Sustainability

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Editor

Dr. José Moleiro Martins

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

1. Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Avenida Miguel Bombarda, 20, 1069-035 Lisboa, Portugal
2. Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL), Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: business model innovation; collaborative projects; environmental management; entrepreneuship; innovation; innovation management; knowledge management; lean business model; practices of sustainable models; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The circular economy can act as a driver for more sustainable organizational practices in a variety of areas, such as organizational strategy, cost management, network management, service management, and innovation management. These are influences that lead to mutual and multidirectional changes across various areas. The circular economy aims to extend the life cycle of products, materials, or resources. Economic development is sustained by using resources in a closed-loop system, which reduces pollution and increases the efficiency of resource use. It is important to know what impact circular economy practices have on business areas, how companies become more sustainable by adopting more circular practices, and what role innovation plays in this process of sustainable business development. Therefore, the question arises of how businesses become sustainable and innovative toward a circular economy.

Creating new (closed) material circuits, reducing resources, and extending materials and products in the circuit is a challenge that needs collaborative agreements with varied business partners in order to create value for stakeholders. This requires new innovation processes across various cooperating sectors in order to create new sustainable business models in a circular economy.

The work to be developed by the academia is directed to various sectors in order to help in the orientation and organizational decisions that contribute to more competitive innovative companies based on sustainable development through circular economy practices. Thus, we intend to present the main guidelines and innovative practices that lead the various business areas to adopt circular practices toward sustainable business management.

This Special Issue intends to increase our understanding of the innovation process on which a circular business model is based, involving different perspectives from different stakeholders and organisational areas that converge towards sustainable and innovative businesses towards the circular economy, in order to overcome the challenges of global competitiveness with a reduced impact on the environment.

Dr. José Moleiro Martins
Guest Editor

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

business model innovation
circular business model
circular economy
collaboration as a source of competitiveness
collaborative innovation
consumers with environmental concerns
digitalization
digital transition
environmental management
Industry 4.0
innovation
innovation management
open innovation
lean business model
multiuse platform
network management
practices of sustainable models
service management
sharing economy
social business
sustainability
sustainable business
sustainable business models
sustainable business model innovation
sustainable criteria and practices
sustainable organizational strategy

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

23 pages, 1646 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Detecting Circular Economy Strategies in the Fourth Sector: Overview of the Chilean Construction Sector as Evidence of a Sustainable Business Model

by Luis Manuel Cerdá-Suárez, Juan Felipe Espinosa-Cristia, Karen Núñez-Valdés and Gerson Núñez-Valdés

Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 8559; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118559 - 25 May 2023

Viewed by 1364

Abstract

An essential part of the economic and social system is the existence of sustainable companies worldwide. Despite the fact that the literature has described different kinds of innovations, organizations, and models regarding this topic, there is a need to understand the dynamics that occur within the fourth sector and how strategies and practices are working. In this study, construction companies presenting sustainable projects are identified, and the way in which they serve the community, stakeholders, and consumers is analyzed. The present article presents an epistemological search to recognize the best practices and strategies, which allows an understanding of the new circular economy strategies in the fourth sector. The authors show a conceptual approach regarding these actions and a methodology on the most notable techniques of the Circular Economic Strategy of Chile based on an investigation of documentary and comparative data. Data collection considered perceptions of construction practices regarding the circular economy and the specificity of each situation and reflected the actual production systems. We used simple random sampling to collect data in the scope of the study. The findings show the importance of some relational elements between companies that structure construction projects, supporting the impact of discovering specific variables in the different layers of sustainable management. In addition, results show how those responsible for construction projects understand sustainability as a preference, amplify the role of various factors in the work of the cultural and social ecosystems under consideration. Finally, this article details and analyzes the channeling of innovative business models in the fourth sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Innovative Business towards the Circular Economy)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

20 pages, 911 KiB

Open AccessReview

Conceptualising Collaborations beyond Industrial Boundaries: A Literature Review and a Theoretical Proposition to Understand Cross-Industrial Collaborations in the Circular Supply Network

by Anne Ratsimandresy and Joe Miemczyk

Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 8850; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118850 - 31 May 2023

Viewed by 1534

Abstract

This state-of-the-art review paper aims to provide an overview of the current research in supply chain and management on cross-industrial collaborations. It also formulates a theoretical proposition to study them. This research on cross-industrial collaborations is carried out in the more specific context of the circular economy, as the scale-up of this economic model has the particularity of requiring collaborations between organisations from different industrial sectors, a subject that remains to date relatively unexplored. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part is a literature review. A presentation on current knowledge on supply-chain collaborations for the circular economy is realised, followed by a literature gap exploration of cross-industrial collaborations. The second part is a theoretical proposition. Concepts of the network theory and of the inter-organisational proximity framework and their relevance are explained, followed by a proposition of a combination of the two views to conceptualise cross-industrial collaborations. The objective of this concept paper is to provide a thematic and theoretical background for future studies to understand how to connect non-traditional actors within a supply network, how companies from different industries manage to collaborate, and to assess the opportunities and pitfalls of these collaborations for the scale-up of the circular economy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Innovative Business towards the Circular Economy)

► Show Figures