Circular Economy Business Models in the SME Sector

Katarzyna Brendzel-Skowera
Additional contact information
Katarzyna Brendzel-Skowera: Department of Enterprise Management, Czestochowa University of Technology, 42-201 Częstochowa, Poland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: The article focuses on a bottom-up approach to implementing the concept of circular economy. All enterprises, not only the most aware ones, face the challenges of this economy. The modification of business models towards circular economy becomes a necessity. However, questions arise as to whether the use of circular economy business models is widely practiced and how enterprises are coping with the implementation of these models. This article presents the results of research aimed at assessing the organizational maturity of enterprises in terms of implementing the principles of circular economy. Based on the concept of organizational maturity levels of the CMMI model, the classification of circular business models according to R2Pi and the integrated business model (the so-called business model canvas), the maturity index of the circular economy business model is constructed. The results obtained do not allow one to formulate very optimistic conclusions. First of all, a competency gap in the field of circular business models is identified, which translates into a limited application of these models in practice. The most frequently implemented models are: circular raw materials, recovery of raw materials, modification and repair. Most enterprises tend to undertake activities that are characteristic of circular economy. Furthermore, the importance of these activities increases with the age of the enterprise.

Keywords: circular economy; circular business models; SME sector; enterprises (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7059/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7059/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7059-:d:580552

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().