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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 12721

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Roope Husgafvel

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Guest Editor

Independent Researcher, 04310 Tuusula, Finland
Interests: sustainability; circular economy; sustainable development; circular bioeconomy; sustainable and circular business models
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Daishi Sakaguchi

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Health Sciences, Nihon Fukushi University, 26-2 Higasihaemi, Handasi, Aichi 4750012, Japan
Interests: sustainable architecture; sustainable design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Circular economy provides many opportunities to advance overall sustainable development, including the consideration of planetary boundaries and measures to tackle climate change. It is also closely connected to environmental, economic and social sustainability in addition to being highly relevant as a cross-cutting theme encompassing multiple societal sectors and aspects of social life. Many interesting developments are taking place globally to promote circular economy in different contexts. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to present some of these cases to a wider audience. However, there are also many challenges, gaps and barriers related to progress in this field from the system level to daily practices. Thus, it is equally important to address these in addition to other timely topics.

This Special Issue welcomes research articles focusing on circular economy in various contexts encompassing a broad spectrum of topics. In general, perspectives on how to promote a system-level change towards sustainability including ways to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, covering both technical and biological cycles, are much appreciated. In addition, this Special Issue particularly encourages studies on innovation, management, assessment and design related to both circular economy and sustainability.

Suggested topics related to circular economy and sustainability:

Circular economy;
Innovation;
Management and assessment;
Circular design;
Implementation of concepts and principles (e.g., the 10 Rs);
Education, training, know-how, skills and competencies;
New business models, entrepreneurship and ecosystems;
Circularity in the value and supply chain;
Digitalization and data management;
Systems and life-cycle thinking;
Case studies.

Dr. Roope Husgafvel
Dr. Daishi Sakaguchi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

circular economy
innovation
management
sustainability

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 557 KB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing Sustainability in Solution Projects through Social CRM: An Expansion of the Self-Efficacy Value Adoption Model

by Yuli Sartono, Endang Siti Astuti, Wilopo Wilopo and Teuku Noerman

Sustainability 2024, 16(19), 8353; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198353 - 26 Sep 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2319

Abstract

This study applies the Self-Efficacy Value Adoption Model (SVAM), which views users of technology as customers, to explore the influence of Perceived Environmental Value (PEV) and the cultural dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) on the intention to adopt Social Customer Relationship Management (Social CRM). The research addresses the challenge of improving organizational sustainability by adopting Social CRM for managing solution projects that integrate products and services. The objectives are to evaluate the impact of self-efficacy (SE) on PEV and adoption intentions and to assess how UA moderates this relationship. This study sampled 205 professionals from the Indonesian energy industry who have been using CRM for 24 years. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with AMOS version 26. The results show that SE has a significant positive effect on PEV and adoption intention, with UA moderating this effect (path coefficient of 0.602, p ≤ 0.001). PEV was found to strongly influence the intention to adopt Social CRM, and PEV fully mediated the relationship between SE and adoption intention. This research highlights that the type and level of technological knowledge influence perceptions of emotional and social value, and that combining the SVAM with PEV and UA enhances solution projects that align with business and sustainability goals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in Circular Economy, Innovation and Management)

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15 pages, 1742 KB

Open AccessArticle

Operationalizing the Circular Economy—A Longitudinal Study on Sustained Circular Action

by Henrike Holwerda, Willem Haanstra and Jan Braaksma

Sustainability 2024, 16(14), 5874; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16145874 - 10 Jul 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1994

Abstract

Circularity is becoming increasingly important for Distribution System Operators (DSOs) as their infrastructure ages and needs replacement, alongside compliance with stringent environmental regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). However, implementing circular economy (CE) practices is challenging due to the fragmented nature of the current CE landscape and its limited interaction with practical application. A longitudinal case study at the Dutch DSO, Liander, focusing on the circularity of distribution transformers, was conducted to generate prescriptive knowledge on operationalizing circularity. This resulted in the formulation of six design propositions for circular action that suggest to (1) initiate small-scale circularity experiments; (2) involve technical and strategic experts; (3) synergize circularity with more urgent, primary goals; (4) translate circular initiatives bottom-up and top-down; (5) collaborate with other DSOs; and (6) create multidisciplinary teams. The propositions suggest to situationally select interventions and build upon the outcomes of previous interventions in order to incrementally contribute to circular change. Other DSOs could use these propositions to optimize their strategy toward circular action. Additionally, the findings contribute to advancing scientific knowledge to implementable actions in order to initiate and sustain circular change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in Circular Economy, Innovation and Management)

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36 pages, 4727 KB

Open AccessArticle

Circular Economy Development in the Wood Construction Sector in Finland

by Roope Husgafvel and Daishi Sakaguchi

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7871; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107871 - 11 May 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5298

Abstract

Circular economy development is about a system level change towards enhanced sustainability and circularity covering both biological and technical cycles. This study aimed at exploring, identifying, analyzing and synthesizing the current state of and future outlook on CE development in the wood construction sector in Finland as perceived by various sectoral companies. This study focused on multiple themes related to the importance of the various aspects of a CE and associated approaches in this particular sector. This study applied a qualitative research approach, and a questionnaire survey was the specific method. The survey was sent to both architectural and construction sector companies. This study addressed a gap in research and contributes to the better understanding of the current state of and future outlook on CE development in the wood construction sector. The results indicate that the CE concept is mostly considered to be an important part of building design and construction. However, some respondents found that this concept is new to them. Interestingly, the cascading use of wood and the assessment and measurement of a CE were not at all familiar to many respondents. Particularly important CE aspects in the wood construction sector include, for example, sustainability and the long life cycles of products, components and materials; co-creation and cooperation covering the whole life cycle of construction and the whole supply chain; training and competence development; and design for a CE, sustainability and long life cycles. Many essential elements of a CE were in use, coming into use or in consideration by many of the sectoral companies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in Circular Economy, Innovation and Management)

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15 pages, 3606 KB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Criteria Assessment of Taxi Transport Services for Public Procurement: Case Study for Bacau City

by Luminita Bibire, Alexandra-Dana Chitimus and Adrian-Stelian Ghenadi

Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7489; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097489 - 3 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1931

Abstract

LCA methodology is often used in public procurement decision making. The European Commission introduced Life Cycle Costing (LCC) in 2014 to support this methodology. LCCs take into account costs incurred during a service, work or product’s lifetime. Application management techniques of LCC offer a better awareness of the factors that influence the resources and costs in the case of procurements. The identification of the factors that influence the costs is the main key of the LCC tool. In such a way, the life cycle management is focused on efficient purchasing. The awareness levels of the LCC criteria influence the cost and will also highlight other aspects of existing products that could benefit from the involvement of life cycle management. Taxi transport services (as an alternative to public transportation) are a sector of the economy with a good income when acquisitions are properly carried out. When the acquisitions are analyzed, governmental and local regularizations should be taken into account. Today, cities, as well as small towns, look forward to improving the quality of life of the citizens and reducing pollution. The acquisitions of buses/cars for public use must be carried out with respect to the required performance of the cars. On the one hand, the municipality should be in line with the European Commission’s policy; on the other hand, it should be in line with the state’s public procurement requirements. An acquisition must also be reasonable in terms of price, lifetime, environmental impact, circular economy and meeting citizens’ needs. The goal of this paper was to analyze the acquisition of cars for taxi services from the perspective of public procurements. The study was performed with the help of the Taxi LAL company from Bacau County. The LCC techniques were applied to identify the most “acceptable” as well as the most “profitable” choices for taxi services. For a better understanding of the problem, within the present paper the mechanism of cost assessment for a product modernization was exemplified. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in Circular Economy, Innovation and Management)

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