Business Management Transformation Toward a Circular Economy

This book explores international trends of research in circular economy (CE) policies and standard regulations in the ISO CE 59000 series, the European Union (EU) CE Commission, and Japan. Here, the CE is defined on the basis of its explanation by the EU CE Commission as “a strategic approach that builds competitiveness by creating new business opportunities and advancing sustainable production and consumption. It safeguards organizations from resource and market risks through five key methods: CE business models, resource circulation, CE product planning, lifecycle design for digital products, and sharing platforms with digital product passports.” The book delineates the framework to drive business management transformation toward a circular economy with five new business methodologies: (1) CE business models and multi-generational CE value chain network, (2) Resource circulation by collecting used products returned by customers, resource recovery, and cyclical resource supply, (3) CE product planning and stakeholder engagement, (4) Lifecycle design for digital products and services, (5) Sharing platforms, application software, and digital product passports. Also explored here are comparative studies of CE policies and leading companies in Japan, the USA, Germany, and Italy in the following industries: (1) automobiles (Japan), (2) electronics (Japan), (3) energy (USA), and (4) construction (Japan, Germany, and Italy).