Family Businesses Transitioning to a Circular Economy Model: The Case of “Mercadona”

Abstract

Sustainability addresses environmental and social issues affecting this and future generations. When family businesses perceive that the community is disrupted, recognize an environmental problem and respond by implementing new environmental policies or regulations, the family business's socio-emotional values press to transition to a more sustainable production system, such as the 'Circular Economy.' Drawing on the Dubin (1978) methodology-a paradigm for building models through deduction-we design a sustainable model, which shows family businesses' responses to changes in the environment. It explains the reasons why family firms transition to the Circular Economy, based on the theory of Socio-Emotional Wealth (SEW). We check the model through the case study of the food retail leader in the Spanish market-Mercadona-which applies policies about energy, resources and waste to become a Circular Economy business model. Because of the strong family character of Mercadona, this case can be useful for the decision-making of other family businesses.

A Definition and Theoretical Review of the Circular Economy, Value Creation, and Sustainable Business Models: Where Are We Now and Where Should Research Move in the Future?

“…A review of the literature reveals that few strategy, organization, or management scholars have employed the concept of the circular economy. These scholars have focused on describing different circular business models, circular business model innovations [18], and certain challenges and uncertainties that companies encounter when they adapt to the circular economy [3,7,19,20]. Also, research on related concepts, such as product-service systems [21][22][23][24], eco-efficient services [25][26][27], and business model sustainability [28,29], has discussed the business practice implications of the circular economy.…”

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

“…The circular economy and sustainability are two concepts that outline an extended framework for sustainable development, through which the implementation of strategies capable of providing the enterprise with healthy development is also achieved by addressing the problems of environmental degradation and resource shortages [1][2][3][4]. Besides, the circular economy is a sustainable development strategy that tackles the problems of environmental degradation and natural resource shortages through three principles: reduction, reuse and recycling of materials [5][6][7].…”

China’s Sharing Economy of Mobility Industry: From Perspective of Industrial Ecosystem

“…Based on the findings above, in view of the individual problems existing in the sharing mobility industry and the common problems existing in the sustainable development of the sharing economy industry, we put forward the following suggestions [18,54].…”