In recent years, corporate social responsibility has become the most outstanding challenges for firms and circular economy has emerged as an innovative business model able to transform corporate social responsibility into actions. Even if by adopting such a strategic model firms could enhance their performance, results continue to be mixed and unclear. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, the study investigates the effect of three circular economy practices (waste treatment, reduction and recycling), on brand reputation and financial performance. Second, the study tests the role of brand reputation in mediating the relationship between circular economy practices and financial performance. The findings highlight the crucial role of 3Rs practices and of brand reputation in enhancing firm performance. This paper contributes to a better understanding on the relationship between circular economy practices, as sustainable strategic and managerial practices, and firm performance, in both marketing and financial terms. Moreover, it sheds light on circular economy implementation and its effect at the firm level, by analyzing managers perceptions on how firms and policy makers have to incorporate the circular economy concept in their sustainability agenda.

In this study, we summarised the human resources practices for the development of Operator 4.0. Operator 4.0 is the worker operating in an Industry 4.0 organisation. Such organisations introduce novel digital technologies—including Big Data, robotics, and the Internet of Things—along the assembly line. Operators 4.0 can manage Industry 4.0 technologies, and Industry 4.0 technologies also support their activities. Some studies illustrate the enabling Industry 4.0 technologies for this role and the various qualitative benefits for Operator 4.0. However, organisations encounter issues to prepare traditional manufacturing workers for this novel role, which implies a drastic change in training and designing jobs, particularly for the qualitative aspects of the work organisation and human-computer interaction. Moreover, traditional manufacturing workers do not possess the proper digital skills to manage complex Industry 4.0 technology. Thus, there is a lack of study that illustrates what organisational practices are used to develop an Operator 4.0. Human resources management is the organisational function devoted to these challenges, such as a lack of a skilled workforce in handling high-tech technologies and employee retention. It provides human resource practices to develop workers for their role. Therefore, we addressed this gap by conducting a systematic literature review to summarise the used human resource practices for the development of an Operator 4.0. The results show six human resource practices for developing an Operator 4.0: staffing, job design, training, performance appraisal system, knowledge management, and compensation. We concluded by proposing a research agenda to advance this research stream.

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to describe the attempt of a family champagne house to redefine its business organization as a family in a large family of families. This choice involves defining their activities as entrepreneuring in a specific time and space that all actors experience as their sensible reality. To describe the whole process, the authors call this ensemble a “chronotope,” including the same space and time as part of a common story. The authors assess this narrative strategy in reference to both past conflict in the champagne business and to the present crisis caused by the pandemic in addition to a series of social, economic and environmental changes in the environment.Design/methodology/approachThe design of the paper corresponds to the case of a champagne family house in its environment with a longitudinal, processual approach of the family business venture before and especially after its sale and buyback by the family. The authors use Bakhtin to insist on the fictional nature of the account of most events as most protagonists adopt different perspectives. The Taittinger family, at the head of the trade house, creates a story that fits in all these perspectives and makes sense to overcome key issues in the business.FindingsOur findings illustrate the role of the chronotope as a way to broaden the scope of inter- and intra-family relations. This concept also shows the importance of shared experiences, stories and crafted practices to sustain collective work and the meaning associated with the result of this work, in this case, champagne wine. The authors also show the different styles of chronotopes and their role in binding together actors in relation to the transformation of their activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe research limitations are of two kinds. The first limitation comes from the choice to focus on the Taittinger family house, as it tends to focus the analysis on their point of view. The second limitation is due to the persistence of the pandemic situation that makes it difficult to test the chronotope idea as it is quite recent. Because of the current pandemic, it is complicated to anticipate what the future could look like and therefore, to imagine the future dimension of the chronotope. To overcome this limit, the authors suggest different scenario that leaves open different possibilities.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of this paper could be to see how family business entrepreneurs may benefit from designing their strategy as a rich personal fiction in reference to a chronotope instead of referring to storytelling, communication and brand management or even competition strictly speaking. In turbulent times and to face grand challenges, long-term collaborations require stronger ties and imagination without leaving out emotions. Yet the entrepreneurs may become a victim of their own fictions if stakeholders perceive contradictions or if they were to dislike the new episodes the family invents.Social implicationsThe social implications of this case study show the role of business relations built on fiction reflecting strong ties and shared processes such as entrepreneuring in the world of heritage goods where sustainability and endurance matter. This perspective insists on a shared story and it contrasts with more discontinued approaches based on disruptive innovation, opportunism and competitiveness in turbulent times. The chronotope does not ineluctably evolve in different ways, making actors’ perspective shrink, expand or exile. Family entrepreneuring may actively influence this transformation and they may also be framed by it.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper comes from the description of a family business in its environment as a chronotope. Reflecting how related actors in a business field like champagne co-construct a representation, the authors looked for a concept that would accurately reflect this vision, researchers chose the concept of “chronotope,” borrowing from narrative approaches. This approach is transdisciplinary. It is also an attempt to bring researchers at work closer to what actors in the field experiment with and find inspiration in.