-------- Forwarded Message --------
Dear Colleagues,
Journal of Enterprise Information Management (CABS 2* with impact
factor of 2.5) is currently inviting submissions for consideration
to a special issue on:
The Shift to a Circular Economy: Separating Hype from Reality
Link to call for papers:
http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=8049
Paper submissions deadline: January 2019
Special Issue Guest Editors:
* Dr Uthayasankar Sivarajah, School of Management, University of
Bradford, UK
* Dr Zahid Hussain, School of Management, University of Bradford,
UK
* Dr Manoj Dora, Brunel Business School, Brunel University London,
UK
Call for paper description:
Do we have a dawn of a new business paradigm? It has been
increasingly emphasised that our current linear economic system
modelled around a "take-make-dispose" approach is unsustainable.
Although the linear economic model has led to significant economic
growth since the industrial revolution for over two centuries, as
many researchers have pointed out (McDonough and Braungart, 2009;
Stahel, 2010; Webster, 2013), this growth was pursued on the
assumption of indefinite resources and non-renewable and polluting
sources of energy; on the other hand, on the oblivious production
of large quantities of waste. Evidence shows that anthropogenic
activities are decreasing the capacity of ecosystems to deal with
dramatic disruption and change (Malone et al., 2015). The
conventional modus operandi and the related management tools that
have supported business development thus far seem to be not
effective anymore (Reeves and Deimler, 2011; Ries, 2017) as the
assumptions underpinning the common busi
ness beliefs about running organisations are deeply flawed
(McGrath, 2013). Value creation within a supply chain can provide
the impetus for organisations to adopt a Circular Economy model
(CE), for competitive reasons. Potentially, adopting CE, companies
could capture value from using resources that are under pressure
and are driven by prices, political and environmental factors.
Circular Economy has emerged as a viable solution and an
alternative paradigm to the de facto linear approach where waste
is drawn out from the system, resource use is optimised, materials
flow at their highest economic value, only renewable energy is
used and natural resources are constantly replenished (EMF, 2012).
A circular economy instead is believed to be regenerative and
restorative by design where inputs and materials are kept in
economic cycles for longer at their highest value (via closed
loops) and waste is designed out. Waste is actually considered as
"input" for further cycles. Therefore, such an alternative
economic model is sustainable in the sense that allows decoupling
economic growth from resource use (EMF, 2012, 2013, 2014). A CE is
an economy that thrives with diversity since it embraces a system
view of our economy and by looking at nature, considers diverse
systems as resilient and adaptive (EMF, 2012). CE is fast becoming
an important agenda for technological, organizational and social
innovation as it offers many opportunities, and will enable the
world's societies and economies to become more sustainable
(Ghisellini et al., 2016; Bocken et al., 2016). With CE firmly at
the peak of the hype curve, all stakeholders (public,
policymakers, organisations, NGOs) must be collectively conscious
that the concept delivers tangible benefits rather than empty
claim of promises. Hence there are some central questions to be
explored when it comes to moving towards CE:
* How can companies begin to make this shift towards circular
economy? What did they have to do to get started and what kinds of
results are they seeing?
* What are the environmental implications of circular production
systems in terms of energy use, pollution, resource efficiency and
waste recovered when compared to a traditional linear production
paradigm?
* What are the potential market dynamics, policy and societal
implications that could arise by the implementation of circular
production systems?
* Do new technologies help or harm circular pathway for the
organisations?
* What are the implications of user/consumer behaviour in moving
towards a circular economy?
* Is the Circular Economy compatible with a context of free-market
neo-liberalism? What role should be played by central, regional
and local governments to favour the large-scale application of
such a paradigm in the current European context?
A shift toward CE implies the engagement of the whole economic
system, including all stakeholders. Specifically, businesses
should generate new ideas and integrate them coherently with
processes, methods, tools and solutions through a system vision.
There is limited scholarly research investigating business that
contributes to the implementation of CE principles at a system
level per se such as Waste to Energy (WTE). WTE supply chain could
be one viable circular model to solve the energy demand (Pan et
al., 2015). CE business models are argued to be essential to
generate energy in urban environments too (Pan et al., 2015). Due
to increase in urbanisation worldwide, there is a substantial
increase in energy and material consumption as well as
anthropogenic waste generation. Organisations should integrate
different technologies as it acts as advantage in boosting CE and
improving resource use efficiency (McDonough et al., 2016). Issues
such as waste to landfill, plastic waste, non-rene
wable energy, food production and chemical fertilisers need to be
overcome (Tiwary et al., 2015). There is also a potential need to
develop new CE based standard or indeed use and adapt the existing
one such as International Organization for Standardization
standard ISO14000/1. CE is a way forward for organisations and
businesses need to play a very proactive role in it as key
stakeholders (Zamfir et al., 2017). In moving towards Circular
Economy, there is a need to innovate as well as thinking about the
process and strategy at all levels (Sarkis and Zhu, 2017), and
furthermore to educate all stakeholders to engage at grass root
levels.
CE has the ability to generate a myriad of opportunities for the
betterment of our society, in spite of this, challenges and
unfounded assumptions remain. As such, this special issue welcomes
conceptual or empirical in-depth research studies to help separate
hype from reality surrounding the concept of circular economy by
drawing on any suitable approach (quantitative, qualitative or
mixed, cross-industry comparison, structured literature review
papers that are quantitative in nature). Some of the indicative
topics include but are not limited to the following:
* Circular value chain Analysis
* Collabration and formation of new stakeholder networks and
partnerships
* Customers as users and end-of-life care
* Feasibility study on household plastic waste behaviour change
* Incentivising consumtion and user behavioural change for a
circular economy
* International Organisational Standards for CE and their adaption
* Mangerial andy policy implications for a circular econmy
* New business models that advance practices of circular economy
* Oppurtunities, Barriers and Risks of circular economy
* Pressures on scarce resources (e.g. oil, copper, lithium, etc.)
as crucial commodities for production and consumption
* Public awareness and educating the population to engage with
circular economy at grass root levels
* Role of innovation for a movement towards circularity
* Role of technology in enabling a circular economy approach
* Servitization, remanufacturing and closed-loop recycling
practices for a circular economy
* Socio-economic and environmental implications of circular
economy
* The circular economy and systemic transformations of consumption
* The circular economy as paradigm shift
* Waste to Energy (WTE) and Food waste
Submission format and timelines:
Papers submitted to the special issue will be subject to the
Journal of Enterprise Information Management (JEIM) review process
and submission guidelines. More information and instructions are
available at:
http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=jeim
Paper submissions deadline: January 2019
Complete first round of review: April 2019
Selected authors submit revision: July 2019
Complete second round of review (with accept/reject decision):
October 2019
Special Issue ready for submission to JEIM: early January 2020
Many thanks,
Sankar
Dr Uthayasankar Sivarajah BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, FHEA, MCILT
Reader, Technology Management and Circular Economy
Head of Logistics, Supply Chain and Technology (LogiST) Research
Center
Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences
Emm Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD9 4JL (UK)
Tel: +44 (0)1274 234496
Tweet: @sankarsivarajah
Web:
https://www.brad.ac.uk/management/
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