A Conceptual Research on the Contribution of Integrated Management Systems to the Circular Economy

Abstract

Companies worldwide strive to become more sustainable, and, in this context, the circular economy (CE) gains importance as alternative system as opposed to the linear economy. Since executive mangers around the world work with management systems (MSs) to guide and improve organizational operations, this work aims to explore how integrated MSs (IMS) as business tools can contribute to the adoption of CE principles at the corporate level. To achieve this objective, a systematic literature review is performed, which results in a synthesis sample of 18 academic papers. The findings reveal how MSs contribute to CE adoption and, therefore, demonstrate that managers can use IMS to foster CE implementation. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of institutional intervention in the transition from a linear towards a circular designed economy. The paper contributes to academia by linking the concepts of IMS and CE, synthesizing the current academic knowledge at hand, and proposing a comprehensive research agenda that sets the path for future academic investigations. In a practical perspective, the paper contributes also to managers since it emphasizes how IMS can be used to incorporate circular business thinking into operations management.

ISO management system standards in the light of corporate sustainability: a bibliometric analysis

“…Furthermore, it's noteworthy that albeit there are some academic discussions about how sophisticated MSSs for sustainability-related issues such as the circular economy (e.g. Ronalter et al. , 2022b) or corporate sustainable development in general (e.g.…”

“…Furthermore, it's noteworthy that albeit there are some academic discussions about how sophisticated MSSs for sustainability-related issues such as the circular economy (e.g. Ronalter et al, 2022b) or corporate sustainable development in general (e.g. Asif and Searcy, 2014) could be designed, there is apparently no ongoing discussion about creating internationally applicable standards that guide companies in the complex issue of aligning business practices with the core principles of the SDGs or certain ESG frameworks.…”

“…Thus, MSSs describe the formal codes and MSs represent the outcomei.e. the practical business tools that result when implementing these theoretical guidelines (Ronalter et al, 2022b). And these tools can promote comprehensive changes in organizations regarding value creation and sustainable development (e.g.…”

“…Thus, MSSs describe the formal codes and MSs represent the outcome – i.e. the practical business tools that result when implementing these theoretical guidelines (Ronalter et al. , 2022b).…”

Principles of Management Systems for Positive Impact Factories

“…The existing literature mainly studies the opportunities and possibilities of integrated management systems (IMS) concerning the sustainable management of companies [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Jorgensen and Herreborg, as well as Souza et al, choose a different approach since they discuss the combination of different management systems towards a sustainable system in their analysis [37,38].…”