Circular economy to enhance sustainability of small and medium‐sized enterprises

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) represents a major paradigm shift of moving from the concepts of linear to circular supply chains across multiple industries. Although some aspects of CE adoption within industrial supply chains have been researched extensively (particularly addressing challenges of design, implementation, and operations), the research that relates CE practices with sustainability performance to reveal the current state of CE practices within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) is scant. The aim of this research was to facilitate SMEs to achieve greater sustainability through CE implementation. This research addresses three research questions—How are CE fields of action related to sustainability performance? What are the issues, challenges, and opportunities of adopting CE in SMEs? And what key strategies, resources, and competences facilitate effective implementation of CE in SMEs? This study adopts a mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative) using survey research, focus group, and case studies; 130 randomly selected SMEs within the Midlands of the United Kingdom have been surveyed, and the responses are analysed using statistical tools along with findings from focus groups and case studies. The study reveals that all CE fields of action (take, make, distribute, use, and recover) of SMEs are correlated to economic performance, but only make and use are related to environmental and social performance. The study further derives strategies, resources, and competences for achieving sustainability across all the CE field of actions. Additionally, this research reveals the issues and challenges, strategies, resources, and competences required for implementing CE in SMEs.

Industry 4.0 and circular economy: An exploratory analysis of academic and practitioners' perspectives

“…Therefore, there is a gap between the results of professionals and academics. Whereas professionals can rely on more data, using it to increase management practices, as defined in the Rosa et al (2020), scholars will need more empirical evidence by enabling and supporting internal and external stakeholders in CE processes (Dey et al, 2020).…”

Stakeholder engagement in a sustainable sales and operations planning process

“…External stakeholder groups are putting increasing pressure on organizations to behave in an environmentally and socially responsible manner (Berrone et al, 2013; Dey et al, 2020). For example, consumers are increasingly demanding ethically sourced products that do minimal damage to the environment (Giannakis & Papadopoulos, 2016).…”

The effects of environmental, social and governance disclosure on the cost of capital in small and medium enterprises: The role of family business status

“…SMEs represent 90% and 99% of worldwide (Bakos, Siu, Orengo, & Kasiri, 2020) and EU (Bartolacci, Caputo, & Soverchia, 2019) businesses, respectively, and their peculiarities in terms of structural, social, and functional factors (Russo & Perrini, 2010) make them very different from large firms. Indeed, SMEs are far from being “little big firms” (Tilley, 2000), and their specific characteristics (Dey et al, 2020), such as simpler management schemes, limited financial and human resources, and stronger social relations, may alter the effectiveness of ESG disclosure. We nest inside this debate by arguing that, contrary to large firms, ESG disclosure is bound to increase the SMEs' weighted average cost of capital (WACC).…”