This thesis investigates the potential for implementing a Close-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) in the End-of-Life (EOL) management of aircraft cabin seating materials, with the goal of enhancing sustainability within the aerospace industry. As global pressures for sustainability grow, particularly with the target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, the aerospace sector faces significant challenges in managing the lifecycle of its assets, especially cabin components like seating.
The research begins by outlining key concepts of the Circular Economy, Product End-of-Life, and Reverse Supply Chain, establishing a theoretical foundation for understanding the complexities of integrating circular practices into the aerospace industry. Through a combination of literature review, supply chain analysis, and a case study focused on Airbus, the study identifies key challenges, including the high costs of developing environmentally friendly materials, regulatory barriers, and the complexity of mixed-material components that complicate recycling efforts.
Despite these challenges, the research highlights opportunities for improving sustainability through better collaboration among stakeholders, adoption of advanced technologies, and supportive regulatory frameworks. The thesis concludes with actionable recommendations for implementing CLSC in the aircraft seating supply chain, highlighting the importance of economic incentives, improved material separation processes, and regulatory support. These recommendations aim to reduce environmental impact, promote sustainability, and foster a more circular economy within the aerospace industry. This study contributes valuable insights to the field of sustainable technology management, offering practical solutions for a highly regulated and complex sector.

This thesis explores the strategies used by European cleantech startups to navigate the Valley of Death. This critical stage in the development of startups is characterised by a funding gap that hinders commercialisation efforts. Cleantech startups, however, with their focus on sustainable innovations addressing global issues such as climate change and energy transition, often experience a Valley of Death longer and deeper than other startups due to significant additional barriers in this phase. The additional barriers are high capital intensity, long development time, high technological risk, and ecosystem dependence. Thus, understanding how these startups overcome these barriers is crucial, given their potential to drive environmental and energy solutions. Therefore, this study seeks to uncover the strategies that allow cleantech startups to successfully navigate this challenging period. Through a multi-case study involving semi-structured interviews with eight cleantech startups and four investment stakeholders, the research seeks to identify the strategies used to navigate the Valley of Death. To ensure the strategies are grounded in a shared understanding, the timeline and barriers encountered by cleantech startups are first compared to the literature. This comparison is important because the timeline and barriers strongly influence the strategies that startups adopt. After establishing this foundation, the study then identifies the specific strategies used by cleantech startups to overcome these barriers.

The findings reveal that cleantech startups generally experience the onset of the Valley of Death around Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4-5. However, the exact timeline is highly dependent on the sector, market conditions, and type of technology being developed. Compared to other deeptech sectors, cleantech startups experience a delayed onset of the Valley of Death, largely due to the greater availability of government grants and strong public support that help mitigate early financial constraints. The Valley of Death typically ends around TRL 8, when startups begin to generate revenue and achieve financial independence.

In terms of barriers, the findings are strongly aligned with the existing literature, confirming the multifaceted nature of the challenges cleantech startups face. However, the interviews provide additional practical nuances that are less emphasised in the literature. For instance, while the literature touches on the limitations of grants, interviewees pointed out specific challenges such as grant application biases and restrictive conditions, the scarcity of skilled personnel was highlighted as a significant barrier to team-building, adding a practical layer to the more general discussions in the literature.

Another key difference is the strong emphasis placed on product-market fit by both startups and stakeholders during the interviews, which is underrepresented in the literature. Once startups progressed into the Valley of Death, tech risk appeared to diminish in importance, with startups shifting their focus to commercialisation and market challenges. These practical insights provide a deeper understanding of how cleantech startups navigate the VoD and highlight areas where existing research may need further exploration.

To overcome these barriers, European cleantech startups implement a combination of strategies that address both immediate financial constraints and the inherent risks of their ventures. The key strategies identified include non-dilutive funding, blended financing, alternative revenue streams, bootstrapping, investor engagement, deployment-led innovation, customer discovery, market demand signals, strategic partnerships, consortia-building, semi-commercial deployment, and early commercialisation.

Non-dilutive funding, such as grants, plays a crucial role, particularly in the early and intermediate stages, allowing startups to retain ownership while advancing development. The reliance on non-dilutive funding is one of the distinguishing features of cleantech startups, as they often use grants extensively, even until late stages, due to high capital intensity and the regulatory support available for climate and sustainability solutions. This reliance sets them apart from startups in other sectors, which may not leverage grants to the same extent.

In terms of managing inherent risks, cleantech startups employ strategies such as deployment-led innovation, customer discovery, and strategic partnerships to validate technology, establish credibility, and demonstrate market fit. By engaging with investors and pursuing blended financing, cleantech ventures can reduce perceived risks and secure the capital needed for scaling. These strategies are most effective when integrated, providing both short-term solutions for bridging funding gaps and establishing a foundation for long-term stability.

While the strategies employed by cleantech startups to overcome the Valley of Death align broadly with general entrepreneurial practices, the reliance on government support and the nature of addressing urgent global issues such as climate change and sustainability distinguish cleantech ventures from other sectors.

This thesis explores the dynamics of customer satisfaction and its relationship with product attributes while modeling the natural decay of delight associated with these attributes. The research analyzes online reviews of Philips Airfryers to provide valuable insights for businesses aiming to enhance customer satisfaction and remain competitive in a dynamic marketplace.

The study offers several insights into the concept of the natural decay of delight, which refers to the diminishing satisfaction experienced by customers over time. It reveals that the availability of alternative products influences this decay, indicating that as more alternatives become available, the initial delight associated with a product tends to diminish. This understanding underscores the importance of managing customer satisfaction throughout the product life cycle.

The thesis delves into the impact of product attributes like capacity, repurchase intention, and value for money on customer satisfaction \footnote{Keywords: Capacity, Value for Money, Repurchase Intention, Total Alternatives, Airfryer, Customer Satisfaction, and Natural Decay of Delight.}. It identifies these attributes as significant factors affecting customer satisfaction levels. Capacity, when aligned with customer expectations, enhances satisfaction. A positive repurchase intention fosters greater satisfaction and brand loyalty. Moreover, customers perceiving good value for money report higher satisfaction. The study also explores the moderating role of external variables, such as the number of alternatives, in shaping these relationships, providing valuable insights into customer preferences and behavior.

Moreover, the research incorporates external factors, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, sales channels, and regional variations. These external influences are crucial in shaping customer satisfaction and require consideration in product management and marketing strategies.

The practical implications of the findings are significant for businesses. They emphasize the importance of understanding the natural decay of delight and managing product attributes to optimize customer satisfaction. By strategically considering moderating variables, companies can enhance their investments and overall customer satisfaction. Additionally, the study highlights the significance of adapting to changing market dynamics by incorporating external factors in product strategies.

In conclusion, this thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of customer satisfaction dynamics, product attributes, and external influences. The insights gained can guide businesses in developing effective strategies to manage customer satisfaction, adapt to market changes, and maintain a competitive edge. By understanding and addressing customer preferences and factors influencing satisfaction, businesses can optimize their efforts and drive success in today's fiercely competitive marketplace. Businesses should prioritize actively managing product attributes, continuously seeking customer feedback, and proactively adapting to evolving customer demands with the support of their data analytics teams. These actions aim to enhance overall customer satisfaction and foster loyalty.

Research on the effect and influence of external factors on the sustainable business model elements of technology-based start-ups in the Netherlands operating in the PV sector. This resulted in research findings demonstrating that external factors exert a substantial influence on the business model dynamics of Dutch technology-based PV start-ups. Understanding and adapting to these external influences is essential for the sustained success of these start-ups, emphasizing the need for strategic responsiveness and alignment with the evolving external environment. It also shows that the findings of this thesis are not limited to Dutch technology-based PV start-ups but can also be applicable to start-ups in the renewable energy sector, or even start-ups in general.

Artificial Intelligence technology offers computational, decision-making, and optimizing abilities that surpass every previously established traditional computation method. By being able to navigate across large amounts of data, the realized solutions learn on their own and provide results that would be unattainable with other ways. The complex nature of the AI makes the solutions difficult to define. The potential is left untapped, as the solution developers struggle to define product features that would correlate with the user needs. On the other hand, the the potential AI solution users may not be aware of the AI capabilities, possibilities of integration, and automatization of the operation processes.This creates situation, in which the potential of the AI is not used effectively, and areas that could benefit from it are not able to integrate AI systems in their operation.
This research looks at this issue from the perspective of the value proposition design process. This process assumes a definition of potential benefits and uses on the side of the developer, aligning, and communicating them with the potential users. Specifically, the Value Proposition Creation model is used, as it is a method often used by AI startups and university spinoffs. The main question this research asks is “What are the factors influencing the specific value proposition of innovative AI solutions”. By answering this question, the paper hopes to establish a method for understanding the specific aspects of the AI solutions that should be taken into consideration while designing an effective value proposition and communicating it with the potential user.
To answer the research question, an in-depth look is taken at the Artificial Intelligence adoption processes. First, a literature study helps define the factors involved in the AI adoption. A conceptual model is created, which is then evaluated via a series of semi-structured interviews with AI research and development experts. By doing so, the relationships between the factors are obtained and a general impact on the adoption process is understood. This allows for a formulation of the relationship of said factors with the Value Proposition Canvas. Additionally, literature research is conducted on the value proposition frameworks, which allows for a definition of good practices in value proposition design in relation to the Artificial Intelligence solutions. The obtained frameworks are then tested in a single exploratory case study, which looks specifically at the idea of Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms used as a decision-making method in the context of road maintenance planning.
The research provides an overlay on the Value Proposition Canvas, obtained through the evaluation of the AI adoption process. Such approach creates a framework, which then can be used to effectively define and clarify the individual values, benefits, gains, and features of an AI product. Moreover, by providing the interrelationships between the adoption factors, understanding of the internal dependencies of factors necessary in the product development process can be obtained. The framework can be used by developers in the field of Artificial Intelligence to assess the necessary requirements of the solution, highlight the key areas that have to be researched, as well as help in communicating of the crucial solution aspects with the potential clients and users. The framework can be best used in the context of an AI startup or a university spinoff, because of its generalist approach. It assumes a fast development of a value proposition, which is necessary in the context of a Minimum Viable Product definition.
The results of the research combine the adoption processes of the AI solution and the method for their value proposition, realized with the VPC. It has been shown that the adoption factors may play a relevant role in the value definition of the potential solutions. Because the adoption models may not be used directly in the VP processes, a framework of questions has been setup for the solution developers to reflect upon during the Value Proposition Creation. Such approach is in line with the general methodology of the VPC, as it uses questions to define the relevant fields of the canvas. The goal of the research was not to modify the canvas itself, as its intrinsic agility and simplicity is the core strength. Moreover, by looking at the common practices seen in other Value Proposition frameworks, good practices have been defined for the VPC in relation specifically to the Artificial Intelligence solutions. These results have been afterwards validated in the exploratory case study for the Deep Reinforcement Leaning decision-making system in the field of road maintenance, indicating the specific steps that the solution developer must undertake and creating an example Value Proposition Canvas for this specific case.

Corporate Venturing, is a recurrently researched mechanism for corporates to stay innovative. However, the difficulty of establishing a Corporate Venturing Unit, becomes apparent in the literature. ENGIE Ventures and Integrated Solutions (EVIS) also resorts to external CV activities, in order to cope with the pace of technological innovations in the predominantly classical energy industry making it an interesting case to conduct the research. The first part of the research consisted of research endeavors into external CV objectives, in order to develop a version of the intended external CV objectives for a CVU at EVIS. This has been done by conducting a thorough literature review. Consequently, these insights were used as a foundation to conduct internal interviews at EVIS in order to develop a set of intended CV objectives for a CVU at EVIS. The second part, researching the factors, started with a literature study, resulting in the development of a conceptual framework of factors. This conceptual framework has been used as a foundation for a total of nine external interviews. Ultimately, the insights of both the internal interviews and external interviews are processed into implications for EVIS. For the CV objectives intended for a CVU at EVIS, strategic objectives should outweigh the financial objective, where the following strategic objectives are specifically mentioned in order of importance: Strategic corporate renewal and a window on new technology, business models and capabilities – Promoting ENGIE’s innovative and entrepreneurial image – Developing an innovative and entrepreneurial culture within the corporate – Leveraging internal capabilities, competencies and ideas to create new business – Accelerating innovation though ventures – Creating deal flow for corporate M&A. For the financial objective, the interviewees at EVIS indicated the room for potential loss-making investments and ambiguity towards whether every investment should be financially viable. However, external interviews provided a different insight: every investment should show good financial returns, purely looking at the investment financials. Furthermore, the factors that should be considered in order for a CVU to engage in external CV activities, based on literature and external interviews, have been approached by categorizing them into five categories: Factors internal to the CVU, factors in the relation between the CVU and the corporate parent, between the CVU and external ventures, between the CVU and spin-offs and between the CVU and external investment partners. The following factors have been found to be most crucial to consider for a CVU engaging in external CV activities: balancing strategic and financial objectives, the CVU’s team composition and compensation, the autonomy of a CVU and the degree of autonomy it provides to ventures, collaborative investments together with financial and strategic co-investors, and specific activities of a CVU with spin-offs (e.g. motivation to spin-off, involvement of external investors, etc.). However, most importantly, there is no one size fits all for the factors identified. Hence, each CVU should make its own decisions with regard to the identified factors, in order to create the most suited circumstances for their CVU.

The European Union (EU) landfilled and incinerated 600 million tons of waste in 2013, which could have been recycled and returned as raw material to the economy. Resource efficiency can regain this value and bring economic, environmental and social benefits. The EU has therefore adapted the Circular Economy Package with targets to stimulate the transition to a circular economy. These targets include reusing and recycling 55% of plastic packaging waste by 2025. Member states act to achieve those targets with subsidies and funding schemes. This enables entrepreneurs to enter the market of recycled plastic with innovations to gain Schumpeterian rent. However, only approximately 50% of starting companies are still operating after 4 years. It is crucial to increase the success rate of turning new technologies into innovations in order to reach the recycling targets. Market exploration and orientation strategies can aid entrepreneurs to gain insight in the recycled plastic market. Globalized value chain research is a commonly used method, but not suitable to address the recycling industry as it is not globalized but restricted by country borders and local governance. Value chain research methodology was used, according to a handbook written by Kaplinsky & Morris from 2001, which refers to and uses globalized value chain research methodology. For the recycling industry a specific selection was made from elements mentioned in the handbook. This enabled the execution of value chain research for the not globalized recycling industry. The interview questions and topics were made based on the required data for the selected elements. This thesis focussed on the biggest market segment of post-consumer plastic packaging waste in the Netherlands. In total 149 compounders, recyclers and converters were included in a database for a selection. Of which seven companies participated, which resulted in qualitative data that gives insight into the industry and enabled answering the research question.What is required from the value chain of the plastic recycling industry to increase the use of recycled post-consumer PPW? Converters must be able to get access to regranulate with stable MFI and crystallization time characteristics in higher quantities. Compounders can initiate this with joint design projects with branding companies thereby highlighting the possibilities of their regranulate. The optimization of the product and process for their regranulate lowers the switching costs for the converter and can bring rent opportunities. It furthermore showed to increase the sales of regranulate. The compounder requests higher quantities of mono streams recycled plastic from the recycler to comply with demand for regranulate to be used for high volume consumer goods. Recyclers however, upgrade their processes to maximize output for the Dutch ‘Raamovereenkomst’, which includes a mix stream next to the mono streams. This mix stream cannot be used by the compounders to make regranulate for the converters. The recyclers claim that they can technically increase the mono streams at the expense of the mix stream, although this leads to lower profits for them. A change is therefore required in the Dutch ‘Raamovereenkomst’ to optimize for mono stream output.