From Circular Economy Disclosure to Circular Transformation
A Case Study From Food‐Producing Companies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22418647 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Patricia Ruffing‐Straube (0000-0002-7630-9763, Department of Business Administration University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland, corresponding author), Ute Merbecks (0000-0002-3647-6794, Faculty of Society and Economics Rhine‐Waal University of Applied Sciences Kleve Germany), Inge Wulf (Faculty of Energy and Economics Science Clausthal University of Technology Clausthal‐Zellerfeld Germany) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Business Strategy and the Environment (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0964-4733 • E-ISSN: 1099-0836 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/bse.70993 |
| OpenAlex | W7163511452 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 85 |
Changing the use of resources and the treatment of waste is an important driver towards sustainable development. While this includes transformation of production processes, it also requires the transition of complete business models towards more circularity. Assessing and understanding drivers towards such transformations of business models are the focus of this paper. Therefore, a grounded theory–based content analysis is performed centring around the reporting requirements in European Sustainability Reporting Standard E5 on circular economy and resource use. Following the theory of targeted transparency, sustainability disclosures of large European food‐producing companies are analysed to infer information on their way towards a circular transformation of business models. The findings show that firms report on circular economy, but that most disclosures inform stakeholders on the transformation of production processes. Only some firms provide substantial information on the circular transformation of their business models. The findings suggest that circular economy requires a systems thinking perspective that considers the whole value chain to induce effective transitions of business models towards circularity. Future research should aim at supporting firms in their transition and identify barriers to reduce.
Business model · Circular economy · Resource Efficiency · Sustainability · Sustainability reporting · Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Full Disclosure
Circular economy – From review of theories and practices to development of implementation tools
Circular business models
Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy
Business models and supply chains for the circular economy
Designing business models in circular economy
Environmental disclosures in the annual report
Conceptualizing the circular economy
Managing Legitimacy
Assurance of corporate social responsibility reports
Wasting Food, Wasting Resources
Green nudges
Women and circular transition in agri‐food industry
Circular Economy
Quantity and quality food losses across the value Chain
Reducing food loss and waste
Job Market Signaling
Organizational Legitimacy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |