Unlocking circular start‐ups: A model of barriers

Kasana, Swati; Chavan, Meena; Sedera, Darshana; Cheng, Zhiming; Ganzin, Max

doi:10.1002/bse.3608

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 124 publications

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“…All CSUs that work with residual resource streams mentioned this barrier-independently of the sectors they operate in. 8 CSUs resist ambiguity and neglection in regulatory frameworks (Awana et al, 2023) and thereby establish new norms and disrupt standards, assumptions, and beliefs (cf. Lawrence & Suddaby, 2006).…”

Section: Pioneers: Pushing Boundaries and Legitimizing Transformative...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bottom‐up dynamics in circular innovation systems: The perspective of circular start‐ups

Henry,

Kirchherr,

Raven

et al. 2024

J of Industrial Ecology

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The concept of circular economy (CE) is proposed to lead humanity toward a sustainable future. Public authorities increasingly build on CE narratives. The progress of private sector actors is key to enable more circular resource flows. Still, the world falls far short from becoming circular and large‐scale implementation of CE in actual problem–solution spaces is scarce. This study sheds light into the external strategies of circular start‐ups (CSUs) in building an adequate socio‐institutional embedding for circular business models (CBMs) and puts the findings in the context of CE and sustainability transformations research. CSUs are a distinct group of CE‐oriented actors that build and implement CBMs wholistically and from scratch. Thereby, they can directly and indirectly contribute to the creation of circular innovation systems. This study defines the common CE mission of CSUs, sets it in context of respective socio‐political CE missions, and scrutinizes the roles that CSUs adopt to drive systemic CE implementation. We observe that CSUs’ strategic interventions go further than only novelty creation. This article proposes and elaborates on four roles that CSUs adopt: conveners, reinforcers, pioneers, and champions. The roles differ according to the CSU business models, stakeholders, the institutional elements that are addressed, as well as the directionalities that CSUs set. The findings are discussed considering the governance, policies, and strategic management of various directionalities in which CE innovation develops. It sheds light on inadequacies and limitations for bottom‐up CE innovation in existing norms and cognition, policy, and network governance.

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Section: Pioneers: Pushing Boundaries and Legitimizing Transformative...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bottom‐up dynamics in circular innovation systems: The perspective of circular start‐ups

Henry,

Kirchherr,

Raven

et al. 2024

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…Literature has explored multiple barriers to the advancement of CE and CSUs, for example, policy and regulatory barriers (Awana et al, 2023; Kazancoglu et al, 2021; Van Opstal & Borms, 2023), customer‐related barriers (Awana et al, 2023; Berchicci & Bodewes, 2005; Singh & Ordoñez, 2016), supply chain and market‐related barriers (Geissdoerfer et al, 2023; Guldmann & Huulgaard, 2020; Prendeville & Bocken, 2017), financial barriers (Kirchherr et al, 2018; Van Opstal & Borms, 2023), technological barriers (Tura et al, 2019; Van Opstal & Borms, 2023), and skill barriers (García‐Quevedo et al, 2020; Mishra et al, 2022). In the following paragraphs, we describe how the elements of DEE help overcome these barriers and aid in CSU formation.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies on CE and CSUs show that the government may inadvertently hinder CE implementation through inadequate legislation and regulations for promoting and protecting circular practices (Awana et al, 2023; Van Opstal & Borms, 2023). Most countries historically lacked concrete, coherent, and strict legislation and supportive public procurement policies concerning CEs (Rizos et al, 2016).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Circular economy startups and digital entrepreneurial ecosystems

Roshan,

Balodi,

Datta

et al. 2024

Bus Strat Env

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Circular economy (CE) is the way forward to protect an endangered environment, promote social justice, and advance sustainable and balanced regional economic development. The proliferation of the CE concept and the circular startup (CSU) boom coincides with digital transformation, a socioeconomic change propelled by the widespread adoption of digital technologies. This paper uses a systems theory perspective to study the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem's (DEE) role in CSU formation. Fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is used to empirically explore the configurational recipes for the presence and absence of a high CSU formation rate. The results reveal that for a high CSU formation, DEE elements, such as digital protection and access, act as critical drivers, while other DEE elements take on a supportive role. The findings also show the complementarity effects, substitution effects, and neutral permutations of DEE elements among the configurations.

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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 1 https://www.oecd.org/sdd/47918063.pdf 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). This latter study shows that while circular entrepreneurs are oriented toward integrating all three pillars of sustainable development, yet their visions mainly consider the environmental impacts and rarely embed social value creation (Henry et al, 2022).…”

mentioning

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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Unlocking circular start‐ups: A model of barriers

Cited by 4 publications

References 124 publications

Bottom‐up dynamics in circular innovation systems: The perspective of circular start‐ups

Bottom‐up dynamics in circular innovation systems: The perspective of circular start‐ups

Circular economy startups and digital entrepreneurial ecosystems

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

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