Collaboration as an enabler for circular economy: a case study of a developing country
By J. Mishra, Kudzai Dominic Chiwenga, K. Ali. Management Decision, 2019
183 citations recorded by the source corpus.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to advance the knowledge of Circular Business Models (BMs) over linear models by focusing on new dynamics which are unique to developing countries and have mostly been overlooked by contemporary literature; and second, to bring to the fore aspects of human-sphere which are currently under-researched in the circular economy (CE) domain. Therefore, the research explores how collaboration can facilitate the transition of a developing country’s economy through the creation of value from circular BMs and human-sphere.Design/methodology/approachTo fulfill the research objectives, the authors apply natural resource-based view (NRBV) theory to an in-depth case study. The authors draw the data from semi-structured interviews and observations in North African manufacturing companies.FindingsIt was found that multi-stakeholder collaboration is pertinent in implementing CE, especially in developing countries. Collaboration between companies, focusing on CE BMs, with other companies/SMEs could lead to technology transfer and organizational learning necessary for resource efficiency (RE) and clean technology (CT) – the basis for CE. The authors propose a model for collaboration as an enabler for CE.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis found multi-stakeholder collaboration to be an important antecedent to CE implementation in a developing country context. Furthermore, the authors found multinational companies who implement CE BMs generate a beneficial symbiotic relationship with local businesses. These benefits mainly revolve around technology transfer and organizational learning which is necessary for RE and CT – the basis for CE. Therefore, to advance knowledge and practice in this area, the authors propose a model for collaboration as an enabler for CE.Practical implicationsThe authors argue for the importance of collaboration in advancing CE practices which can yield tangible benefits for developing economies.Originality/valueThis paper helps address the lack of theory driven research in CE. The paper is a pioneer in this research field as it proposes a theoretical framework for collaboration in CE drawing on from NRBV.
Subfields: Business and International Management, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Strategy and Management
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/418f106187c8487c5e67f7dd147115dabab81eea
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In Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
In Strategy and Management
Citations in the corpus
- Circular economy in manufacturing companies: A review of case study literature (2021, background): “Research exploring the implementation of CBM in developing countries (Mishra et al., 2019; Sousa-Zomer et al., 2018) also highlighted the need for collaboration between stakeholders.”
- Learning from Failure and Success: The Challenges for Circular Economy Implementation in SMEs in an Emerging Economy (2021, background): “In this sense, collabora‐ tion can maximize innovation capacities, solve specific industry problems, take advantage of complementary strengths, and overcome individual weaknesses [84].”