Achieving circularity is a distant dream: entrepreneurial barriers to circular business models in SMEs of emerging economies
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 12 September 2023
Issue publication date: 5 September 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Circularity has acted as an essential phenomenon for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies, pressuring entrepreneurs to its adoption in their businesses. During the adoption and implementation of circularity, entrepreneurs or circular entrepreneurs (to be precise) are facing various challenges to its effective functioning. However, the scholarly literature has offered limited research into this phenomenon. Thus, the purpose of this research is to identify the various barriers and sub-barriers for circular entrepreneurs to adopt circularity in SMEs of emerging economies.
Design/methodology/approach
A combined qualitative and quantitative approach was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. In the first stage, through an extensive literature review, a list of barriers was identified and in the second stage, a deductive approach was employed to finalize the barriers. Finally, Best-Worst Method (BWM), a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, was used to analyse the significant importance of the barriers.
Findings
The findings of the study suggested the “financial barrier” as the first-ranked barrier in the adoption of Circular Business Models (CBMs), followed by the “regulatory and operational barrier” as the top second and third barriers. In terms of sub-barriers, “lack of access to funding and capital” has been identified as the top sub-barrier in the adoption of CBM, followed by “excessive regulations and red tape” and “challenges due to ambiguity of the concept”.
Practical implications
To transition from a circular to a linear business approach considerably quicker and smoother, entrepreneurs may utilize the findings of this study as a blueprint for the steps to overcome the barriers in a linear to a circular transition.
Originality/value
This research differentiates from other studies due to solicited input directly from the people who are most familiar with the challenges of making the transition from linear to CBM, i.e. the entrepreneurs themselves.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive feedback on the initial drafts of the manuscript. Also, the authors would pay their gratitude to Prof. (Dr.) Mayank Dhaundiyal for providing valuable suggestions to during the revision stage.
Since acceptance of this article, the following author(s) have updated the affiliation(s): Sunil Luthra is at the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, India.
Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Expression of concern: The publisher of Management Decision is issuing an Expression of Concern for the following article Saharan, A., Samadhiya, A., Kumar, A., Pandey, K.K., Luthra, S. and Garza-Reyes, J.A. (2023), “Achieving circularity is a distant dream: entrepreneurial barriers to circular business models in SMEs of emerging economies”, Management Decision, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-02-2023-0269, which was submitted to the guest-edited special issue ‘Navigating the role of circular economy in entrepreneurship: Opportunities and challenges’. An investigation by the publisher found a number of articles with multiple concerns, including but not limited to compromised editorial handling and reviewing, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and lack of suitability for the scope of the journal. As a result of these concerns and as trust in the content is central to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor-in-Chief and publisher have taken the decision to publish an Expression of Concern for all articles within this special issue. The journal has not been able to confirm whether the authors were aware of these concerns. The authors of this article would like to note that they do not agree with the content of this notice. An investigation is ongoing and is currently unresolved. Further information will be provided by Management Decision as it becomes available.
Citation
Saharan, A., Samadhiya, A., Kumar, A., Pandey, K.K., Luthra, S. and Garza-Reyes, J.A. (2024), "Achieving circularity is a distant dream: entrepreneurial barriers to circular business models in SMEs of emerging economies", Management Decision, Vol. 62 No. 9, pp. 2690-2713. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-02-2023-0269
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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