Business perspectives for enabling circular economy

Abstract

There are many challenges facing the world’s population at the moment. One of these is the environmental degradation linked to the way parts of humanity live their lives. To mitigate, or even reverse, this negative trend, we need to address the way we consume and produce products. Circular economy (CE) is an economic system in which materials are circulated and waste is eliminated to reduce the negative environmental impact the current economic system causes. The current economic system is linear and focused on economic prosperity, without considering the consumption of resources.

Transitioning from a linear to a CE is a contemporary phenomenon impacting many businesses. However, the transition is in the emerging stages and CE has yet to come of scale. To support and enhance the adoption of CE, a better understanding of CE enablers is necessary and research gaps in this area were identified. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand how CE enablers facilitate the implementation of CE practices.

The research takes a qualitative case study research approach, with two inductive and two abductive studies. Data is primarily based in interviews with representatives from businesses based in Finland. The methods employed include thematic analyses, the descriptive framework method, and content analysis methods.

The findings suggest that CE enablers facilitate the implementation of CE practices by changing the status quo, thereby prompting action from individual businesses, and that digital technologies and technological advancements accelerate the implementation of CE practices. These findings contribute to the CE enabler literature by introducing original insights from businesses by tying macro with micro level CE enablers.