IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jmgtgv/v27y2023i4d10.1007_s10997-022-09653-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The transition towards a circular economy. A framework for SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Francesca Gennari

    (University of Brescia)

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contribute significantly to the European GDP and play a pivotal role in the ecological transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE). According to transition management theory, which emphasizes the active role of firms as accelerators of global transition processes, and based on qualitative content analysis of the literature, we found key pillars of CE (governance, relations with stakeholders and innovation) that SMEs should manage in an integrated way to increase the speed of the transition towards circularity. The result of this study is a conceptual framework that explains the development of the identified pillars in the context of the transition towards CE. This study addresses a gap in the literature concerning SMEs’ transition towards circularity, emphasizing the importance of a dynamic vision and the integrated management of a variety of key dimensions. The study also provides pragmatic advice to facilitate self-assessments by SMEs with respect to their path of transition and to maximize the effectiveness of policy-makers’ interventions to support SMEs. Finally, the study has societal implications: promoting the transition of SMEs towards CE can accelerate the global green transition due to the proximity of SMEs to the local environment and work force.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Gennari, 2023. "The transition towards a circular economy. A framework for SMEs," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(4), pages 1423-1457, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:27:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10997-022-09653-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10997-022-09653-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10997-022-09653-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10997-022-09653-6?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. Vasileios Rizos & Arno Behrens & Wytze Van der Gaast & Erwin Hofman & Anastasia Ioannou & Terri Kafyeke & Alexandros Flamos & Roberto Rinaldi & Sotiris Papadelis & Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers & Corrado , 2016. "Implementation of Circular Economy Business Models by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): Barriers and Enablers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-18, November.
    2. Judith Green, 2004. "Book Review: Qualitative Methods and Health Policy Research," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 9(4), pages 108-109, November.
    3. Cheryl Rodgers, 2010. "Sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs: a case study analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), pages 125-132, May.
    4. Kirchherr, Julian & Piscicelli, Laura & Bour, Ruben & Kostense-Smit, Erica & Muller, Jennifer & Huibrechtse-Truijens, Anne & Hekkert, Marko, 2018. "Barriers to the Circular Economy: Evidence From the European Union (EU)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 264-272.
    5. Joan Manuel F. Mendoza & Maria Sharmina & Alejandro Gallego-Schmid & Graeme Heyes & Adisa Azapagic, 2017. "Integrating Backcasting and Eco-Design for the Circular Economy: The BECE Framework," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 526-544, June.
    6. Martin-Tapia, Inmaculada & Aragon-Correa, Juan Alberto & Senise-Barrio, Maria Eugenia, 2008. "Being green and export intensity of SMEs: The moderating influence of perceived uncertainty," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 56-67, December.
    7. Rizos, Vasileios & Tuokko, Katja & Behrens, Arno, 2017. "The Circular Economy: A review of definitions, processes and impacts," CEPS Papers 12440, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    8. Li‐Heng Chen & Peiying Hung & Hwong‐wen Ma, 2020. "Integrating circular business models and development tools in the circular economy transition process: A firm‐level framework," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1887-1898, July.
    9. Stephen Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2008. "Factors influencing the quality of corporate environmental disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 120-136, February.
    10. J Antony & M Kumar & A Labib, 2008. "Gearing Six Sigma into UK manufacturing SMEs: results from a pilot study," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(4), pages 482-493, April.
    11. Hsian‐ming Liu & Hsin‐feng Yang, 2019. "Managing Network Resource and Organizational Capabilities to Create Competitive Advantage for SMEs in a Volatile Environment," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(S2), pages 155-171, November.
    12. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    13. Ghobadian, A. & Gallear, D. N., 1996. "Total quality management in SMEs," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 83-106, February.
    14. Jonathan D. Linton & George T. Solomon, 2017. "Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and The Small Business—Technology and Innovation in Small Business," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 196-199, April.
    15. Massimo Battaglia & Lara Bianchi & Marco Frey & Fabio Iraldo, 2010. "An innovative model to promote CSR among SMEs operating in industrial clusters: evidence from an EU project," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), pages 133-141, May.
    16. Silvio M. Brondoni, 2008. "Market-Driven Management, Competitive Space and Global Networks," Symphonya. Emerging Issues in Management, Niccolò Cusano University, issue 1 Market-.
    17. de Jesus, Ana & Mendonça, Sandro, 2018. "Lost in Transition? Drivers and Barriers in the Eco-innovation Road to the Circular Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 75-89.
    18. Melissa Jackson & Aleta Lederwasch & Damien Giurco, 2014. "Transitions in Theory and Practice: Managing Metals in the Circular Economy," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-28, July.
    19. Thomas Hoppe & Anna Kuokkanen & Mirja Mikkilä & Helena Kahiluoto & Miia Kuisma & Maarten Arentsen & Lassi Linnanen, 2016. "System Merits or Failures? Policies for Transition to Sustainable P and N Systems in The Netherlands and Finland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-28, May.
    20. Sara Scipioni & Meir Russ & Federico Niccolini, 2021. "From Barriers to Enablers: The Role of Organizational Learning in Transitioning SMEs into the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-31, January.
    21. Francesco Perrini & Angeloantonio Russo & Antonio Tencati, 2007. "CSR Strategies of SMEs and Large Firms. Evidence from Italy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(3), pages 285-300, September.
    22. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    23. Hamid El Bilali, 2020. "Transition heuristic frameworks in research on agro-food sustainability transitions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1693-1728, March.
    24. Francesca Gennari & Daniela M. Salvioni, 2019. "CSR committees on boards: the impact of the external country level factors," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(3), pages 759-785, September.
    25. Ionica Oncioiu & Sorinel Căpuşneanu & Mirela Cătălina Türkeș & Dan Ioan Topor & Dana-Maria Oprea Constantin & Andreea Marin-Pantelescu & Mihaela Ștefan Hint, 2018. "The Sustainability of Romanian SMEs and Their Involvement in the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    26. Jan Rotmans & Derk Loorbach, 2009. "Complexity and Transition Management," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(2), pages 184-196, April.
    27. M. Ormazabal & J. M. Sarriegi & R. Barkemeyer & E. Viles & F. McAnulla, 2015. "Evolutionary Pathways of Environmental Management in UK Companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(3), pages 169-181, May.
    28. Angeloantonio Russo & Antonio Tencati, 2009. "Formal vs. Informal CSR Strategies: Evidence from Italian Micro, Small, Medium-sized, and Large Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 339-353, April.
    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. Nathalia Suchek & João J. Ferreira & Paula O. Fernandes, 2022. "A review of entrepreneurship and circular economy research: State of the art and future directions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2256-2283, July.
    2. Moritz Böhmecke‐Schwafert & Marie Wehinger & Robin Teigland, 2022. "Blockchain for the circular economy: Theorizing blockchain's role in the transition to a circular economy through an empirical investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(8), pages 3786-3801, December.
    3. Arezoo Ghazanfari, 2023. "An Analysis of Circular Economy Literature at the Macro Level, with a Particular Focus on Energy Markets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-24, February.
    4. Magdalena Rusch & Josef‐Peter Schöggl & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2023. "Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1159-1174, March.
    5. Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar & Shauhrat S. Chopra, 2022. "Leveraging Blockchain and Smart Contract Technologies to Overcome Circular Economy Implementation Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Gilbert Silvius & Aydan Ismayilova & Vicente Sales-Vivó & Micol Costi, 2021. "Exploring Barriers for Circularity in the EU Furniture Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-25, October.
    7. Jing Shao & Cedric Aneye & Alyona Kharitonova & Wei Fang, 2023. "Essential innovation capability of producer‐service enterprises towards circular business model: Motivators and barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4548-4567, November.
    8. Yamoah, Fred A. & Sivarajah, Uthayasankar & Mahroof, Kamran & Peña, Iker González, 2022. "Demystifying corporate inertia towards transition to circular economy: A management frame of reference," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    9. Florian Hofmann & Melanie Jaeger‐Erben, 2020. "Organizational transition management of circular business model innovations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2770-2788, September.
    10. Nesrin Ada & Yigit Kazancoglu & Muruvvet Deniz Sezer & Cigdem Ede-Senturk & Idil Ozer & Mangey Ram, 2021. "Analyzing Barriers of Circular Food Supply Chains and Proposing Industry 4.0 Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-29, June.
    11. Horațiu Vermeșan & Alexandrina Mangău & Ancuța-Elena Tiuc, 2020. "Perspectives of Circular Economy in Romanian Space," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-29, August.
    12. Garrido-Prada, Pablo & Lenihan, Helena & Doran, Justin & Rammer, Christian & Perez-Alaniz, Mauricio, 2021. "Driving the circular economy through public environmental and energy R&D: Evidence from SMEs in the European Union," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    13. Chedrak Chembessi & Christophe Beaurain & Geneviève Cloutier, 2022. "Analyzing Technical and Organizational Changes in Circular Economy (CE) Implementation with a TOE Framework: Insights from a CE Project of Kamouraska (Quebec)," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 915-936, September.
    14. Armaghan Chizaryfard & Paolo Trucco & Cali Nuur, 2021. "The transformation to a circular economy: framing an evolutionary view," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 475-504, April.
    15. Kerem Toker & Ali Görener, 2023. "Evaluation of circular economy business models for SMEs using spherical fuzzy TOPSIS: an application from a developing countries’ perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1700-1741, February.
    16. Eko Ruddy Cahyadi & Nurul Hidayati & Nisa Zahra & Chusnul Arif, 2024. "Integrating Circular Economy Principles into Agri-Food Supply Chain Management: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Hanna Salmenperä & Sari Kauppi & Helena Dahlbo & Päivi Fjäder, 2022. "Increasing the Circularity of Packaging along Pharmaceuticals Value Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    18. Zhu, Bing & Nguyen, Mai & Sarm Siri, Nang & Malik, Ashish, 2022. "Towards a transformative model of circular economy for SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 545-555.
    19. Alexandra ZBUCHEA & Florina PÎNZARU, 2017. "Tailoring CSR Strategy to Company Size?," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 5(3), pages 415-437, September.
    20. Jose García‐Quevedo & Elisenda Jové‐Llopis & Ester Martínez‐Ros, 2020. "Barriers to the circular economy in European small and medium‐sized firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2450-2464, September.

    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:kap:jmgtgv:v:27:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10997-022-09653-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.