initial value of 0. After 13 The 3D Printing Adoption Speed is a parameter that describes how
months, Fairphone makes its design files available online and en- fast 3D printing will be adopted by society. A fast 3D printing adoption
courages customers to design accessories that can be 3D printed. This will lead to faster availability of accessories, which is a criterion for the
immediately attracts interest from the Openness Customers segment, adoption of Fairphone by small network operators. In addition to the
which grows steadily until Month 55 (4.5 years), as represented in base case scenario (which has been validated by empirical data), we run
Fig. 4. At that time, Fairphone stops offering design files of accessories one hypothetical scenario in which the adoption speed is faster (3DP
on its website, and as a result the number of Openness Customers starts Faster) and one in which the adoption is slower (3DP Slower). The re-
declining. sulting 3D printing adoption is shown in Fig. 7.
In our simulation, we assume that growth of Fairness Customers and The different speeds of 3DP adoption will have an impact on the
Openness Customers will encourage mobile phone network operators to availability of Fairphone accessories, as can be seen in Fig. 8. In the
adopt the Fairphone, which will lead to an increase in Regular scenario 3DP Slower, the required number of accessories for small
Customers. Fig. 5 shows the increase in Regular Customers, first at a slow network operators adopting the Fairphone (255, dashed horizontal line
rate (when it is offered by small network operators) and then at a faster in Fig. 8) will be achieved 2 years later than in the base case scenario.
rate once large network operators include it in their assortment. In Fig. 9 we show the impact of the different 3DP Adoption Speeds
Fig. 6 shows that the total number of Fairphone customers increases (and resulting availability of accessories) on the total number of Fair-
rather slowly until about Month 140 (11.7 years), when large network phone customers. We see that the faster 3D printing adoption has no
operators adopt the phone. From that point, the number of customers effect on the increase in number of customers (the green dashed line for
increases at a faster pace. We expect that the adoption of Fairphone by ‘3DP Faster’ coincides with the blue solid line of the ‘Base Case Sce-
large network operators and the resulting increase in regular customers nario’). However, a decrease in the 3D Printing Adoption Speed has a
will have an impact on the entire market. If Fairphone becomes an much stronger effect because the adoption of the Fairphone by small
important player in the market with substantial sales, there is a greater network operators occurs much later. The adoption by large operators
likelihood that competitors will acknowledge customers' acceptance of (555,000 cumulative sales, dashed horizontal line in Fig. 9) occurs 15
Fairphone's principles. As a result, they may adopt similar practices to months later than in the base case scenario. Such a delay can have
Fairphone, to attract customers who value sustainability. This balan- devastating consequences on a start-up like Fairphone with limited
cing feedback loop (B1 in Fig. 1) will in turn cause the market share of resources and liquidity.
Fairphone to stabilise around Month 200 (17 years), as shown in Fig. 6.
In addition to its commercial success, Fairphone has therefore also 5.2.2. Impact of societal climate towards sustainability
achieved its objective of advocating for more sustainable supply chains, The Societal Climate towards Sustainability is a parameter that mul-
by inducing a move towards greater sustainability in electronics supply tiplies the growth rate of Regular Customers. The higher this parameter,

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 5. Number of regular customers.

the faster the number of Regular Customers will increase. This parameter of Fairphone (Fairness Customers and Openness Customers) have an in-
also determines the Adoption of Sustainability by Competitors. The higher trinsic motivation to buy this product. Fairness Customers are already
this parameter, the more competitors will adopt sustainability practices convinced about the importance of socially responsible supply chains
in their supply chains. In addition to the base case scenario, we run a and buy Fairphone for that reason. Openness Customers buy the Fair-
scenario Sustainable High (50% higher) and a scenario Sustainable Low phone because they appreciate the firm's openness philosophy of
(50% lower). The resulting evolution of the total number of Fairphone sharing design files and encouraging users to design and 3D print their
customers is shown in Fig. 10. own accessories (until Month 55, 4.5 years). However, once Regular
In Fig. 10 we can see that customer growth is not affected by the Customers start buying Fairphone through network operators, the So-
different levels of Societal Climate towards Sustainability during the first cietal Climate towards Sustainability has a substantial impact on the
70 months (5.8 years). This is due to the fact that the initial customers number of customers. We see that the 50% increase in this parameter

Fig. 6. Total number of Fairphone customers.

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 7. 3D printing adoption for different adoption speeds.

has a much smaller impact on the number of customers than the 50% a small firm using 3DP technologies. While 3DP adoption has often
decrease. been considered in terms of adoption by producers for the purpose of
mass customisation (Weller et al., 2015; Hartl and Kort, 2017), we fo-
6. Discussion cused on the relationship between (consumer) 3DP and open design
(e.g. Chan et al., 2018). We developed a systems dynamics model fo-
This research set out to investigate how social sustainability could cusing on consumers' 3DP adoption and willingness to volunteer their
become a more pressing concern in a supply chain. It started with the effort in open design. The focus is not on additive manufacturing of
premise that large firms may not have an imperative to focus on sus- complete products – in this case mobile phones – since this is not yet
tainability due to insufficient pressure from consumers (related feasible in large volumes. Instead we examine how allowing consumers
amongst other factors to the distance between consumers and produ- to design, share or 3D print accessories – phone cases – allows after-
cers), while smaller firms may lack the resources to change the status market customisation and may result in wider impacts. The impacts of
quo (Pagell and Shevchenko, 2014; Shevchenko et al., 2016). The re- the SCI we investigated can be compared to the disruptive innovation
search focused on whether and how these issues could be alleviated by model of technological innovation, whereby new technologies redefine

Fig. 8. Number of accessories available with different 3D printing adoption speeds.

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 9. Total number of customers for different 3D printing adoption speeds.8.

Fig. 10. Evolution of customers with different levels of societal climate towards sustainability.

standards by satisfying previously unmet market needs (Christensen, 6.1. Theoretical contributions
1997). In this case, we argue that there is an unmet and currently un-
recognised need for social sustainability and that companies such as The first notable finding of this research is empirical evidence for
Fairphone can disrupt by addressing it. 3DP has been described as the assertion that small, innovative firms can introduce sustainability
disruptive for some time (e.g. Beltagui et al. forthcoming), and this into established supply chains. We used empirical data on Fairphone's
study contributes to an understanding of how it may achieve disruption. performance to date, as input and validation for the system dynamics
The study also confirms Abdelkafi and Pero's (2018) argument that SCI model. Fairphone's growth has enabled distribution in mainstream
can drive business model innovation. For Fairphone, using 3DP instead markets through mobile phone networks. This places Fairphone in di-
of injection moulding (Minetola and Eyers, 2018) was the SCI that led rect competition with more established, market leading, phone brands,
to the business model innovation of involving customers in the open
design of phone accessories.
8
The green dashed line ‘3DP Faster’ is not visible in this figure because it
coincides with the blue solid line of ‘Base Case Scenario’.

12
A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

raising the possibility that Fairphone's unique selling point – its com- 255 accessories.
mitment to socially sustainable practices – will be imitated (Carter We selected the case of Fairphone in order to examine the impact of
et al., 2017). Social sustainability is often implemented only in response 3DP on SCI, because of the customer designed 3D printed accessories
to legal obligations such as the need to declare and avoid conflict mi- they made available. Open design is central to Fairphone's mission,
nerals or slavery (Gold et al., 2015; Hofmann et al., 2018). Fairphone's given the founder's insistence that one cannot own a product that one
access to mainstream markets would, however, make the commercial cannot “open” (Van Abel et al., 2011; TEDx, 2013). Even after ending
incentive clearer (Shevchenko et al., 2016). If larger firms apply their its active promotion of 3DP accessories on its website, Fairphone
superior resources to improving sustainability in the mobile phone maintained its openness philosophy, by sharing design files of its new
supply chain, Fairphone would achieve its mission of fairness, but may phone on an open source file repository, communicating transparently
struggle to remain relevant. Hence in our model, the number of Fairness about its cost structure and unveiling the names of its supply chain
Customers reduces as the product becomes mainstream. These findings partners. While this openness attracts some individuals, it also restricts
can be summarised in the form of the following research proposition: commercial exploitation of designs, encouraging many firms to use
customers' inputs but restrict access to them. Open design communities
P1: Small but innovative firms can stimulate adoption of sustainable typically resent a move from open to closed. For example, MakerBot
SCI, but may struggle to compete once larger firms are persuaded to Industries, created an open-designed 3D printer that became the market
imitate the innovative practices. leader, but angered its users, customers and employees by then closing
the designs to avoid imitation (West and Kuk, 2016). Similarly, in Oc-
The second, related finding, concerns the likelihood that consumers, tober 2018, 3D Hubs transformed its peer-to-peer 3DP network into a
concerned with social sustainability, may help improve the lives of manufacturing platform open only to commercial 3DP businesses,9
workers in the supply chain. Early adopters (Fairness Customers here) which led to much resistance and criticism from users. A parallel to 3DP
play an important role in the S-curve of innovation adoption, helping to comes in the history of personal computers, where philosophical divi-
fund development before mainstream demand increases (Rogers, sions between Apple's co-founders saw friction over how open (i.e. user
2003). This effect has been seen in the adoption of sustainable product customisable) products should be (Wozniak and Smith, 2006). While
and supply chain innovations, including electric vehicles (Plötz et al., Apple has maintained a resistance to openness, the first signs have
2014), alternative fuel vehicles (Tran et al., 2013), sustainable energy emerged that this could negatively impact performance – sales of
solutions (Nygrén et al., 2015), and, most pertinent to the present phones have slowed as service revenues grow, suggesting that custo-
study, fair-trade products (Levi and Linton, 2003; Low and Davenport, mers want to repair phones.
2006). Early adopters are likely to be a niche market, often not large Finally, our findings contribute to the ongoing debates about whe-
enough to make sustainability an order qualifier. The scenarios varying ther and how 3DP is likely to have a revolutionary impact on business
the parameter of Societal Climate towards Sustainability model the size of and society (e.g. D'Aveni, 2015; Bogers et al., 2016; Steenhuis and
this niche and demonstrate the importance of sustainability values Pretorius, 2016). Several studies have investigated barriers to adoption
shared across society for diffusing sustainable SCI throughout an in- of 3DP, such as the costs of materials, the relatively slow speed of
dustry. For example, if awareness and interest in sustainability increase, production as well as the technical quality of equipment and output
our model suggests Fairphone may achieve its sustainability objectives (Chan et al., 2018; Chekurov et al., 2018). Such studies focus on
much faster, whereas a 50% reduction may see the market for sus- adoption of 3DP in place of traditional manufacturing equipment, ei-
tainably produced phones remain niche. While researchers and jour- ther for spare parts or original equipment. Weller et al. (2015) examine
nalists deplore instances of exploitative labour practices in supply the impact of 3DP adoption on product pricing in a given industry. For
chains (Chan and Pun, 2010; Huq et al., 2016; Kara, 2018; Sadof et al., example, they propose that a monopolist may increase profits with
2018) this may not filter down into purchasing decisions if customers premium pricing for customised products, whereas entry of competitors
do not build up forceful pressure. This may in turn prevent firms pur- using 3DP can lead to lower prices overall. This implies the use of 3DP
suing social sustainability from influencing the status quo and prevent for additive manufacturing, by companies, to create products for their
supply chains from achieving true sustainability (Pagell and customers. Our study focuses on complementary products – accessories
Shevchenko, 2014). such as mobile phone cases – which have a parallel supply chain as well
An important role is played by those contributing through open as having different technical requirements. For example, 3DP technol-
design (Openness Customers in this model). Beyond early adopters, wider ogies are much better suited to producing simple phone cases than
appeal for the innovation is increased by greater variety of accessories complex products such as mobile phones. Moreover, our study ex-
such as protective cases, but the limited design and production re- amines the effect that consumer 3DP can have on market entry. Inflated
sources of a small firm limit the ability to offer such variety. These expectations that every home may soon contain a 3D printer have
findings lead to the following research proposition: captured the imagination of the public and placed 3DP on the political
agenda, despite being considered unrealistic (Weller et al., 2015). Our
P2: The societal climate towards sustainability can accelerate the simulation suggests that whether or not every home contains a 3D
adoption of sustainable SCI by increasing the likelihood of appealing printer is not critical. Instead access rather than ownership is of con-
to a mainstream market. cern. If there are a sufficient number of accessible devices, then the
advantages are gained and can be reaped. Indeed, the ability to share
Our third important finding concerns the impact of openness. resources and hence avoid capital investments, makes 3DP an im-
Firstly, our findings confirm the benefits of harnessing open design, in portant enabler of innovation and entrepreneurship, especially for small
this case by opening the design and production of complementary firms (De Jong and De Bruijn, 2013). These findings may be condensed
products to customers. While small firms such as Fairphone may be into the following research proposition:
innovative and use sustainability to appeal to a niche market (Caniato
et al., 2012), their lack of resources restrict their ability to have a P3: The adoption of 3DP in society can increase the potential for
meaningful impact on the mainstream (Shevchenko et al., 2016). Our firms to leverage open design because of broader access to pro-
findings suggest that empowering customers through 3DP and open duction tools.
design can help overcome these restrictions. A greater variety in com-
plementary products, designed by customers for distributed production
by 3DP can accelerate market penetration. When the first small network 9
https://www.3dhubs.com/blog/3d-hubs-announces-suite-of-new-features-
operator adopted Fairphone, customers could choose from a variety of and-switch-to-fulfilled-by-3d-hubs-2/.

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A. Beltagui, et al. International Journal of Production Economics xxx (xxxx) xxxx

6.2. Managerial implications the important role that open design makes. Similarly, Weller et al.
(2015) propose that, if the use of 3DP is widespread in an industry,
Our findings can help to inform managerial decisions with respect to incumbents should dominate new entrants due to economies of scale in
pursuing socially sustainable SCI as well as on how to benefit from 3DP. production and scope in marketing or procurement. Fairphone helps us
Regarding sustainability, a question remains over whether and why to contest these propositions by demonstrating the potential for a new
to embrace it. In the absence of legislation or sufficient consumer entrant to win market share from incumbents. Fairphone is unlikely to
pressure, the incentives to do so are very limited. On the other hand, the dominate the mobile phone market, but by leveraging open design ef-
threat of innovators adopting sustainable business and supply chain fort, which is made possible by the availability of 3DP, it is able to
models and gaining market share through new production technologies overcome the resource constraints that limit its production scale and
and favourable societal climate, can be countered through imitation. marketing scope.
For example, incumbents can seek to appeal to customers who value In this case, Fairphone began by encouraging users to design mobile
social sustainability through supply chain transparency and invest- phone cases and expanded this to include other accessories that can be
ments to improve working conditions along the supply chain. The re- 3D printed. The core product is manufactured using traditional methods
ductions this may cause in short term profit margins can be offset by the but given the level of investment required in technology and manu-
reputational benefits and the appeal to customers who value sustain- facturing, developing a wide range of complementary products is not
able principles. Our results suggest that an understanding of the societal feasible for such a small firm. Therefore, using customer involvement is
climate towards sustainability is important, in order to gauge how a valuable approach to consider. The appeal is partly that customers
successful sustainability-oriented competitors may be. While the larger volunteer their effort, often due to intrinsic motivation and do not ex-
size of incumbents is vital due to the bargaining power it brings when pect remuneration. The implications of reversing the openness later,
dealing with suppliers, small firms like Fairphone can overcome their however, can have very negative repercussions on customer loyalty and
size-related resource deficit and make a difference to supply chains. The should therefore be carefully considered by managers. Sufficient
future success of their model is measured not only by the market share mainstream customers, who are less inclined to devote effort and hence
for their products but by the extent to which the mobile phone supply are less concerned with openness, should be targeted to compensate for
chain as a whole becomes more sustainable. the loss of interest from openness customers.
A notable feature of the system dynamics model is that it allows a
longitudinal perspective to be taken, which enables us to see how dif- 6.3. Limitations and further research
ferent groups of consumers are targeted over time. In the initial stages,
Fairphone appeals mostly to market niches, but for it to achieve its Yet, our approach of modelling the case of Fairphone based on
goals, growth into the mainstream is necessary. Innovation diffusion empirical data with the aim of analysing different scenarios does not go
theories suggest that early and late adopters have differing character- without limitations. In line with general limitations of case study re-
istics, and innovators should focus on different groups over time (e.g. search, the findings of our research design cannot claim statistical
Rogers, 2003). This study suggests that focusing on customers con- generalisability but only a certain degree of theoretical generalisability
cerned with sustainability and openess can help in establishing an in- (Yin, 2013). The latter is achieved by repeated reflection of model
novation and providing a platform for mainstream market penetration. development and results with theory, and by transcending context-
It also highlights that customers with the ability and willingness to specific peculiarities through theory-led abstraction. Furthermore, the
contribute through open design represent a separate group, which can model is based on extensive longitudinal secondary data, but could be
be engaged alongside the early adopters, again on the route to main- further validated by primary data collection, for instance through ret-
stream adoption. Managers must decide how and when to engage these rospective interviews with directors and managers of Fairphone. In fact,
groups because their interest in the innovation may wane as it becomes the system dynamics model of Fairphone may serve as a basis and
mainstream. starting point for follow-up research. It may be adapted to instances of
3DP is considered to be a key element of industry 4.0 and its value is sustainable SCI in other sectors as well as other applications of 3DP in
widely seen to lie in mass customisation, with small batches – as low as supply chains, thus corroborating, refuting or refining the insights
one – becoming economically feasible (Mellor et al., 2014; Chan et al., gained from this study. Finally, this study adds to the literature on 3DP
2018). A key part of this is that “enterprises can co-design products by examining the indirect effects, i.e. focusing on the design and lo-
with customers” (Dalenogare et al., 2018, p.385). It has been argued calised production of complementary products. As the adoption of 3DP
that 3DP may cause a paradigm shift comparable to the interned and its application to mass customisation of a wider range of products
(Holmström and Partanen, 2014; Chekurov et al., 2018). Indeed, this increases, further research can examine empirical cases of open design
paradigm shift comes in the way that the internet (along with the as they emerge.
personal computer) has helped democratise innovation (Von Hippel,
2005), by reducing the resource requirements for creating software in Appendix A. Supplementary data
an open and collaborative manner (Von Hippel and von Krogh, 2003;
Wozniak and Smith, 2006). One of the greatest barriers to 3DP adoption Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
in industry remains the concern over intellectual property rights, but doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.07.035.
this study demonstrates that sidestepping such concerns – through
openness, can have important benefits. As future technologies evolve in References
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865–875. Development and Service Innovation. Ahmad holds degrees in Product Design
van Abel, B., 2013. Finding the right kind of screwdriver, TEDx 2013. Available from: Engineering and Operations Management. His research has been published journals in-
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innovation model: issues for organization science. Organ. Sci. 14 (2), 209–223. Florida, Jacksonville, FL. He holds a PhD in Management (Operations Management) from
Waller, M.A., Fawcett, S.E., 2014. Click here to print a maker movement supply chain: University of Neuchatel, Switzerland and a Master of Science in International Business
how innovation and entrepreneurship will disrupt supply chain design. J. Bus. Logist. Development from the same university. His undergraduate degree was in Engineering
(Automotive Technology). Nathan's research focuses on humanitarian operations, disaster
35 (2), 99–102.
Walter-Herrmann, J., 2013. “FabLabs – a global social movement?”. In: Walter-Hermann, management and sustainability. His research has been published in journals such as
Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Production Economics,
J., Büching, C. (Eds.), FabLab: of Machines, Makers and Inventors. Transcript Verlag,
Bielefeld, pp. 33–45. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, California Management
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Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
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structure models in light of additive manufacturing revisited. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 164, (Germany). Previously, he worked at the International Centre for Corporate Social
43–56. Responsibility (ICCSR) of the University of Nottingham (UK), and at the Chair of
West, J., Kuk, G., 2016. The complementarity of openness: how MakerBot leveraged Production and Logistics Management of the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). He
Thingiverse in 3D printing. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 102, 169–181. received his doctoral degree from the Faculty of Economics and Management of the
Wozniak, S., Smith, G., 2006. iWoz: from Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the University of Kassel in 2011. His research interests comprise sustainability management,
Personal Computer, Co-founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing it. W. W. Norton & Co, sustainable supply chain and operations management, and corporate accountability.
New York, NY.

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