Product Innovations toward a Circular Economy: A Survey-Based Analysis of Slovak Manufacturing Firms

Empirical assessment of the circular economy of selected European countries

PurposeEco-innovation management efforts focused on the circular economy (CE) have become a considerable challenge for organizations, as they must diminish waste with maximum resource reprocessing. The present study unveils the contribution of eco-innovation, green empowerment (GE), and green passion (GP) in shaping a CE.Design/methodology/approachThe study applied a deductive approach, and the researchers collected 298 cases from automobile manufacturing companies, both local and multinational firms, operating in Pakistan.FindingsThe path analysis unveils a positive effect of product eco-innovation (PEI) on GP but a non-statistically significant effect on GE and CE. Process eco-innovation (PREI) affects GE and CE positively, but negatively affects GP. The management eco-innovation (MEI) positively predicts GE, CE and GP. Moreover, GE has a positive effect on CE, while GP has a negative impact on CE. With regard to mediating effects, GE mediates the connection between MEI and CE but does not mediate between PEI, PREI and CE. Finally, GP mediates the connection between PEI, PREI, MEI, and CE.Practical implicationsThe study’s outcomes assist policymakers and environmental experts in developing CE in industries by constructing an effective eco-innovation milieu with overflowing innovations. Moreover, the study advances employees’ empowerment and passion for accomplishing green sustainability and performance, where they also cultivate a circular environment. Finally, the study’s empirical findings enrich the domain literature’s depth.Originality/valueThe study offers an extensive and integrated framework that combines eco-innovation, GE, GP, and CE in a single framework with direct and indirect paths in Pakistani automobile manufacturing companies.

Purpose The purpose of this empirical study is to apply the industrial marketing and purchasing approach to explore ethical value co-creation and business ethics in the circular economy (CE) ecosystem (CEE) of the Finnish textile industry. A CEE involves a variety of business and institutional actors with shared business or societal targets. Ethical principles may become embedded in their first social interaction and can play an important supportive role in economic, environmental and social value co-creation, especially when the actors have sustainability goals. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative single-case study of a CEE in the Finnish textile industry where diverse actors seek to create value from circularity. The analysed data represent a set of interviews with business and institutional actors directly involved in managerial activities in the CEE of textile industry in Finland. Findings This study provides a conceptual framework of actors’ interactions and ethical value co-creation aimed at meeting CE and sustainability goals at the levels of actors, the network and the ecosystem. The findings emphasise the value of proactive collaboration among business and institutional actors seeking innovations, knowledge-sharing and business development in fostering more circular operations in the textile industry and thereby effecting the CE transition. Efficient interactions for value co-creation among actors can be grounded on ethical values such as trust, transparency, shared sustainability goals and the power to positively influence and motivate actors and even consumers to transition to CE principles. Originality/value An original research framework of ethical value co-creation is proposed in this study based on the combined concept of ethical embeddedness and ecosystem orchestration mechanisms to achieve sustainability and CE goals. This study contributes to the limited business ethics studies in circular business and CEE research and empirically examines business interactions among actors within a CE ecosystem. The managerial and policymaking implications of this study highlight the strategic importance of various actors’ interactions in implementing circularity in business processes.

Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will require tackling both energy-related and non-energy-related GHG emissions, which can be achieved through the transition to a circular economy (CE). The focus of climate change crisis reversal has been on the energy-related continuum over the years through promoting renewable energy uptake and efficiency in energy use. Clean energy transition and efficiency gains in energy use alone will not be sufficient to achieve net-zero emissions in 2050 without paying attention to non-energy-related CO2 emissions. This study systematically reviews the CE literature across different themes, sectors, approaches, and tools to identify accelerators in transitioning to a CE. The study aims to understand and explore how technology, finance, ecosystem, and behavioral studies in the CE paradigm can be integrated as a decision-making tool for CE transition. The material analysis was carried out by identifying the main characteristics of the literature on CE implementation in the agriculture, industry, energy, water, and tourism sectors. Results of the literature survey are synthesized to engender clarity in the literature and identify research gaps to inform future research. Findings show that many studies focused on technology as an accelerator for CE transition, and more studies are needed regarding the CE ecosystem, financing, and behavioral aspects. Also, results show that CE principles are applied at the micro-, meso-, and macro- (national, regional, and global) levels across sectors with the dominance of the industrial sector. The agriculture, water, and energy sectors are at the initial stages of implementation. Additionally, the use of carbon capture and utilization or storage, conceptualized as a circular carbon economy, needs attention in tackling CE implementation in the energy sector, especially in hydrocarbon-endowed economies. The major implication of these findings is that for CE to contribute to accelerated net-zero emission by 2050, coordinated policies should be promoted to influence the amount of financing available to innovative circular businesses and technologies within an ecosystem that engenders behavioral change towards circularity.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate barriers to the adoption of digital technologies (DTs) in the circular economy (CE) transition in the construction industry. The aim is to quantitatively investigate what the barriers to DTs-driven CE are in the Nigerian construction industry.Design/methodology/approachA review of existing literature identified 32 barriers to DTs-led CE. A well-structured quantitative research questionnaire was developed and administered to construction experts using a convenient sampling technique via hand delivery and Google form. The gathered data were analysed using arrays of both descriptive and inferential statistical methods.FindingsThe study revealed that the awareness of the digitalisation of CE is high, but the adoption is low. Five themes of the leading 10 factors responsible for the low adoption of DTs in CE transition in the Nigerian construction industry are (1) finance and demand barrier, (2) data management and information vulnerability, (3) skills shortage and infrastructure challenge, (4) poor government and management support and (5) interoperability and resistance problems.Practical implicationsThis study could be helpful to decision-makers and policy formulators, which would provide an avenue for higher adoption of DTs in CE transition in the construction industry, better performance and environmental protection. It also provides a foundation for further research efforts in Nigeria and other developing countries of Africa and beyond.Originality/valueStudies on the barriers to DT adoption in CE transition are still growing, and this is even non-existent in the Nigerian construction context. This offers a unique insight and original findings by pioneering the identification and assessment of barriers to the digitalisation of CE transition in Nigeria’s construction industry.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the potential benefits of digital technologies (DTs) in bolstering the circular economy (CE) transition in the construction industry, to speed up the attainment of sustainable development objectives. Design/methodology/approach A detailed literature review was undertaken to identify DTs that could influence CE transition and the benefits of these DTs in the CE transitioning efforts of the construction industry. Based on these, a survey questionnaire was formulated and administered to construction professionals using convenient sampling techniques. With a response rate of 49.42% and data reliability of over 0.800, the gathered data were analysed using frequency and percentage, mean item score, normalisation value, coefficient of variation, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, analysis of variance and factor analysis. Findings This study found that the construction experts agreed that building information modelling, blockchain technology, RFID, drone technology and cloud computing are the leading DTs that have the potential to influence and speed up CE transition in construction. Also, six clusters of benefits of DTs in bolstering EC are quicken CE transition, proactive waste management, recycling and zero waste, data management and decision-making, enhance productivity and performance and resource optimisation. Originality/value Studies on the integration of DTs in CE transition are scarce and it is even lacking in the Nigerian context. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to assess the role of DTs in CE transitioning in the Nigerian construction industry.

The paper offers an extensive review of literature regarding the role of RFID technology in promoting the circular economy (CE). Initially, it underscores the urgent need for resource recirculation to minimize waste and prevent the depletion of natural resources. Subsequently, it explores how RFID can improve traceability and enhance the efficiency of supply chains. The paper also delves into various CE frameworks, particularly focusing on the 9R framework, which encompasses strategies like Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, among others. The literature is classified by industry sector, study type, and CE principles that RFID could enable or facilitate. Additionally, the paper highlights the significance of digital technologies in facilitating the transition to CE and examines whether RFID could be considered a key CE enabler within the IoT infrastructure. The findings confirm that RFID has the potential to support a range of CE strategies across various industry sectors, emphasizing sustainability and efficient resource use. The paper concludes by synthesizing RFID’s contributions to the CE transition thus far and identifies future research areas, such as exploring approaches that incorporate other digital technologies alongside RFID to enhance and accelerate the CE transition.

There is a rising regulatory and societal concern for the environment, forcing companies to include the circular economy (CE) concept in their business models and management practices. The transition towards a CE is inescapable and requires engineering to order (ETO) organisations to re-think their strategy and the way they create and deliver value. “Digital lean” is a promising concept that provides major opportunities for enterprises to move towards more sustainable industrial value creation by incorporating CE goals. This manuscript first presents a short literature review that indicates a gap when it comes to the symbiosis of lean, digitalisation and CE. According to the literature review, there is a shortage of descriptive lean and CE industrial case studies to illustrate best practices in ETO organizations. To address the gap, this paper demonstrates the practical case study results of an ETO organisation, to illustrate how to use digital-lean and risk-based thinking in a CE transition phase. The paper highlights lean practices, supported by digitalisation, that enable project-oriented organisations to simultaneously improve the efficiency of the product life cycle process and process performance. A risk-based thinking perspective is used to evaluate risk in a case study of an organisation, when improving or establishing processes and controls for transition to CE. The findings presented in this paper increase knowledge of how ETO organisations can adapt to CE with the use of a digital lean and risk-based perspective. The findings are useful for practitioners of ETO organisations who are in the CE goals’ implementation transition phase.KeywordsCircular economyETO organisationLeanRisk based thinkingDigitalisation

In the European context, cities and regions play a key role in boosting circularity and achieve the European Green Deal action plan mbition to ‘boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy’. To this end, cities and regions will be instrumental in promoting circularity through engagement with key actors and integration of circular economy (CE) goals within their policies and spatial plans. To support this effort, it is essential to develop appropriate metrics and tools for evaluating the progress and transition towards a circular economy. Although numerous new assessment methodologies have been suggested (Corona et al., 2019), they generally focus on quantitatively assessing how circular a project, system, or business is, or on evaluating the extent to which circular strategies align with the principles of a circular economy. Current metrics rarely extend beyond material sustainability assessments, which means they often do not capture the complexity of the CE transition and lack a comprehensive, integrated perspective. In particular, what they omit are the spatial (Williams, 2020), the governance (Korhonen et al., 2018) and the social dimensions (Pitkänen et al., 2020). In this paper, we propose a holistic transition assessment tool developed and tested across several metropolitan regions, including Amsterdam, Naples, Łódź, Hamburg and Pécs, being at different stages of the circular economy transition. The final version of the tool was applied in two cases, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and the city of Tomaszów Mazowiecki. The tool focuses on five dimensions: (1) governance structures, (2) awareness, comprehensiveness of the sustainability assessment, (3) tools for measuring material stocks and flows as well as (4) for co-creation of solutions and strategies with stakeholders, and (5) circular built environment. The results of applying the tool in a series of workshops with regional CE stakeholders allow for exploring the following questions: What is the state of the transition towards CE in European urban regions from a holistic perspective? What hinders these transitions? And how to identify means to overcome those barriers? The assessment tool is of interest for regional and urban policy-makers, planners and stakeholders engaged in development of CE strategies and policies. What is more, the results presented in the paper allow for comparative insights into the state of transition towards CE and for drawing lessons on what it takes to nudge the development of regions and cities towards circularity.

PurposeThe exponential growth of the construction sector exerts considerable pressure on the environment, and the circular economy (CE) concept has recently gained traction as a means of alleviating such environmental issues. In order to propose solutions to the phenomenon of contractors being hesitant to participate in CE implementation in developing countries, this paper aims to comprehensively explore the enabling factors that motivate contractors to implement CE.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on the push-pull-mooring (PPM) theory and extends it by introducing information provision (IP) as a trigger on contractors’ intrinsic subjective initiative states on CE implementation. The study considers what and how positive pull, negative push and neutral mooring factors influence the contractors’ CE transition. The framework was validated by questionnaires collected from contractors in China, and the data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method.FindingsThe findings indicate that all factors from the PPM framework exert a positive influence on CE intention, with push factors demonstrating a greater average impact. Furthermore, this study confirms the influence of the IP on contractors’ CE intentions by influencing their intrinsic status. The impact of the IP is most pronounced in terms of contractors’ perceived usefulness and environmental concerns.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the CE transition studies by extending the PPM theory into the construction industry through the lenses of contractors in developing countries. The results highlight the trigger impacts of the IP on contractors’ psychological status regarding CE transition. Furthermore, it offers insights into government management in the CE transition by providing the government with novel approaches to facilitate the CE transition in the construction sector.

PurposeThis paper aims to develop a scenario analysis on the experts’ perceptions of benefits and barriers related to adopting digital technologies for the life cycle assessment (LCA) to catalyse a circular economy transition in the agri-food system.MethodsA literature review was performed to identify LCA’s digital technologies that can be implemented within the agri-food system. Furthermore, an in-depth interview with a panel of senior researchers was conducted to establish a set of items and assess the perceived benefits and barriers associated with an “empowered LCA”, i.e. a future-oriented LCA based on digital technologies. To this end, a two-stage exploratory factor analysis relying on the principal component analysis technique was carried out to refine the set of items. Finally, a covariance-based structural equation model was performed, built on a confirmatory factor analysis, to test the measurement model.Results and discussionThe study’s findings provide five constructs to explore the potential benefits and barriers related to adopting a digital technologies-based LCA (empowered LCA) for a circular economy transition in the agri-food system. More specifically, the benefits can be assessed using the following constructs: “benefits for the data collection and analysis”, “benefits for the LCA analysts”, “benefits for the management” and “benefits for traceability”. In addition, the barriers have been evaluated using a single construct labelled “general barriers”.ConclusionsThe study highlights the relevance of digital technologies for a circular economy transition to develop a more reliable LCA, enhancing legislative compliance and supporting the traceability processes in the agri-food system. The associated implications for LCA experts, agri-food managers and policymakers are presented. Furthermore, limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Large seaport hubs in Northwestern Europe are aiming to develop as circular hotspots and are striving to become first movers in the circular economy (CE) transition. In order to facilitate their transition, it is therefore relevant to unravel potential patterns of the circular transition that ports are currently undertaking. In this paper, we explore the CE patterns of five Belgian seaports. Based on recent (strategy) documents from port authorities and on in-depth interviews with local port executives, the circular initiatives of these ports are mapped, based on their spatial characteristics and transition focus. The set of initiatives per port indicates its maturity level in terms of transition towards a circular approach. For most studied seaports, an energy recovery focus based on industrial symbiosis initiatives seems to dominate the first stages in the transition process. Most initiatives are not (yet) financially sustainable, and there is a lack of information on potential new business models that ports can adopt in view of a sustainable transition. The analysis of CE patterns in this paper contributes to how ports lift themselves out of the linear lock-in, as it demonstrates that ports may walk a different path and at a diverging speed in their CE transition, but also that the Belgian ports so far have focused too little on their cargo orchestrating role in that change process. Moreover, it offers a first insight into how integrated and sustainable the ports’ CE initiatives currently are.

Customers are considered to be major stakeholders whose demands and preferences have a strong influence on corporate strategies. In this sense, increased consumer environmental awareness has led to a growing demand for environmentally friendly products which, in turn, has compelled firms to adopt innovative forms of integrating environmental protection into product development and production processes. Nevertheless, an “attitude–behavior gap” has been witnessed, which implies that consumers’ environmental attitudes do not always translate into an actual ecologically compatible purchasing behavior and, consequently, eco-product innovations will not necessarily entail a positive economic impact for companies. This paper aims to analyze if the companies that invest in eco-product innovation are valued by consumers, showing higher growth. Specifically, we propose that eco-product innovation has a positive effect on a firm’s sales growth. Additionally, we aim to analyze the consumers’ preferences in relation to eco-product innovations considering two alternative approaches that companies can follow in this respect: eco-design and products with ecological use. The results obtained for an unbalanced sample of 5391 international companies corresponding to the period 2002–2017 (51,666 observations) show that proactive environmental innovation strategies are positively valued by consumers, having a positive impact on the companies’ sales growth. Furthermore, consumers show a greater preference for environmental innovations in eco-design than for products with ecological use.

Enabling circular economy transitions in ports: The role of innovation ecosystems in North Sea Port.

Circular Economy: A Product Life Cycle Perspective on Engineering and Manufacturing Practices