Broadening the circle: creativity, regeneration and redistribution in value loops
ISSN: 1747-1117
Article publication date: 31 March 2023
Issue publication date: 1 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Increasing industrial agriculture and economic crisis has generated creative responses in pursuit of responsible solutions to the human and environmental cost of globalization by applying these models to promote social responsibility, help sustain livelihoods and foster biodiversity. A key issue concerns how responsible and circular businesses might provide appropriate responses to large-scale “wicked” problems. This paper aims to ask what such creativity looks like in the context of a circular economy that attempts to build closed value loops, by examining a case from the organic cotton textile industry: Appachi Eco-Logic.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses an ethnographic extended-case approach to identify two phases of creative growth at Appachi Eco-Logic, examining how closing the value loop and creating circularity involved broadening the circle to include more and more actors.
Findings
This study identifies two major challenges to achieving and maintaining full circularity before concluding with a broad provocation for the study of circular economies.
Originality/value
The case offers insight into fundamental features of circularity, regeneration and redistribution, which can be used by managers to build responsible and sustainable closed value loops.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Citation
Palakshappa, N., Venkateswar, S. and Ganesh, S. (2023), "Broadening the circle: creativity, regeneration and redistribution in value loops", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 19 No. 10, pp. 1870-1884. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-09-2022-0367
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited