The circular economy (CE) is now more imperative than ever due to several shortcomings humanity faces due to global economic disruptions. The CE might help initiate a virtuous circle whereby waste materials would be turned into resources for other companies to create closed-loop systems. However, the CE remains a niche paradigm embraced by only a small number of companies in some areas of the world. Some authors have argued that it is essential to encourage stakeholders at different implementation levels of a CE to increase the uptake of this new model among companies, and stakeholders may provide the required framework for the shift towards a circular model. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to answer the following research question: how can the transition towards the CE be accelerated from a `stakeholders¿ perspective? The study was undertaken in the Spanish region of Basque Country, where a CE strategy is already in place at the regional level, and some companies are already delivering circular solutions. This approach was selected to help understand the lack of widespread adoption of CE initiatives in a local system despite having a regional CE strategy. Data were collected from respondents from various stakeholders and also from desk research to ensure their reliability. The results showed the relevance of understanding how stakeholders can help speed up the transition by proactively exploring new ways to create novel conditions to work together with a broad...

The circular economy (CE) is an alternative economic system based on closing energy and material cycles to achieve sustainable development and create value based on innovation. In this sense, business associations (BAs) can work as intermediaries to promote CE in industrial sectors. They bring together many companies, generate trust-based relationships, support companies' strategy and collaborative innovation to construct closed-loop material flows, and increase competitiveness in sectors and regions. This study aims to show the BA's role as intermediaries of CE and promoters of industrial symbiosis (IS) as a value creation strategy among its affiliated companies (AC). Thus, this work takes the form of an exploratory case study of five different companies of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Navarra (UCAN) in Spain. Researchers collected this study's data through a focus group and surveys. As a result, an original serious game was developed in 2016 and a survey in 2016 and 2020, which considers the CE's six fields of action (take, make, manufacture, distribution, use, recovery, and IS). Finally, this study proposes a methodology to promote the CE through the BAs, based on the performance of the UCAN as an intermediary of the CE and IS. Likewise, BAs' potential to promote the closure of energy and materials cycles in regions and commercial sectors such as agribusiness is demonstrated. ...

Current research on the circular economy (CE) reveals that, while the concept and its application have been extensively explored as shown in several case studies, the definition of tools and criteria measuring ¿circularity¿ of products, companies or regions are not well-defined. Therefore, indicators for measuring the different levels of a CE (micro, meso, and macro) should be a high priority for stakeholders (governments, companies, NGOs, civil society, etc.) in order to track progress on CE initiatives. However, the increasing interest on CE has caused a still open debate on the conceptualization of CE which hampers the creation of indicators based on a common conceptual framework. As a result, the absence of standard indicators to track progress on circularity is leading to contradiction and misunderstanding, which represents a challenge to the implementation of CE strategies. Thus, this study tries to address this gap by advancing a set of indicators adapted from existing indicators that guarantees simplicity and effectiveness, closely based on indicators proposed by government bodies. This research carried out an exploratory study to formulate the indicators requirements based on literature, refined through experts¿ opinion and then they were tested in Spanish companies located in the Basque Country region through an empirical work to assess this theory...

Purpose: The circular economy has multiple benefits and opportunities to achieve sustainability and a better future for the next generations. The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology that guides step-by-step any industrial SMEs in the transition from the linear to a circular model. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have a crucial role in the sustainable development transition, considering that they represent most of the world's companies. Design/methodology/approach: To develop this methodology, two research techniques were used: a focus group and storyboarding. Findings: The resulting methodology, called Ecopyme, comprises five steps: 1) Firm identity, 2) Diagnosis, 3) Planning, 4) Get the ball rolling, and 5) Assessment and feedback. In addition, two key criteria that must be included in the whole process were identified: value creation in the firm through a circular economy and organization commitment from the top management to the staff. Research limitations/implications: The Ecopyme methodology has two limitations: It does not propose either implementation tools or involve consumers and actors at the meso (e.g., eco-industrial parks) and macro (e.g., cities, provinces, countries) levels. Practical implications: This study will help policymakers understand the SMEs' perspective and remove barriers that may hinder the paradigm shift. The methodology is also a useful tool for consultants and entrepreneurs to incorporate the circular economy (CE) principles into their business. Originality/value: In the CE literature, little attention has been paid to proposing a structured methodology to implement CE in SMEs. Thus, the study provides a step-by-step methodology that guides any industrial SMEs to transition from linear to circular. Also, it provides additional evidence concerning the importance of human commitment in changing firms' paradigm because people can encourage the adoption of responsible production practices if firms commit CEOs, sustainability managers, and staff.

Corporate Sustainability is today a key issue for companies considering value generation, climate change and social requirements. This sustainability must be achieved in the economic, social, and environmental aspects; many authors have studied the variables that make up these aspects. Despite the importance of employees in Corporate Sustainability, to our knowledge, no studies have connected the variables with the impact that employees have on them. Therefore, in this study, combining a literature review with a Panel Delphi with 11 experts, we seek consensus on: 1) the relevance of the different variables that define Corporate Sustainability; 2) on which variables can employees have an impact; and 3) what employee behaviors are more susceptible of having this impact. The results show consensus on employees and propose behaviors that could enhance some of the most important variables of economic, social and environmental sustainability. This result opens up the possibility of developing a scale to measure employee sustainable behaviors and to understand how companies can facilitate these behaviors.

Maturity models enhance the performance of companies by prescribing a trajectory through stages of increasing capability. However, a recent review of maturity models concludes that current maturity models hardly meet the design principles required for prescriptive use. To address this deficiency, we conducted semistructured interviews and a Group Model Building study with industrial companies in Spain in which we studied the progression toward a Leading Green Company as the highest maturity stage of environmental management. The findings from the study were tested using surveys with enterprises in Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, semistructured interviews in the United Kingdom and case studies in Spain. Using these data sources, we develop a causal model that captures an idealized environmental management maturity dynamic progression though stages. By mapping maturity stages to feedback loops connected to actions to improve those maturity levels, system dynamics can help companies articulate policies for transitioning toward higher maturity stages.

Existing resilience-building plans and strategies for addressing climate change in urban areas are not as effective as they were intended to be due to city stakeholders' fragmented efforts and adopted passive behaviour. Developing awareness about climate change have proven to be key in the climate change resilience-building process, as it encourages partnership and a transformation in behaviour. This paper presents a framework for developing city stakeholders' awareness in urban areas. The conducted triangulation approach composed by a systematic literature review, semi-structured interviews and a case study results with the framework that defines the ideal process for developing awareness in urban areas. The resulting framework encapsulates three main elements: awareness-development mechanisms (experience, attention and knowledge), awareness-development over time graphs and a learning ladder. The three mechanisms explain the behaviour of the awareness-development process, the awareness-development over time graphs illustrate the evolution of the mechanisms and their effect over time, and the learning ladder specifies the gradual process of developing awareness. After presenting the ideal path for developing awareness, we further discuss the contribution of the conducted triangulation approach to the framework.

Purpose The European Ecolabel (EU Flower) has the mission to encourage cleaner production and influence consumers to promote Europe's transition to a circular economy. Nonetheless, little is known about EU Ecolabel evolution; it is not clear what the drivers that encourage its implementation are. Thus, this study aims to assess the growing acceptance of the EU Ecolabel in the European Union, and Spain more specifically, by examining product and service categories and geographical regions. Methods The methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on the triangulation method by consulting the EU Ecolabel scheme database, EU Ecolabel delegates from some autonomous regions, and the academic literature. Also, a geographic analysis was run in the ArcGIS Software with data about the accumulation of licenses assigned in 2016. Results and discussion The analysis shows that most products in Spain that have been awarded the EU Ecolabel belong to the following categories: Do-It-Yourself Products (paint and varnish), Paper Products, Cleaning Up Products, and Electronic Equipment. At the same time, the study showed that this ecolabel faces significant obstacles in its diffusion, such as the competition with environmental labels launched previously in Europe and other regional labels. Conclusions The results of this study indicate the existence of five drivers that may encourage the implementation of EU Flower in a region: (1) public management, (2) communication strategy, (3) sustainable public procurement criteria, (4) local income per capita, and (5) international trade incentives. Finally, this study provides essential recommendations for policymakers to trigger ecolabeling practices such as the need to improve the understanding of the EU ecolabel impact in different levels of activity, which means countries, regions, industrial clusters, firms, and consumers. Also, this investigation identifies areas for further research, and it expresses the need to develop business case studies about ecolabeling with the objective to visualize this phenomenon as an eco-innovation process.

Defining the circular economy (CE) as a material and energy model coincides with the definition given by multiple authors in which Industrial Symbiosis (IS) has been deemed as a foundational strategy to support the implementation of the CE. The consumption of secondary materials is essential to achieve a successful transformation from a linear economy to a CE focused on IS practices. In this scenario, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a major role as stakeholders in developing CE systems as it is not possible to create this model with each company working in isolation. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on the role played by relevant local stakeholders such as individual firms interacting in the development of a local CE system. This study aimed to study the challenges that SMEs face in developing a CE system. A case study is selected as a research strategy using a mixed-method approach: a sequential quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) data collection techniques were employed for this research. It was observed that an absence of inter-organisational collaboration and a misunderstanding of the roles played by SMEs may impede the implementation of a local CE system level.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are key actors in the implementation of the circular economy (CE) concept as a basis for creating sustainable societies. Thus, the main objective of this study is to identify key strategies and resources that may favor CE implementation in SMEs. These key strategies should encourage SMEs to develop eco-innovations to gain competitive advantage and create and capture value that is coherent with nature. A mixed-method approach that consisted of a literature review and a focus group for gathering qualitative data was used. This focus group was made up of experts such as researchers and practitioners from universities, sustainable SMEs, and consultancy firms in Spain. A set of strategies and internal and external factors were identified to help SMEs to implement the CE. Finally, some useful dynamic capabilities for implementing the CE in business performance were identified.

Esta guía pretende ayudar a las organizaciones a establecer una estrategia de desarrollo hacia un crecimiento sostenible para ser rentables a largo plazo, dejando atrás la dinámica "extraer-fabricar-usar-tirar". Cada vez más, el agotamiento de los recursos está generando consumidores concienciados y empresas comprometidas con un modelo de negocio más circular.

This book aims to introduce the Circular Economy to companies, in order to understand its origin, principles and benefits. The book presents a methodology to approach the Circular Economy in a systematic way. The guide is structured in four chapters that show the steps to help organizations on their way to the Circular Economy. The chapters are: 01. Transition to the Circular Economy, 02. Fields of Action in the Circular Economy, 03. Implementation methodology, 04. Tools for developing the Circular Economy. The methodology follows the improvement cycle, based on 1. Diagnosis, 2. Opportunity analysis, 3. Implementation plan, 4. Evaluation and feedback. The last chapter also presents a set of tools to help companies in their way to the Circular Economy

This book presents the proceedings of the XXII International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, International IIE Conference 2016, and International AIM Conference 2016. This joint conference is a result of an agreement between ADINGOR (Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Ingeniería de Organización), ABEPRO (Associação Brasileira de Engenharia de Produção), AIM (European Academy for Industrial Management) and the IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers), and took place at TECNUN-School of Engineering (San Sebastián, Spain) from July 13th to 15th, 2016. The book includes the latest research advances and cutting-edge analyses of real case studies in Industrial Engineering and Operations Management from diverse international contexts, while also identifying concrete business applications for the latest findings and innovations in operations management and the decisions sciences.

Vivimos en un maravilloso planeta, en el que hemos conseguido la tecnología necesaria para alcanzar altos niveles de bienestar y alargar la esperanza de vida humana. Este avance tecnológico ha cambiado radicalmente nuestra forma de vivir y relacionarnos con el planeta. En concreto, el consumo de energía a partir de combustibles fósiles ha ocasionado una serie de cambios ambientales con consecuencias potenciales como inundaciones, tormentas, sequías, aumento del nivel del mar y extinción masiva de especies. Pero éste no es el único aspecto en el nuestra actividad industrial y social está influyendo. Ya conocemos muchos datos que nos alertan de las consecuencias de nuestro desarrollo.

Sustainability and the circular economy are the answer to today's challenge of resource depletion and waste generation. The transition to circular economy requires technological and process innovations: However, the capacity for innovation has often been a point of difficulty, and the problem is worse in small-sized companies because of the scarcity of resources. Our aim is to show how a company committed to sustainability overcomes the obstacles in the innovation process.

Circular economy has been claimed as an approach to foster a systemic change in the current model based on disposability. Though, many companies have sprout to deliver circular solutions through either new business models, products or services, a full shift away from the entire system is lacking. In other words, in order to experience a fully transition toward a circular economy model, an inter-organizational approach needs to be deployed. This approach has been named industrial symbiosis whereby interactions among companies are crucial to start developing a circular economy in the so-called meso level. Collaboration among organizations rises as one of the most important factors in developing industrial symbiosis. In that sense, different projects have developed digital platforms with the idea of promoting active participation and collaboration between organizations. Those sorts of platforms ideally enable industrial symbiosis through gathering information about resources and potential substitutes in order to recommend waste-to-resource exchanges. However, depending on the context the platform was built certain characteristics may not apply. Thus, this paper is focused on the characteristics and usefulness of different available platforms that facilitate the exchange of waste as a resource, product or good. Based on this research, it is likely that none of the existing platforms and the upcoming ones will be one-size-fits-all, thus, for industrial symbiosis to succeed it is still important for companies to determine what their needs are and then explore which platform best covers their requirements.

Most companies operate on a linear economy that consists of ¿take, make, use and waste.¿ However, the growing impact of industries¿ emissions on the environment has aroused global concerns about their activities. As a result, companies are increasingly aware of the importance of implementing a circular economy (CE) with environmental, social and economic beneficial results. In this transition to a circular system, companies will need guidance, especially in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the predominant type of company in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) area. Taking this into account, the objective of this chapter is to provide SMEs with a methodology to understand the value of CE for their corporate strategy, diagnose their business and design an action plan to facilitate the transition to the CE, allowing them to create value and gain a competitive advantage in the market. The CE could be addressed through six fields of action: take, make, distribute, use and recover goods and materials (Park et al. in J Clean Prod 18:1492¿1499, 2010; Stahel in Nature 24:6¿9, 2016), and a transversal field of action called industrial symbiosis. These six fields of action are the methodology¿s backbone. The CE methodology for an SME consists of the following steps: Diagnose the company¿s situation, through reflection on the current value proposal, the stakeholders and a preliminary diagnosis regarding its level of CE application through a proposed diagnosis tool. Analyze barriers and opportunities derived from the application of the CE. Propose a CE implementation plan. This chapter will explain, the process followed, and the various results obtained in the rubber-metal company. The proposed methodology makes an important contribution to SMEs¿ professionals regarding the step-by-step implementation of the CE using a real case that shows how to identify, plan and capitalize on the opportunities of the circular economy. The case study reveals how SMEs can start implementing the paradigm shift through environmental strategies that do not usually require high amounts of financial resources or technology. Moreover, the case study also highlights the relevance of the CE for creating value and a competitive strategy in the market.

Most companies operate on a linear economy that consists of ¿take, make, use and waste.¿ However, the growing impact of industries¿ emissions on the environment has aroused global concerns about their activities. As a result, companies are increasingly aware of the importance of implementing a circular economy (CE) with environmental, social and economic beneficial results. In this transition to a circular system, companies will need guidance, especially in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the predominant type of company in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) area. Taking this into account, the objective of this chapter is to provide SMEs with a methodology to understand the value of CE for their corporate strategy, diagnose their business and design an action plan to facilitate the transition to the CE, allowing them to create value and gain a competitive advantage in the market. The CE could be addressed through six fields of action: take, make, distribute, use and recover goods and materials (Park et al. in J Clean Prod 18:1492¿1499, 2010; Stahel in Nature 24:6¿9, 2016), and a transversal field of action called industrial symbiosis. These six fields of action are the methodology¿s backbone. The CE methodology for an SME consists of the following steps: Diagnose the company¿s situation, through reflection on the current value proposal, the stakeholders and a preliminary diagnosis regarding its level of CE application through a proposed diagnosis tool. Analyze barriers and opportunities derived from the application of the CE. Propose a CE implementation plan. This chapter will explain, the process followed, and the various results obtained in the rubber-metal company. The proposed methodology makes an important contribution to SMEs¿ professionals regarding the step-by-step implementation of the CE using a real case that shows how to identify, plan and capitalize on the opportunities of the circular economy. The case study reveals how SMEs can start implementing the paradigm shift through environmental strategies that do not usually require high amounts of financial resources or technology. Moreover, the case study also highlights the relevance of the CE for creating value and a competitive strategy in the market.

The increase in environmental and social awareness has triggered numerous green initiatives at companies. Traditionally, companies¿ training related to environmental management focuses on technical aspects and theoretical concepts. In addition to these theoretical contents, it is necessary to carry out practical activities to impart the desired behaviors and skills. Serious games have been found to improve employees understanding of practical environmental sustainability challenges, by offering opportunities to obtain first-hand experiences that may otherwise be too costly and difficult to reproduce in reality. This work presents Pizz@green, a serious game which simulates the productive and environmental efficiencies generated by the improvements of processes in a pizza shop. The purpose of the game is the practical learning of the environmental impact caused by the production processes of a company.

En este trabajo se expone el programa de mentoring univeristario basado en el desarrollo de competencias Tu&Co que se ha desarrollado en Tecnun, la Escuela de Ingenieros de la Universidad de Navarra. Tu&Co tiene como objetivo facilitar que los mentores/profesores puedan ir más allá del asesoramiento académico, pudiendo desarrollar personalmente y profesionalmente a los alumnos de Tecnun. Analizando el contenido de 56 entrevistas realizadas a alumnos y profesores que han participado en el programa, se identifican los elementos clave para el buen funcionamiento de este programa de mentoring univeristario. El caso presentado en este trabajo pretende ser una ayuda para poder mejorar la formación de los estudiantes universitarios hacia una concepción más completa que desarrolle, además de la académica, las facetas personal y profesional.

Value co-creation emerges from the interaction between customers and firms, being the customer an active player in the established interaction. This brings the customers to the core of the measurement system, not allowing a traditional process capability analysis as usually performed. This chapter addresses the development of a service capability index, taking into account customer¿s expectations, customer¿s perceptions and service performance. This index is based on the ¿zone of tolerance¿ and it gives a perspective on value co-creation effectiveness. A methodology for converting perceived performance into real performance is proposed, including a procedure to assess the levels of adequate and desired service. An approach inspired on the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is presented, promoting the ability for converting customer¿s expectations into operational terms and extending the methodology to situations with several customer¿s requirements and various operational characteristics. Different approaches are considered for outcome-related features and process-related features.

Environmental management is receiving increased attention by researchers, policy makers and companies as today¿s world is facing major environmental problems such as global warming and waste. As a consequence, companies are progressively improving their environmental practices and behaviors with the aim of reaching more advanced stages in their environmental management. Specifically, those companies most committed to environmental issues have started to introduce the concept of life-cycle and footprint thinking in their organizations. Nevertheless, there are currently many different software tools and companies may not know which one is most suitable. Consequently, the main objective of this research is to study the different software applications to help companies choose the most suitable one in each case. To achieve this objective, the paper provides an in depth review of the literature on life-cycle and footprint thinking. As a result, more than 20 software tools have been analysed and compared. It is important to highlight that the appropriateness of one software program relative to another may very much depend on the user¿s scope or objective, as the database of each program could be different.

This paper consists of an analysis of environmental management in different enterprises. A classification of the factors that affect the environmental management in a company has been made through a multiple case study of nineteen different companies. Some of the main factors that affect all businesses have been identified, such as customers, the law and competitors. Every company has to comply with the law, although the law affects each sector differently. Depending on the markets in which they operate, customers are more or less aware of environmental aspects. Moreover, it is important to distinguish public from private clients. On the other hand, competitors also need to be taken into account when company decisions are made. All these aspects can be found in different companies with different activities and different characteristics, so enterprises should be aware of them when taking environmental decisions.