Disruptive innovation and circularity in start‐ups: A path to sustainable development

Abstract

Start-ups are an increasingly important phenomenon in the Brazilian business ecosystem. Many such companies have been created over the past few years, illustrating the interest in and growth of such entrepreneurship. Emerging companies are more likely to be founded on sustainable business models. In many cases, such models incorporate the principles of the circular economy. Thus, this study reviewed the use of disruptive innovation and the circularity of resources in the business models of start-ups. The study consisted of 50 semistructured interviews with start-up owners and managers. We accessed the database of the Brazilian Start-ups Association to map the organisations to be surveyed. Our results show that start-ups are innovating in terms of the circularity of resources through a range of partially implemented initiatives. These initiatives allow start-ups to manage their data and microdata, create artefact integration systems, generate connectivity, accelerate digitisation, stimulate partnerships and cooperation between parties in the supply chain, generate new market opportunities and develop efficient transition systems for the circularity of resources. Thus, there is ample evidence that disruptive innovation supports the circular economy in Brazilian start-ups. This study makes two main contributions to the literature. First, it strengthens the existing understanding of the use of the circular economy in start-ups, supported by disruptive innovation. Second, it identifies the levels of adoption of the circular economy in different market segments. Based on these findings, it identifies several opportunities to encourage further advances in this area.

Disruptive Innovation in the Context of Retailing: Digital Trends and the Internationalization of the Yiwu Commodity Market

“…This approach is useful when existing theories do not answer existing questions, when the question involves a process or evolves over time. In order to ensure a complete chain of data evidence and thorough case analysis, the research in this paper used semistructured interviews and has tried to find the evidence behind the successful exploration of disruptive innovation by analyzing the specific practices of typical SMEs in Yiwu [44,45]. As a pioneer in reducing poverty and promoting prosperity in China, Yiwu is a model for other disruptive innovation frontiers and internationalization around the world [46].…”

The Circular economy in Brazil and alignment with the SDGs: Interfaces, gaps and opportunities for future research

“…Increasingly, society charges and funding entities encourage the carrying out of impact research (Okon et al, 2021), generating social transformations (Nicli et al, 2020) and improvements in different organizational and social contexts (Sehnem et al, 2022a). An incentive for new reflections and discussions that can contribute to generating social, environmental, economic, cultural, political and institutional transformations (Sehnem et. al.…”

“…The justification that motivates this study is associated with the role of human beings to generate applied solutions capable of contributing to the minimization of pollution (Lim et al, 2022), which contributes to minimizing the negative effects of climate change (Crecente et al, 2021) and that make relevant stakeholders of production systems (Nazmul et al, 2021) the protagonists of an effective transition to a society that generates fewer negative impacts and has a restorative potential for the losses and damages it has already generated for planet Earth . In the meantime, innovation plays a strategic role capable of creating disruptive and efficient alternatives and solutions (Sehnem et al, 2022b). We have an indicator that only 8.6% of our planet is circular (Circularity Gap Report, 2021), which shows the size of the bottleneck that exists and that can be supplied with creative research that promotes transformations for society.…”

Improving startups through excellence initiatives: addressing circular economy and innovation

“…In this study we address the excellence in innovation interfaces and circular business models (Sehnem et al, 2021a ). Research reveals that emerging companies, called startups (Rok & Kulik, 2021 ), whose business models are based on acceleration and rapid growth, are already more likely to adhere to sustainable practices as well as to disruptive and radical innovations, including engagement of the different stakeholders of supply chain in this form of action (Sehnem et al, 2021b ). Circular business models (Bocken & Ritala, 2022 ) have gained scientific and social notoriety in recent years (Pavan et al, 2021 ).…”