Transition to the Circular Economy Model

The digital revolution has started a paradigm shift by taking an incorporated approach toward operations, sourcing, supply chain, marketing, and other functions of profit/nonprofit organizations. The overall objectives are not only to improve traditional missions of cost savings, enhanced efficiencies, and facilitating customer satisfaction but also to design new ways of value creation and to continuously search for better ways of delivering value. The sustainable revolution, just like the digital revolution before it, is shifting the profit pools, and changing the high returns in certain sectors while discovering great prospects in others. Starting with a list of similarities between both revolutions, this article attempts to answer the question of how digital transformation can be viewed through the lens of sustainability. The convergence of both transformations is also examined in the domain of Customer Experience Management.

In circular economies, the intersection of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurial orientation has become even more important to achieve a better balance and harmony between institutions, the environment, and society. This research explores how artificial intelligence can influence new substantial entrepreneurial trends, applications, and outcomes. It examines how this technology can increase and change the tasks associated with the idea of sustainability. The concepts, sustainability, entrepreneurial orientations, and artificial intelligence have been attracting research interest in Turkey for three decades. However, since the subject is new in the country and there are few empirical studies in the national and international literature, a “case study” was conducted to reveal the effect of the relationship between the variables of this research. As it realized the potential power of sustainability and innovation issues, a multinational company headquartered in Turkiye operating with 41 companies in different sectors with nearly 17,000 employees around the world was chosen as a case study.

E-waste includes all electrical and electronic wastes that are disposed of by the end-user without the intention of reuse. Waste in this scope includes electrical circuits, power system or battery-powered electronic products, laptops, smartphones, large and small household items, and lighting equipments. According to the data of the United Nations’ 2020 Global E-Waste Monitoring Report, each adult produces 7.3 kg of electronic waste per year. Due to the increase in the amount of e-waste day by day, it is getting harder to manage. From this point of view, it is seen that the e-waste sector has a very crucial place in achieving the SDGs. The presence of very harmful elements for life, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium in electronic waste, poses a great health hazard for all living things. SDG 12-Responsible Production and Consumption also has sub-targets on the control and disposal of related wastes. The main purpose of this research is to examine the policies of companies serving in the textile sector in Turkey regarding the control and disposal of e-waste, which is increasing day by day, and to present a projection on how they will contribute to the realization of SDG 12. During the data analysis process of the research, interviews were conducted with textile company managers and the analyses were made through the MAXQDA 2020 program.

The circular economy is a model of consumption and production, which includes reusing, sharing, repairing, recycling, and refurbishing existing products and materials as long as possible. The related economic model aims to extend the life span of not only products and materials, but also organizations. The main purpose of this research is to investigate how circular economy models contribute to the actualization of one of the sustainable development goals, “Decent Work and Economic Growth”. The eighth Sustainable Development Goal has 10 sub-targets. In the process of determining the research sample, sectoral and economic growth opportunities were compared. As a result of this comparison, the IT sector was chosen as the sample, and software companies listed in BIST 100 will be examined. In this context, the extent to which the selected IT companies meet the sub-targets according to the determined parameters was examined by frequency analysis through the MAXQDA package program. This research can be considered one of the first studies in the literature that focused on the combination of circular economy and SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth by performing frequency analysis. Thus, it is foreseen that the outputs of the research will be valuable to organizations and policymakers in achieving the eighth goal.

The Sustainable Development Goals, in other words, the Global Goals, are a universal call to action, established in 2015 with the aim of protecting our planet, preventing poverty, and ensuring that all humanity can live in prosperity and peace. Gender Equality, which is the fifth development goal, aims to ensure equal participation of women and men in all aspects of social life. The related target has 6 main and 14 sub-targets. Due to the global transformation covering the past 30 years, women’s labor force in business life, their profession, and their current business lines have undergone a great transformation. Logistics and transportation sectors have been accepted as one of male-dominated business lines until today, and women’s employment has been avoided. However, in the rapidly globalizing business world, it has become very important for women and men to have equal conditions in business life within the scope of SDG 5. Six logistics companies listed in the BIST 100 index were accepted as samples, and the annual and semi-annual sustainability and human resources policy reports shared by the companies were examined. The main purpose of this research is to examine the logistics sector in Turkey from the perspective of gender equality and to present a projection of the current situation of the sector.

The circular economy concept is not only touching a wide variety of industries but also affecting consumers’ world, as well. In that manner, this chapter focuses on how circular and sharing economy notions are affecting a niche market of luxury fashion in the second-hand markets. The chapter starts examining circular economy practices in the fashion industry, namely second-hand marketing in the luxury fashion segments. Also, the Ecocanvas model as a novel business model is briefly discussed. We adopted a qualitative research approach, and multi-case analyses were examined to present an overall framework in the Turkish luxury fashion rental segment. The findings are presented under three headings. First, a general look at high-end fashion is provided, as to how the novel shift in non-linear practices is affecting the whole eco-system. Then, the overall process of second-hand luxury fashion rental platforms is examined, as we believe the perfect fit for sharing economy’s effect on this industry. Last, Daou et al.’s (2020) “Ecocanvas” Analysis: Circular Business Canvas Model Analysis of Second Hand Luxury Fashion Rental Platforms is performed. The chapter concludes by highlighting three important findings: reuse of the items, revenue streams, and emotional value.

Luxury consumption is typically associated with notions of excessive spending, irrational behavior, and selfindulgence, which are often seen as contradictory to sustainability principles. However, the luxury sector is undergoing significant evolution and growth, driven by the adoption of sustainable practices and the emergence of the circular economy concept within the industry. Despite limited research addressing the perceived mismatch between luxury and sustainability, there is growing recognition of the value derived from the intersection of these two domains, both at individual consumer levels and within broader economic contexts. As an increasing number of consumers opt for sustainable luxury in specific circumstances and endorse circular economy principles, there is a pressing need for further exploration and understanding of this complex relationship. This exploratory study aims to investigate how sustainable luxury is perceived and to shed light on the intersection between luxury and sustainability while providing insight into the current sustainable luxury landscape from the perspective of luxury shoppers in Turkey. To develop an understanding of the topic, the paper builds on research on luxury consumption and extends it by integrating insights from 12 semi-structured interviews with luxury consumers. The findings provide insights for luxury brands to adopt and improve their sustainable management strategies.

This paper investigates the impact of leadership support and strategic flexibility to implement green management practices in SMEs. In line with the aim of the study, a survey was carried out on a sample of 358 SMEs which operate in the chemical industries in Turkey. The findings revealed that leadership support contributed more than strategic flexibility to the adoption of green management practices of SMEs. However, the combined effect of leadership support and strategic flexibility was the greatest.

This paper examines time-frequency co-movements between alternative energy indices and other financial assets, namely, gold, oil, technology equities, oil & gas stocks, the VIX, and bond yields, using wavelet coherence analysis. The main findings show that the linkages are weak in the short run; however, long-term interactions are significantly strong. Our analyses reveal that the renewable energy returns are closely related to those of the technology stocks. Fossil fuel sector has a significant weight in global equity markets, and we find strong positive linkages between oil & gas companies and renewable energy sector, which are more pronounced than the co-movements between oil prices and alternative energy indices. Our results indicate potential diversification benefits of gold, bonds and the VIX for the renewable energy equities as the coherences in the time and scale domain are relatively weak. We further analyse if the cross-market interlinkages significantly change during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results provide evidence of higher scale-dependent rolling correlations, mostly for long-term investment horizons, in the wake of the pandemic, implying the presence of contagion effects. The results provide important insights for practitioners and scholars in terms of portfolio construction and can enhance the implementation of relevant policies to promote investments in clean energy sector.

At present, the growth of various environmental protests is observed in contemporary society. The priorities of developing countries regarding the extractive industry tend to focus on economic interests leading them to provide a conducive environment for investments by private entities. Furthermore, reforms in the industry are inclined to promote these priorities with less consideration for adequate protection for affected people and their environment, including protection from resulting social and environmental impacts. In countries with a resource-based economy, resources are poorly managed and the outcomes of exploitation of mineral resources are environmental degradation, loss of lives, displacement, protests against mining projects, and human rights violations. In the countries of Central Asia, these phenomena were most evident in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyzstan protest movement has gained momentum in recent years, driven by a range of social and political issues. However, environmental problems have also played a significant role in fueling the protests. The impact of environmental degradation and natural disasters, such as landslides and floods, have created a sense of urgency and heightened awareness among the public about the need for action. This paper examines environmental protests in Kyrgyzstan, focusing on an environmental social movement. Theoretical and practical issues of environmental protests in Kyrgyzstan are considered in the specified article. During the research, the scientific literature on protests in this country is classified according to various problems, and a secondary analysis of the results of sociological surveys and in-depth interviews is carried out. The discussion focuses on the results of the protests of recent years in Kyrgyz society. The causes of environmental protests were analyzed during the research. In addition, attention was paid to the views of various researchers on their features.