Batista, Luciano

Farias Pereira, Susana C.

Haensel Schmitt, Valentina Gomes

Hermann, Roberto Rivas

Sehnem, Simone

Silva, Minelle E.

English

Brage Nord Open Research Archive

EDITORIALpublished: 25 April 2022doi: 10.3389/frsus.2022.897974Frontiers in Sustainability | www.frontiersin.org 1 April 2022 | Volume 3 | Article 897974Edited and reviewed by:Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis,Technical University of Crete, Greece*Correspondence:Simone Sehnemsimonesehnem_adm@yahoo.com.brSpecialty section:This article was submitted toCircular Economy,a section of the journalFrontiers in SustainabilityReceived: 16 March 2022Accepted: 05 April 2022Published: 25 April 2022Citation:Sehnem S, Pereira SCF, Silva ME,Schmitt VGH, Hermann RR andBatista L (2022) Editorial: CircularBusiness Models and Strategies—TheKey to Sustainable Business andInnovative Supply Chains.Front. Sustain. 3:897974.doi: 10.3389/frsus.2022.897974Editorial: Circular Business Modelsand Strategies—The Key toSustainable Business and InnovativeSupply ChainsSimone Sehnem 1*, Susana C. Farias Pereira 2, Minelle E. Silva 3,Valentina Gomes Haensel Schmitt 4, Roberto Rivas Hermann 5 and Luciano Batista 61Department of Business Administration, University of the West of Santa Catarina and Department of BusinessAdministration, University of the South of Santa Catarina- UNISUL, Santa Catarina, Brazil, 2 Escola de Administração daFundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-EAESP), São Paulo, Brazil, 3 Excelia Business School, La Rochelle, France, 4 Research Groupon Business Development, Knowledge Management and Innovation, Administration School, University of Lima, Lima, Peru,5Department of Organization, Management and Leadership and Centre for High North Logistics, Nord University BusinessSchool, Nord University, Bodø, Norway, 6Operations and Information Management (OIM) Department, Aston BusinessSchool, Aston University, Birmingham, United KingdomKeywords: circular economy, circular business models, innovation, circular supply chain, sustainable operationsEditorial on the Research TopicCircular Business Models and Strategies—The Key to Sustainable Business and InnovativeSupply ChainsThe concept of circular economy has recently emerged as a political goal (Gregson et al., 2015),in a context of rising resource prices and climate change. However, the idea is more oftencriticized, questioned than celebrated. In a circular economicmodel, waste becomes a resource to berecovered and revalued through recycling and reuse. In this context, five circular economy modelsare emerging and spreading rapidly in organizations, namely: circular supply chains, recoveryand recycling, product life cycle extension, shared platforms and product as a service (Lacy andRutqvist, 2015). However, companies looking to adopt these circular models will have to developnew business models at the expense of linear thinking (Sehnem et al., 2022). Such models helpcompanies to improve differentiation, in reducing costs, in generating new revenues, in reducingrisks as well as in reducing the impact on the supply of virgin resources.The adoption of these five circular business models has grown substantially in the past decade,although there are still many perspectives for change. Initially, innovation via the circular businessmodel was driven by start-ups. Now, large multinationals are also making grandiose moves.While advancing the narrative of circular economy, multiple supply chain members need toadapt processes, practices and behaviors to implement sustainable business models (Morali andSearcy, 2013). Circular business models are used to regenerate materials, retain the value ofresources and contributes to the re-signification of natural ecosystems and the reduction of wasteand pollution. Despite this comprehension, the literature lacks for information on how this affectssustainable business and innovative supply chains. The circular economy encourages the use ofclean energy, the use of cascading resources and has the potential to generate sustainable solutionsat micro, meso and macro levels.The role of circular business models deserves further attention mainly due to the need foradditional links to supply chain management (Su et al., 2013). Sustainability is often definedrelated to economic, social and environmental issues (Seiffert, 2011), which when concerns circulareconomy is still limited to economic and environmental consequences (Sehnem et al., 2019).Sehnem et al. Editorial: Circular Business Models and StrategiesScholars and practitioners need to increase awareness andcarefully understand the contribution of circular economy tobusiness and society. Based on these reflections, this ResearchTopic attempts to shed light in the connection between supplychain in different industries and the relation of these supplychains with circular business models implementation (Sehnemet al., 2021). In doing so, this issue amplifies the need torecognize the contribution of multiple players toward a newcircular paradigm (Sehnem et al., 2022).Having said it, this Research Topic seeks to contribute to theadvancement of knowledge and theory in building a circulareconomy. As the final result, four articles were then selected tothis Research Topic with contributions from different industries,regions and scopes, which provides new insights on how todesign and understand circular business models for sustainableand innovative supply chains. Therefore, we invite you to readthese articles and increase your comprehension of these subjects:The article “Business Model Innovation for Circular Economyin Fashion Industry: A Startups’ Perspective,” written byOstermann et al., present a Brazilian perspective for thisissue. Thus, the authors aimed to identify the key elementsof startups’ Business Model Innovation for Circular Economy(BMI4CE), using the fashion industry as the context ofthe study. The researchers conducted an exploratory anddescriptive multiple case study composed of 10 early-stagefashion startups from Europe, North America, and Asia. Asa result, the authors identified important issues such as that:1. Business Models Innovations based mainly on CircularEconomy principles of closed-loop and reducing materialuse and consumption; 2. Business Models focus on CircularEconomy strategies of product by lowering consumptionand material use; 3. The role of emerging and digitaltechnologies. As theoretical contribution, the article proposesfive propositions linked to a triple bottom line theoreticalperspective. As contributions to practitioners, the article suggestsenable fashion startup managers to understand better thefunctioning of BMI4Ces and the critical elements needed fortheir effectiveness.The second article, “Circular Business Model Innovationand Its Relationship With Business Performance in BrazilianIndustrial Chemical Companies,” is presented by Motkeet al. In this article, the authors analyzed the relationshipbetween circular business model innovation and businessperformance in a Brazilian context. The sectoral focus waschemical companies, through a quantitative study. The resultsshowed a reality in which industrial chemical companieshave medium to high degrees of business model innovationtoward the CE, despite high response variability. Also, theauthors evidenced outstanding market performance relatedto aspects such as customer satisfaction and brand value,social performance, low forced or child labor, accidentsand injuries, labor lawsuits, gender pay gaps, and improvedproduction performance with quality, compliance, anddelivery speed.In “Paving the Way for Circular Supply Chains:Conceptualization of a Circular Supply Chain MaturityFramework,” Montag et al. conceptualize a frameworkfor analyzing the maturity level of circular economyadoption in the supply chain context. The authors carriedout a systematic literature review of 1,372 articles onsupply chains, circular economy and maturity. The articleprovides theoretical and practical contributions relatedto the increasing circularity in companies and supplychains. Also, the study establishes the groundwork for asubsequent causal relationship between circular economypractices and sustainable objective and, as a consequencefor societal goals of sustainable development. Finally,the authors deliver a roadmap for circular supply chaintransformation, supporting the gradual circular economyadoption, and allow insights to improve a structured modelthat considers the interdependencies at the different layers ofthe framework.Last, but not least, Koop et al. present the study “CircularBusiness Models for Remanufacturing in the Electric BicycleIndustry,” which addresses four circular business models,two sales models, and two service models. The guidingresearch interest of this article is the combination ofremanufacturing and additive manufacturing from a businessmodel perspective, analyzing the extent to which additiveremanufacturing can be considered a solution for electricbicycles’ circularity. As the result it analyzes four business modelsand present contributions by showing the potential of differentcircular business models combining remanufacturing withadditive manufacturing.At this Research Topic we, the editors, authors and reviewersmade a collective effort to increase the knowledge and thediscussion around this relevant topic that is the “Circular BusinessModels and Strategies—The Key to Sustainable Business andInnovative Supply Chains.” Hopefully, it will be just one of thefirst steps at this long and relevant path to reach a conditionin which Circular Economy and Sustainable Business may be amainstream model.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSAll authors listed have made a substantial, direct, andintellectual contribution to the work and approved itfor publication.REFERENCESGregson, N., Crang, M., Fuller, S., and Holmes, H. (2015). Interrogating thecircular economy: the moral economy of resource recovery in the EU. Econ.Soc. 44, 218–243. doi: 10.1080/03085147.2015.1013353Lacy, P., and Rutqvist, J. (2015). Waste to Wealth: The Circular EconomyAdvantage. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137530707Morali, O., and Searcy, C. (2013). A review of sustainable supplychain management practices in Canada. J. Bus. Ethics 117, 635–658.doi: 10.1007/s10551-012-1539-4Frontiers in Sustainability | www.frontiersin.org 2 April 2022 | Volume 3 | Article 897974Sehnem et al. Editorial: Circular Business Models and StrategiesSehnem, S., de Queiroz, A. A. F. S. L., Pereira, S. C. F., Correira, G. S.,and Kuzma, E. (2022). Circular economy and innovation: a look from theperspective of organizational capabilities. Business Strat. Environ. 31, 236–250.doi: 10.1002/bse.2884Sehnem, S., Provensi, T., Silva, T. H. H., Pereira, S. C. F. (2021).Disruptive innovation and circularity in sustainable businessmodels: a start-ups analysis. Business Strategy Environ. doi: 10.1002/bse.2955Sehnem, S., Vasques-Brust, D., Pereira, S. C. F., and Campos, L. M.S. (2019). Circular economy: benefits, impacts and overlapping.Supp. Chain Manag. Int. J. 24, 784–804. doi: 10.1108/SCM-06-2018-0213Seiffert, M. E. B. (2011). ISO 14.001 – Sistemas de GestãoAmbiental: Implantação Objetiva e Econômica, 4th Edn. São Paulo:Atlas.Su, B., Heshmati, A., and Geng, Y. (2013). A review of the circular economy inChina: moving from rhetoric to implementation. J. Clean. Prod. 42, 215–227.doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.11.020Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in theabsence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as apotential conflict of interest.Publisher’s Note: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authorsand do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those ofthe publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated inthis article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed orendorsed by the publisher.Copyright © 2022 Sehnem, Pereira, Silva, Schmitt, Hermann and Batista. This is anopen-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionLicense (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted,provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that theoriginal publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academicpractice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not complywith these terms.Frontiers in Sustainability | www.frontiersin.org 3 April 2022 | Volume 3 | Article 897974

Editorial : Circular business models and strategies - The key to sustainable business and innovative supply chains

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Editorial : Circular business models and strategies - The key to sustainable business and innovative supply chains

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