The road to circularity: What managers need to implement circular economy?

Abstract

Starting from ’90, when the concept of circular economy (CE) was launched and defined for the first time, humanity made only a few steps to accept, understand, and implement it in business, strategic and operational management, and daily activities. We still face a big resistance against the adoption of this concept because it dramatically changes the economic paradigm and impels us to rethink and act differently, compared with the past. It is not a question if we want to adopt and implement the principles of the circular economy; the question is how quickly and how efficiently we are able to do this, in the context of continuous environmental degradation, and intensification of the pressure on the non-renewable resources. The paper is included in complex research to identify the actual situation and problems associated with the implementation of the circular economy in the Northern part of Romania and to propose solutions for enhancing the adoption of the concept in daily business practices. After the characterization of the local economic environment and proposals for circular economy models adapted to the industry and service branches existing in the region (published in a previous paper), this paper continues the research and aims to identify and analyze the managers’ opinions regarding the implementation of the CE. The findings show a poor level of knowledge of the concept and the possibilities of implementation, but a big willingness to improve the environmental performance of the business through any available techniques, including circular economy practices.