The circular economy has emerged as a key driver for sustainability progress in the current digital era. Companies in the circular economy have increased GDP and generated employment dramatically. Future developments in digitization, resource availability, and ecological issues call for new strategies in the digital age. E-businesses must guarantee the circular economy's sustainable expansion in addition to their attention to environmental issues. The circular economic business model that is suggested by the study aims to improve ESG (environment, social, and governance) performance as well as sustainability. To track the technical aspects of the circular economy process and decrease operational costs and resource needs, the authors have utilized indicators. Here, they provide a comprehensive study that takes into account a complete review of the relevant literature, the e-business paradigm for the circular economy under development, a company, a portfolio of e-business applications, and the development of software applications for a circular economy enterprise.
Top1. Introduction
Inefficient methods of production and consumption result in the depletion of resources and an increase in environmental disasters; in recent years, many people worldwide have grown particularly concerned about these concerns. The solutions to these issues have been put in place by various nations. A number of carefully thought-out strategic initiatives, including “goals” and “sustainable development” These strategies acknowledge and strengthen the ESG's (Environment, Social, and Governance) awareness, influence, measures, and signals that support a company's success in terms of governance.
The Earth's biocapacity is quickly getting close to its limitations, natural resources are being used up, and the ecological footprint has grown while the globe is going through turbulent times. Additionally, the epidemic and the ensuing sanctions have left the economy and industry still reeling. In order to reduce environmental volatility and get through the crisis, all nations, businesses, and ecosystems will need to rely on the sustainable development paradigm as the most robust strategy. By using the circular economy concept, industrial ecosystems may accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Additionally, ESG helps stakeholders understand how committed an organization is to address risks and opportunities associated with current environmental and sustainable concerns. In 2022 and 2021, researchers (Morea et al.) and Efficient strategies and approaches to carry out and attain such strategic goals have been examined by (Patil et al.) and practitioners worldwide. The circular economy, in the opinion of Dragomir and Dumitru (2022), is an essential tactic for continuously lowering the negative environmental consequences of wasteful production and consumption. It also facilitates the organization's transition to more trustworthy ESG metrics.
Industry clusters are concentrated areas of strongly connected industries in one place. Organizations that assist one another in the business, supplier, service, research, and educational domains make up industry clusters. Robust industry clusters within a given region serve as a vital source of employment, strong innovation, and payrolls sufficient to support families. A region's ability to compete uniquely for employment and private investment is further enhanced by industry clusters.
A cluster with significant employment specialization in a region is considered to be a strong industrial cluster; this is a crucial characteristic for businesses seeking to establish or grow operations in a given area.
Competitors of traded cluster enterprises are usually either domestic or foreign. They have the freedom to select the location of their activities, barring circumstances such as closeness to certain natural resources. In conclusion, the theory of competitive advantage holds that industrial clusters' learning effects can enhance businesses' capacity for innovation.
While the present economic development model generates enormous amounts of trash from which only a tiny minority benefits, the circular Economy model can see waste as a flaw in the design, opening the door to the construction of more inclusive and widely distributed systems. Ultimately, this model presents an opportunity to reconsider and reorganize the economy in a way that more effectively meets human needs and makes use of natural resources.
The circular Economy trends have been steadily declining globally, as of 2020, the Circularity Gap Report (2022) shows an increase from 9.1% in 2018. However, based on a few research (Babkin et al., 2023). The circular economy still has a chance to achieve the scale effects needed to use digital technologies. The global circularity should be increased from 8.6% to 17% in order to maintain the viability and prosperity of our planet for present and future generations. As a result, there is still more work to be done globally to fully utilize the circular economy.