Driving the Transition to a Circular Economic Model: A Systematic Review on Drivers and Critical Success Factors in Circular Economy

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) is arising as a novel economic system that is restorative by design. In light of its capability to boost sustainable economic development and to cope with environmental challenges, it has recently attracted increasing attention from academics, practitioners, policymakers, and intergovernmental organizations. Despite the wide speculation on this issue, the scientific literature lacks a wide-ranging, systematic, and updated identification and classification of the main drivers and Critical Success Factors of CE initiatives, which appears increasingly necessary to facilitate future scientific work, practical implementations, and policy guidelines. With this aim, this paper develops a systematic literature review by starting with over 400 manuscripts. A final set of 55 selected papers was selected for singling out and classifying drivers and Critical Success Factors in the CE context. The results may provide clear indications for further research, may help business organizations in evaluating CE initiatives, and may guide policy makers in developing and refining CE normative frameworks.

Factors and strategies for circularity implementation in the public sector: An organisational change management approach for sustainability

“…environmental agency) rather than constructing CE as everyone's responsibility (Dahl Sönnichsen & Clement, 2020; Doppelt, 2003). Structural and regulatory constraints might represent a bigger hindering factor than for private companies that usually have less cumbersome and more flexible procedures and for which regulatory and legal aspects are seen rather as a factor motivating companies to change (Aloini et al, 2020).…”

Toward a Circular Economy in the Toy Industry: The Business Model of a Romanian Company

“…In this case, there are identified drivers for circular economies initiatives, such as those described in the literature [65][66][67][68]: the potential for new business development and innovation, differentiation and strengthening, reducing supply dependence, and the need for compliance with national regulations and policy (taking into consideration that Romania, a member of the EU, has gradually dedicated itself to achieving the objectives of the Circular Economy Package).…”

Circular Project Selection: How Companies Can Evaluate Circular Innovation Projects

“…The opportunities and challenges of a CE at the micro level are mainly discussed in the context of drivers and barriers, distinguishing external and internal influencing factors. External factors such as legislation, financial support, customer attitude, and public awareness can be drivers or barriers, depending on whether they are in favor of a circular or linear economy [18,20,[47][48][49][50][51][52]. Major technological problems and the continuation of low resource prices might discourage companies from introducing circular innovations [6,50,53].…”

“…Furthermore, companies have often set a strong focus on linear business models and fear the uncertain returns of circular solutions [41,50,55]. Internal drivers can be a strategic CE agenda [21], the reduction of operating costs, new growth opportunities, and competitive advantages [21,47,49,52,56]. Closed cycle solutions usually require substantial investments in R&D but can reduce resource and environmental costs [5][6][7]57].…”