The Sustainability of Romanian SMEs and Their Involvement in the Circular Economy

Abstract

Sustainability involves extending the relational framework of SMEs outside the sphere of economic activity by justifying and legitimizing actions with a social impact on the environment. Links with the circular economy are achieved through the economic and environmental dimensions and through corporate social responsibility as a component of sustainable development. The main purpose of the paper was to determine the level of involvement of Romanian SMEs in activities related to the circular economy. The sample survey conducted among SME managers offered the advantage of collecting a large amount of direct information on the activities undertaken, the size of the investments and the nature of the funding sources used over the last five years. In this descriptive research, the process of setting up a representative sample of 384 enterprises was carried out by random sampling. The major contributions of the research project are to outline the contribution of Romanian SMEs to the development of a sustainable economy through their involvement in specific activities, the size of the investments made, and the level of participation of representatives of the enterprises in courses in order to identify new sources of financing and positive solutions in order to implement the principles of the circular economy.

Main Dimensions in the Building of the Circular Supply Chain: A Literature Review

“…It is necessary to rethink the productive system, in such a way that CE can focus on the three Rs (reduction, reuse, and recycling), the 6Rs (reuse, recycle, redesign, remanufacture, reduce, recover), or the 9Rs (refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose, recycle, recover) to achieve greener but also more efficient production processes, which would make them more profitable for organizations [39,[42][43][44][45]. Accordingly, CE has traditionally been associated with "sustainability" [30,[46][47][48][49]. It understands industry from a restorative and regenerative perspective by intention and design [3].…”

A Perspective Over Modern SMEs: Managing Brand Equity, Growth and Sustainability Through Digital Marketing Tools and Techniques

“…Dahnil et al approached in their research the factors that influence the adoption of social media marketing by SMEs [37] and Vetráková et al provide interesting research aspects about corporate sustainability in the process of employee recruitment through social networks for SMEs [38]. Oncioiu et al discussed also the sustainability of Romanian SMEs and their involvement in specific activities, the size of the investments made and the level of participation of representatives of the enterprises in courses in order to find new sources of financing and implement optimal solutions [39].…”

An Exploration of Circular Economy Practices and Performance Among Romanian Producers

“…Most studies addressing Romanian companies refer mainly to the degree of involvement of Romanian SMEs in the activities specific to CE, the difficulties and barriers encountered by Romanian SMEs in implementing CE in the EU context [86][87][88] and to the Romanian consumer behavior and the perceptions of circular business models [27,89,90] not necessarily referring to the practices and performance related to the transition to CE.…”