IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v66y2023i6p805-816.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are you ready for the sustainable, biocircular economy?

Author

Listed:
  • Marshall, Donna
  • O’Dochartaigh, Aideen
  • Prothero, Andrea
  • Reynolds, Orlagh
  • Secchi, Enrico

Abstract

With the effects of the climate crisis becoming more extreme, and in view of the urgent need to achieve sustainable development goals, managers, companies, and entire industries must embrace the sustainable, biocircular economy, enabling all stakeholders as well as our planet to thrive in this inevitable future. This article clarifies the emerging concept of sustainable biocircularity by showcasing best-practice applications, with examples from policymakers, civil society organizations (CSOs), companies, and others working together to bring vital transformational change. We present five guiding EARTH principles (ecology, authenticity, resilience, transformation, and holism) to help ensure the transition to a sustainable, biocircular economy benefits organizations and society at minimal cost to the environment. We next introduce the five stages required to develop a successful transition to sustainable biocircularity. Here we highlight how an integrated, systems-based STOP (skills, technologies, opportunities, and problems) road map can enable organizations to conduct strategic analysis and decision-making across each of the five stages, thus helping to achieve that transition. We demonstrate how the guiding principles, the five stages, and the road map are intertwined and stress that companies must understand and embrace each of these in order to thrive in this new environment. Finally, we provide a biowashing checklist to help ensure this transition is truly sustainable, just, and authentic.

Suggested Citation

  • Marshall, Donna & O’Dochartaigh, Aideen & Prothero, Andrea & Reynolds, Orlagh & Secchi, Enrico, 2023. "Are you ready for the sustainable, biocircular economy?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 805-816.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:66:y:2023:i:6:p:805-816
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2023.05.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681323000526
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2023.05.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sun, Jiazhe & Wu, Shunan & Yang, Kaizhong, 2018. "An ecosystemic framework for business sustainability," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 59-72.
    2. Sekerka, Leslie E. & Stimel, Derek, 2011. "How durable is sustainable enterprise? Ecological sustainability meets the reality of tough economic times," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 115-124.
    3. Todeschini, Bruna Villa & Cortimiglia, Marcelo Nogueira & Callegaro-de-Menezes, Daniela & Ghezzi, Antonio, 2017. "Innovative and sustainable business models in the fashion industry: Entrepreneurial drivers, opportunities, and challenges," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 60(6), pages 759-770.
    4. Buxel, Holger & Esenduran, Gökçe & Griffin, Scott, 2015. "Strategic sustainability: Creating business value with life cycle analysis," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 109-122.
    5. Baldassarre, Fabrizio & Campo, Raffaele, 2016. "Sustainability as a marketing tool: To be or to appear to be?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 421-429.
    6. Wassmer, Ulrich & Pain, Guillaume & Paquin, Raymond L., 2017. "Taking environmental partnerships seriously," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 135-142.
    7. Srinivasan, Mahesh & Hamdani, Maria & Ma, Siqi, 2021. "Four supply chain management systems: From supply chain strategies to human resource management," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 249-260.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dessart, Laurence & Standaert, Willem, 2023. "Strategic storytelling in the age of sustainability," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 371-385.
    2. Marco Bertoni, 2017. "Introducing Sustainability in Value Models to Support Design Decision Making: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-31, June.
    3. Abbate, Stefano & Centobelli, Piera & Cerchione, Roberto, 2023. "From Fast to Slow: An Exploratory Analysis of Circular Business Models in the Italian Apparel Industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Broccardo, Laura & Vola, Paola & Zicari, Adrian & Alshibani, Safiya Mukhtar, 2023. "Contingency-based analysis of the drivers and obstacles to a successful sustainable business model: Seeking the uncaptured value," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Regmi, Rupesh & Zhang, Zhuo & Zhang, Hongpeng, 2023. "Entrepreneurship strategy, natural resources management and sustainable performance: A study of an emerging market," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    6. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-496 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Maria Rosa De Giacomo & Raimund Bleischwitz, 2020. "Business models for environmental sustainability: Contemporary shortcomings and some perspectives," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3352-3369, December.
    8. Vincenzo Basile & Francesca Loia & Nunzia Capobianco & Roberto Vona, 2023. "An ecosystems perspective on the reconversion of offshore platforms: Towards a multi‐level governance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1615-1631, July.
    9. Nadia Preghenella & Cinzia Battistella, 2021. "Exploring business models for sustainability: A bibliographic investigation of the literature and future research directions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2505-2522, July.
    10. Marcos Ferasso & Tatiana Beliaeva & Sascha Kraus & Thomas Clauss & Domingo Ribeiro‐Soriano, 2020. "Circular economy business models: The state of research and avenues ahead," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3006-3024, December.
    11. Mohamed Akli Achabou & Sihem Dekhili & Linda Prince, 2014. "Proactive CSR: Analytical Hierarchy Process And Empirical Assessment In The French Context," Working Papers 2014-75, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    12. Rafael Robina-Ramírez & Antonio Fernández-Portillo & Juan Carlos Díaz-Casero, 2019. "Green Start-Ups’ Attitudes towards Nature When Complying with the Corporate Law," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-17, February.
    13. Juliane Peters & Ana Simaens, 2020. "Integrating Sustainability into Corporate Strategy: A Case Study of the Textile and Clothing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-35, July.
    14. Vinicius Minatogawa & Matheus Franco & Izabela Simon Rampasso & Maria Holgado & Diego Garrido & Hernan Pinto & Ruy Quadros, 2022. "Towards Systematic Sustainable Business Model Innovation: What Can We Learn from Business Model Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-35, March.
    15. Mariachiara Colucci & Alessandra Vecchi, 2021. "Close the loop: Evidence on the implementation of the circular economy from the Italian fashion industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 856-873, February.
    16. Eirini Triantafyllidou & Anastasia Zabaniotou, 2022. "From Theory to Praxis: ‘Go Sustainable Living’ Survey for Exploring Individuals Consciousness Level of Decision-Making and Action-Taking in Daily Life Towards a Green Citizenship," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 113-139, March.
    17. Simone Sehnem & Adriane A. Farias S. L. de Queiroz & Susana Carla Farias Pereira & Gabriel dos Santos Correia & Edson Kuzma, 2022. "Circular economy and innovation: A look from the perspective of organizational capabilities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 236-250, January.
    18. Oluwasoye P. Mafimisebi & Adekunle I. Ogunsade, 2022. "Unlocking a Continent of Opportunity: Entrepreneurship and Digital Ecosystems for Value Creation in Africa," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 11(1), pages 11-22, March.
    19. David Teh & Tehmina Khan & Brian Corbitt & Chin Eang Ong, 2020. "Sustainability strategy and blockchain-enabled life cycle assessment: a focus on materials industry," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 605-622, December.
    20. Ipek Kazancoglu & Yigit Kazancoglu & Emel Yarimoglu & Aysun Kahraman, 2020. "A conceptual framework for barriers of circular supply chains for sustainability in the textile industry," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1477-1492, September.
    21. Blanco, Christian & Caro, Felipe & Corbett, Charles J., 2017. "An inside perspective on carbon disclosure," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 635-646.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:66:y:2023:i:6:p:805-816. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.