The circular economy (CE) discussion is increasingly widespread in all sectors. Implementing laws to protect natural resources and adopting practices closer to the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is essential and worrying for companies that have to realign products to government requests. Companies of all sizes and in every state have been forced to review production processes by adopting an economic model based on reuse, recycling, etc. Through a bibliometric analysis, this work aims to demonstrate that for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) there are no standardized and shared measures and/or questionnaires to measure sustainable practices based on the circular economy, unlike listed companies. In principle, the researchers submitted questionnaires to company managers asking them to define their sustainable commitment and the CE practices adopted through a Likert scale. Therefore, from the consultation of the literature, it appears necessary to identify some indicators for SMEs to improve communication and information on the processes and changes taking place towards the CE by companies. This work demonstrates that the efforts made by companies aimed at aligning their activities according to the principles of the CE would be more effective only with the support of the institutional factor. Particularly, the novelty of this work consists in proposing a unique theoretical perspective that all companies can exploit to disseminate the steps towards the CE.
Measuring circular economy in SMEs: A systematic review previously not needed
Chiara Colamartino;Lavinia Conca;
2023-01-01
Abstract
The circular economy (CE) discussion is increasingly widespread in all sectors. Implementing laws to protect natural resources and adopting practices closer to the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is essential and worrying for companies that have to realign products to government requests. Companies of all sizes and in every state have been forced to review production processes by adopting an economic model based on reuse, recycling, etc. Through a bibliometric analysis, this work aims to demonstrate that for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) there are no standardized and shared measures and/or questionnaires to measure sustainable practices based on the circular economy, unlike listed companies. In principle, the researchers submitted questionnaires to company managers asking them to define their sustainable commitment and the CE practices adopted through a Likert scale. Therefore, from the consultation of the literature, it appears necessary to identify some indicators for SMEs to improve communication and information on the processes and changes taking place towards the CE by companies. This work demonstrates that the efforts made by companies aimed at aligning their activities according to the principles of the CE would be more effective only with the support of the institutional factor. Particularly, the novelty of this work consists in proposing a unique theoretical perspective that all companies can exploit to disseminate the steps towards the CE.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
