An exploration of circular economy practices and performance among Romanian producers

Abstract

Economic growth is the mandate of the global economy and with our planet's population poised to reach 10 billion people, economists are searching for sustainable economic growth approaches that do not increase raw materials consumption nor deplete and damage our environment. This mandate is the heart of the Circular Economy (CE), a challenge to theoreticians and practitioners alike to continue global economic growth, but with fewer resources and protective methods for our environment. The European Union (EU) economies were early adopters of CE and are now demanding similar adoptions from its recently integrated members from the East. Romania is one of the laggard states in this transition, given its heritage and lack of economic sophistication. Our paper identifies the practices and performance of Romanian producers regarding the implementation of the CE principles, so future recommendations can be formulated. In surveying the Romanian firms, we applied a cluster analysis based on their level of green-oriented supply chain cooperation (GSCC) practices. The respondents were grouped into two clusters: "low green-oriented supply chain cooperation (GSCC) scorers" and "high green-oriented supply chain cooperation (GSCC) scorers'. The results suggest that cluster membership partially influence CE practices and fully influence CE-targeted performance.