Economic and Environmental Efficiencies of Organizations: Role of Technological Advancements and Circular Economy Practices

Abstract

There are two concepts which encompass the new business order worldwide; this has vast implications, especially in the Indian business scenario. The first blanket is the phenomena of digitalization which was present in the undercurrents of all the business activities from the past two decades, and second one is circular economy practices. But in today’s Indian scenario, after the popular reform of “Notebandi”, forcing digitalization of the currency puts it to the forefront of all economic activities, especially in India. The economic reform of demonetization highlighted digitalization of economic transactions in the public eye. The phenomenon of digitalization is commonly referred to as the bundle of novel technologies that aim to improve things constantly. Organizations must take advantage of emerging technology to ensure that operations are both economically and environmentally feasible. Technologies based on sustainable solutions might aid companies in becoming more sustainable and economical. Therefore, this research is derived through the desire to measure the economic and environmental performance and how they were influenced by technology and circular practices of Indian Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies as they are most suited for this research. The sample (n = 203) was derived from senior managers of these companies. The study utilized Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach to analyze the results, it was found that digital transformation and circular economy practices are pervasive in nature and influence both Economic and Environmental performance of Indian FMCG companies. One of the main contributions of the study is that it also examines the relationship between technological advancements and economic and environmental performance directly; to date, there is not a single study, to the author’s knowledge, to have studied this relationship.