Integration of the Circular Economy Paradigm in Companies from the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula

Maria Manuel Sá, Carla Oliveira-Silva, Manuel Paulo Cunha, Artur Gonçalves, Jesús Diez, Ines Méndez-Tovar and Eva Curto Izquierdo
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Maria Manuel Sá: Unidade de Investigação em Ciências Empresariais (UNICES), University of Maia, Av. Carlos Oliveira Campos, 4475-690 Maia, Portugal
Carla Oliveira-Silva: Unidade de Investigação em Ciências Empresariais (UNICES), University of Maia, Av. Carlos Oliveira Campos, 4475-690 Maia, Portugal
Manuel Paulo Cunha: Unidade de Investigação em Ciências Empresariais (UNICES), University of Maia, Av. Carlos Oliveira Campos, 4475-690 Maia, Portugal
Artur Gonçalves: Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Jesús Diez: Fundación del Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León, 47008 Valladolid, Spain
Ines Méndez-Tovar: Fundación del Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León, 47008 Valladolid, Spain
Eva Curto Izquierdo: Escuela de Organización Industrial, Área de Innovación Emprendimiento y Pymes, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-22

Abstract: Over recent decades, Circular Economy (CE) has become a major topic when organizations try to develop their business amid the constrains of resource limitation and the desire to reduce their environmental impact. This study’s main purpose is to assess the integration of CE practices in public and private organizations in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Through an online survey distributed to 294 companies from the cited region, we assessed their perceptions on CE, including such aspects as the area(s) it was integrated in, why, with what difficulties or what was necessary to accomplish it, and how the impact of the implemented CE practices was measured. Results showed that companies associate CE mostly with “resource optimization”. “Entity’s vision and mission” was the main strategic area where CE was implemented. The main motivation why entities/organizations embraced CE was “environmental reasons”, while “lack of information and guidance” and “lack of financial resources” represented the main obstacles to CE implementation. Non-parametrical statistical tests were used to compare the answers of three groups of people with different positions within the company/entity (manager, executive, and technician), as well as to compare the answers of two activity sectors (industry and services).

Keywords: circular economy; industry/services strategies; manager/executive/technicians’ perceptions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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