Circular Business Management in Sustainability

Despite recent efforts to promote family businesses as a means of socio-economic development, the allocation and expenditure of resources in this regard remains inequitable for rural areas. The purpose of this study is to investigate what the perceived needs of family businesses in rural regions, as exemplified by Romania, are, with a focus on circular economy. A total of 155 responses were collected via an web-based questionnaire. Our findings show that product and service marketing training and support (47.7%), as well as financial management training (41,3%) are two of the most important training requirements for engaging in entrepreneurial action. Furthermore, respondents favor training in practices that enable the circular economy, such as repair and reuse. More than half of the sample (58.6%) reported that they would implement actions to reduce waste minimization if they were to start a family business in a rural area. From a practical standpoint, local stakeholders might take this finding into consideration to create training programs that are especially adapted for the rural setting and its unique economic and social conditions. Finally, limitations and further research directions are discussed.

A circular economy is a “closed-loop” economic process, in which raw resources, products, and services keep their value after being processed, incorporated into production, and used by economic agents. Reiterating CE towards investing and portfolio management, one can wonder what could be their relationship. The study looks at investment caveats when facing CE’s aim of a “closed cycle”-based economy. The authors bridge the gap between the POV of investing and its interpretation by circular economists as hazardous, exploitable, and speculative, through the concept of ESG investment. The research team gives examples of existing ESG investments, crafted to CE values, like for example Circular Economy Funds, analyzed and assessed on both investment characteristics and embodiment of CE principles. Custom portfolios are constructed with attention to measuring performance against the market and Blackrock. Also, the team studies specific KPIs of BlackRock and custom portfolios in terms of CE embodiment. The findings are as follows: 1. BlackRock is easily beatable by using simple portfolio construction strategies like Naïve Diversification or P/E Weight Scoring. 2. Weight Scoring fails at delivering additional returns over naïve diversification. 3. Lagrangian optimal weight portfolio underperforms against BlackRock 4. The top 33% of stocks in BlackRock are enough to outperform the whole fund.

The circular economy is a model of economic development in which, in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, resources are used efficiently, keeping them in economic circulation as long as possible, while waste and harmful effects on the environment are minimized. The key role of materials circularity is realized both by closing the supply chains in the companies and through the international trade, with the import of recyclable raw materials having an important role for countries with limited domestic supply. The aim of the paper was to study both the structure and the intensity of the structural changes in the import of recyclable raw materials in the European Union. The analysis covered the main characteristics of the dynamics in the structure of imports of recyclable raw materials in the EU for 2004–2021. By analyzing the dynamics of imports and its geographical structure, it was established that there is a unit root with drift in the dynamics of the indicator, and the integral coefficient of structural differences between imports and GDP for the period increased from 0.353 to 0.389. The continuous increase in imported volumes is accompanied by an increase in the differences between the related structures of imports of recyclable raw materials and GDP. In this way, the general movement towards a circular economy of the EU is realized at different speeds in the member states. In order to reduce the differences and to achieve a balanced accomplishment of the circular economy objectives, it is necessary to conduct a decisive and country-oriented policy at the EU level.

Sustainable food consumption depends on complex and interrelated factors, including sustainable entrepreneurship business models and disposable income, as well as a number of other economic and demographic indicators. Reducing the impact on the environment, related to food consumption is one of the main challenges that requires efforts in all stages of the value chain. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts of sustainable entrepreneurship and income on the development of sustainable food consumption and, on this basis, to draw relevant conclusions and generalizations. In order to measure these impacts, various economic concepts and theories have been studied. Respondents in this study are households from the 27 Member States of the European Union. Data on their income, expenditure and consumption refer to the period 2012–2021. The study is based on the simple linear regression and correlation method. This method is applied by using the statistical software product IBM SPSS Statistics. Eurostat is used as the main source of data for the survey of household budgets. The results reveal the impacts of sustainable entrepreneurship and household income on sustainable food consumption. In studying sustainability, the approach of focusing on food consumption is of particular importance. It is precisely this approach that determines the relevance of the study.

The study shows a current level of the European Union (EU) countries on their way to implement the principles of the circular economy. It is limited to a number of factors that are partially and simultaneously involved in several basic EU policy packages—Resource efficiency indicators, Circular economy indicators and Sustainable development indicators. The hierarchical and two-stage cluster analysis shows that the leading criteria by which the countries of the European Union differ are the level of energy efficiency, trade in recyclable raw materials and resource efficiency. As a result, three clusters have been identified: the first cluster of seven countries with high resource efficiency, highly developed trade in recyclable products and a medium level of energy efficiency; the second cluster—catching-up countries—low and medium level of the top three indicators and low level of waste generation and a third cluster consisting of three countries—energy examples—a high level of energy and product productivity due to a high level of waste generation and a low level of trade in recyclable waste. The analysis can be used to improve research in the field of the circular economy, in decision-making at various management levels and in building the reverse supply chain of recyclable raw materials.

The study based on the available key principles of the circular economy functioning proposes a conceptual scheme of the circular economy ecosystem, which includes key elements such as the country’s population, investments, emissions, and GDP. The ecosystem also considers nine key principles of circular economy functioning, namely: refuse; reduce; reuse; repair; refurbish; remanufacture; repurpose; recycle; recover, which are integrated into functions and supported by them, namely: mining; production; consumption, service; reuse; processing; utilization, forming a chain of a closed cycle of usage of the raw materials, goods, and resources. The study also proposed a conceptual system-dynamic model of the circular economy ecosystem functioning, based precisely on its functions, presented in 7 blocks of the model. Each block covers the influence of circular economy principles on the model’s indicator elements. According to each block of functions, the authors offer opportunities to form new organizational structures that will support the viability of the circular economy concept, provide waste minimization, additional service and processing of goods and waste, and allow the closing of the cycle from extraction to disposal. Further research established the simulation experiments’ specifics and the opportunity to build the model blocks.

Energy consumption has been a vital subject for both energy producers and consumers. The intersection of energy consumption and home words are of increasing importance in both literature and practice. Households try to utilize energy in the most efficient and sustainable way. On the other hand, smart home technologies which let the households control their houses are on the rise. Those technologies also help balance the energy consumption and live in a more sustainable way. This study aims to underline the importance of smart home technologies to increase energy efficiency and pave the way for a more sustainable energy management. In line with this purpose, a bibliometric study has been conducted to enlighten the literature development in energy consumption and home subjects. The results are expected to be helpful for both literature and practice as well as energy providers and consumers.

The article reviews and singles out four stages for the concept of sustainable transport in Ukraine to be established as follows: the first is to shape the sustainable development key principles; the second is to draft the millennia objectives by 2015; the third is to identify the sustainable development key objectives by 2030; and the fourth is to focus the Ukraine’s transport policy on the Green Deal. Each of the stages evaluates the key strategic documents, laying down the institutional grounds for the development of sustainable transport. A system of indicators is produced to assess the sustainable development of road transport, thus enabling the monitoring of transformational developments and, following its findings, adopting decisions facilitating the national economy's sustainable development. Key objectives are determined for Ukraine to ensure the development of its sustainable transport by observing the effort towards integration into Europe in the light of the EU Agreement and Green Deal, which constitute the underlying concept for the changes to make the EU a climate-neutral entity by reducing by 2015 the CO₂ emissions, including those originating from road transport activities, which account for a major proportion of such emissions..

Avoiding financial problems and good management of one’s income and assets is connected to people’s well-being, accumulation of capital in the economy and is essential element for stability and sustainable growth. The paper focuses on the relations between financial literacy of the population and the key indicators used by Eurostat to assess the financial status and sustainable behaviour of the households in European Union, linked to savings, investment, indebtedness, and wealth. Partial correlation coefficients and multiple regression models were used to control for the influence of countries’ geographical position and economic development. The results showed that financial literacy score was related to the Gross household saving rate and Household net financial assets ratio, while its connection with Gross investment rate of households, Households investment to Gross Domestic Product ratio and Gross debt-to-income ratio of households remained insignificant. In two models with significant financial literacy effect the division of the countries on the West-East axis was also crucial factor. Both further analysis in this area and policy making at European Union level focused on sustainable development, would benefit a lot if Eurostat starts collecting panel data about member states’ financial education status.

The article is about investigating of evaluation’s peculiarities of the business process value chain based on cost management at the example of industrial enterprise in a circular economy. The economy should urgently be redesigned so that resources aren’t wasted. Intentions to provide maximum level of energy efficiency of production, green occupations and sustainability, reduce the level of resources spending are promising areas of development each industry and the primary tasks of advanced countries and companies. It is investigated the production costs formation in the production sector and analysed factors influencing profit of industrial enterprises for sustainability. The results of this research indicate that the application of ABC can improve the accuracy of cost per unit calculation. It is proved that cost management of industrial enterprises should be considered as an independent module in the sytem of enterprise economic management, especially in terms of sustainability, the basis of which is the decisions making process grounded on organizational and methodological system of formation, cost allocation and cost industrial of products in accordance with long-term enterprise’s goals. On this basis, activity-based management tools can contribute to a more accurate calculation of environmental costs, in line with a sustainable product value chain. The ways of reducing the cost of products based on the cost formation centers have been substantiated. It is obtained that general economic costs and their distribution by types should combined with the management theory and the idea of sustainability to view business as contributing to society’s sustainable development.

The study is devoted to the analysis of the level of achieving the sustainable development goals by different states. The goal set by the authors was to determine strategic guidelines for ensuring sustainable development of the global economy through finding the level of achieving the economic goals of sustainable development by various countries. In addition, the authors aimed to group the countries based on the level of achieving the goals using the clustering method, as well as study the cases of leading countries in this area. The research was conducted using the hierarchical cluster analysis. The results of the research revealed six clusters of the countries by their level of achieving the chosen goals in 2020 and 2021. According to the obtained results, Sustainable Development Goal 9 was chosen as the main goal of sustainable development in ensuring economic growth. The recommendations for ensuring sustainable development of the states based on circularization, digitalization and intellectualization were made.

Problems such as excessive consumption habits, depletion of natural resources and global climate change keep the concepts of both eco-entrepreneurship and bioeconomy on the agenda. Within the scope of the study, agro-food-oriented bioengineering practices, in which biotechnology is at the center, were examined in the circular economy line. In the review, eco-technological applications under field-specific titles have progressed in the form of examining academic and sectoral studies in the world. Hence, it has been determined that the need for interdisciplinary improvement in biosystems has become an important issue on international scale, especially in recent years. In this way, it has been seen that significant contributions will be made in finding solutions to the productivity and efficiency problems that arise in eco-technological bioengineering applications, especially with the contribution of entrepreneurship ecosystem studies. For this reason, it is essential to carry out studies in which all actors involved in agriculture-food-biotechnology systems can come together. Therefore, existing problem areas in bioengineering applications for sustainable development should be identified and joint solution proposals should be developed for the identified problem areas.

The amount of information that emerges with the rapidly developing technology is increasing daily, revealing the need for knowledge management. Knowledge management updates the ever-increasing information capacity in organizations, makes the information available, defines the processes necessary to reach the required information, and enables the knowledge needed to be shared. Especially in higher education institutions, sustainable knowledge management is essential for developing a long-term sustainable culture. Therefore, this study aims to determine the enablers of sustainable knowledge management in higher education institutions. As a result, fostering sustainable learning is determined as the best criterion for the case of higher education institutors.

Many different sectors are obliged to implement the 17 goals established by the United Nations General Assembly, both for their own life cycles and for the future of our world. Each goal has its own goals and plans. Although different applications are made for these targets on a sectoral basis, a common language must be developed for each target. In this study, the 7th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the goal of providing access to economic, sustainable and clean energy for everyone, was emphasized. In the study, the maritime transport sector, which has a large share in the logistics sector in terms of both economic and environmental damage, has been selected. In this context, the sustainability, environment, corporate social responsibility and annual reports of the 33 biggest European ports with a gross weight handling volume were examined in line with the SDG 7 target and a content analysis was made on these reports. According to the results of the analysis, the contribution and approach of Europe’s largest ports to Clean and Affordable Energy, the 7th sustainable development goal of the United Nations, emerged.

Significant differences in the scale of metallurgical slag processing in different countries has led us to observe and formulate a paradox for a company that is engaged in recycling in the framework of a market economy. The theorem about the existence of the paradox of waste processing is formulated and proven. A mathematical model based on the original logarithmic one-factor production function of the enterprise is used. An analysis of the interaction of factors made it possible to determine the optimal conditions for the processing of production waste. The elasticity of the production function, the price of waste and the price of the product ratio predetermine the profitability for the company of processing either its own waste or those involved in the processing of waste from other enterprises on an agency basis. Based on the research results, options for building efficient circular industrial ecosystems are proposed. The institutional alternative is a market recycling company or an enterprise as part of a vertically integrated structure. An example is given from the practice of a large metallurgical plant.

Development of alternative energy sources, creation of production facilities for processing household and industrial waste are far from a list of directions of strategic cooperation between Ukraine and the EU within the framework of building circular economy. The purpose of the study is to determine the reserves of Ukraine regarding the further development of the principles of the circular economy and the consequences of overcoming the recession in the post-war period, using globalization trends. The results of the study demonstrate that the main driving forces on the way to building a circular economy are: state authorities focused on the implementation of sustainable “green development” strategies; specialists capable of developing and implementing circular development projects; programs for financing waste processing projects. In the course of the research, an actual model for the implementation of the circular economy in Ukraine under martial law was determined and proposed for implementation, which takes into account objective prerequisites. The relevance of the circular economy concept is confirmed through its relationship with the concept of sustainable development. The main indicators for monitoring the implementation of circular economy principles are also defined, which are relevant in the given operating conditions, but will require revision in the future.