Circular economy—A way forward to Sustainable Development: Identifying Conceptual Overlaps and Contingency Factors at the Microlevel

Abstract

The concept of circular economy (CE) has gained a lot of attention in recent years to provide creative and innovative solutions to issues relating to sustainable development (SD) in the ever-changing business environment. While the earlier studies have presented the concept of CE and its barriers, there exits limited work at the micro-

Identifying enablers and outcomes of circular economy for sustainable development: A systematic literature review

“…While shifting to a circular supply chain is significant, adapting to circular strategies is challenging because of the complexity of the current linear production system, involved economic stake, and inadequate policies at the firm level (Sinha, 2021). However, there are some factors that can drive and facilitate the firm's CE objectives if given due attention.…”

“…In the past studies, BMI has not received comprehensive attention despite their complexities and significance (Wirtz et al, 2016). It is not easy for the organizations to shift from deep-rooted linear processes to circular processes and requires heavy investments (Sinha, 2021). Without having the understanding of the various BMI, it would be difficult for the organizations to identify opportunities and design suitable business strategies based on the CE principles to transform their operations.…”

“…CE is a highly recommended approach to economic growth, which also resonates with the concept of sustainable development (SD) as the traditional linear model (extract‐produce‐use‐dump) of material and energy flow of the modern economic system is unsustainable (Korhonen et al, 2018). Unlike traditional linear and open‐ended economy, CE is a cyclical process that focuses on the material, product, and components' reuse, remanufacturing, repair, refurbishment as well as reliance on green energy sources throughout the product value chain (Rashid et al, 2013; Sinha, 2021). The CE concept focuses on restoring and circulating the “value” of resources through “intentional and integrated” productive chains, thus, inhibiting the creation of waste (Gregson et al, 2015).…”

“…Businesses across the globe are under pressure from stakeholders to provide goods and services in an ethical manner by taking care of safety, the environment, and health (Sinha, 2021). Businesses play a major role in achieving CE objectives by adapting to the circular business strategies (CBS) that encourage them to build a more sustainable supply chain.…”

“…CBS advocates operations according to the law of nature that reduces the trade‐off between usage of resources and economic growth (Ünal et al, 2019) to achieve SD. As CE is a “restorative system” (Sehnem, Vazquez‐Brust, et al, 2019; Sinha, 2021), CBS focuses on repairing previous environmental damages by designing better production systems with increased resource efficiency and effectiveness (Ghisellini et al, 2016), which lead to SD. However, understanding of factors, which facilitate the CBS is very limited as the extant literature is fragmented, diffused, and largely case‐based.…”