Startups and circular economy strategies: Profile differences, barriers and enablers

Opstal, Wim Van; Borms, Lize

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.136510

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…To gather perspectives, opinions, and characteristics of startups in Flanders, we organized a survey in close collaboration with the most relevant organizations that are active in the circular startup ecosystem in Flanders, including Circular Flanders, Start it @KBC, and the Social Innovation Factory (see Appendix 1). A general and detailed presentation of this survey is reported in (Van Opstal & Borms, 2023), that describes profile differences, barriers, and enablers for circular startups in general, without focusing on work integration ambitions . Nevertheless, we briefly report the most relevant methodological aspects of our approach.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work integration ambitions of startups in the circular economy

Opstal

Borms

2023

Ann Public Coop Econ

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An increasing number of studies illustrate and estimate the potential of the circular economy to create new jobs, most particularly for vulnerable groups at the labor market. This creates collaborating opportunities for Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) and circular economy ventures. Since a shift to a circular economy requires new visions and strategies, startups are considered as powerful engines for the innovation processes needed to support a circular transition. Nevertheless, academic literature at the crossroads of the circular economy, work integration of target groups, and startups remains quasi non‐existent. In this paper we present results from survey‐data of startups with varying implementation levels of circular strategies, and assess their willingness to cooperate with WISEs, or to engage in other forms of target group employment. We find a strong positive relationship between the implementation of circular strategies and work integration ambitions among startups. Circular startups who need skills on production, transportation, and logistics seek collaboration with WISEs for both inner (repair and redesign) and outer circle (recycling) strategies. Our findings suggest that the circular social economy faces specific barriers that need tailor‐made enabling policies. We recommend WISEs to explicitly assess reskilling and upskilling opportunities while embracing the circular economy as a future‐proof economic activity.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work integration ambitions of startups in the circular economy

Opstal

Borms

2023

Ann Public Coop Econ

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“…Furthermore, there is a positive significant relation between being a female entrepreneur and asking transport and logistics skills. In Van Opstal and Borms (2023) the results of statistical analyses combined with interviews suggest that women are more risk averse and thus they might overestimate the difficulty of organising a qualitative infrastructure and organisation in a more circular economy. On top of this, an extensive amount of literature can be found on the male-dominance in the transport and logistics sector (Edirisinghe et al, 2017;MacNeil and Ghosh, 2017;Mejia-Dorantes, 2019).…”

Section: Transport and Logistic Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Working Future: An Analysis of Skills Needed by Circular Startups

et al. 2023

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“…To the best of our knowledge, in the current literature on CSUs (Awana et al, 2023; Borms et al, 2023; Colucci & Vecchi, 2021; Cullen & De Angelis, 2021; Henry et al, 2020; Henry et al 2022; Hull et al, 2021; Millette et al, 2020; Rok & Kulik, 2021; Sucheck et al, 2022; Van Hopstal and Borms, 2023), the evaluation of environmental and social impacts, and performances of the activities of CSUs is still underexplored (Das et al, 2022). The available literature about CSUs mainly focuses on internal barriers, drivers, and competences in the implementation of circular business models (Maglio et al, 2021; von Kolpinski et al, 2023; Van Hopstal & Borms, 2023; Borms et al, 2023; Awana et al, 2023), as well as on the entrepreneurial motivations and identities of CSUs (Voinea et al, 2019; Rok & Kulik, 2021; Henry et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring environmental and social performances of circular start‐ups: An orientation and certification assessment

Ghisellini,

Quinto,

Passaro

et al. 2023

Bus Strat Env

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The circular economy (CE) aims to deeply transform the current linear model of economy and society into a business model capable to extend the lifetime of resources and decrease environmental impacts. For this to happen, changes in societal systems and production sectors, from micro to macro, are required.The present research, based on a multiple case‐study explorative approach of circular start‐ups (CSUs), investigates their adoption of environmental impact assessment methods, environmental and social certifications and contribution to a better integration of the social dimension in the CE model. Results indicate that three out of six CSUs carefully measure and certify their environmental and social impacts. Life Cycle Assessment resulted the most adopted environmental assessment method, while two CSUs are also certified benefit corporations. CSUs are mainly oriented toward the use of quantitative methods for the measurement of environmental and social impacts. Additional efforts are still needed toward the implementation of qualitative methods to properly highlight the achievement of social benefits (environmental and social awareness, employees' engagement, work time and free time balance, consumers health and safety, among others) for their stakeholders (workers, local community, consumers). Nevertheless, CSUs case studies highlight their potential of supporting the transition toward a fair CE while at the same time facilitating the integration of social dimension aspects into the CE model. Finally, by developing appropriate business to consumer models, CSUs can strongly affect consumption behaviors and habits, making them also more aware and responsible of their environmental and social life cycle impacts and improvement potential.

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Startups and circular economy strategies: Profile differences, barriers and enablers

Cited by 30 publications

References 49 publications

Work integration ambitions of startups in the circular economy

Work integration ambitions of startups in the circular economy

The Working Future: An Analysis of Skills Needed by Circular Startups

Exploring environmental and social performances of circular start‐ups: An orientation and certification assessment

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