130 6 Summary and Implications
6.2 Implications for Research
6.2 Implications for Research
The findings contribute to several different fields of the current academic research,
which are presented in the following paragraphs. This thesis extends the literature
on circular economy in three important ways: firstly by taking a new regional per-
spective, secondly by showing that the implementation of circular economy not
only has benefits for the organizations but also holds some negative impacts, and
thirdly by extending literature on circular economy challenges by adding new and
confirming well-known ones.
First, the study and especially the case selection of the sample shows that circulareconomy already plays an important role in the Western countries, and an academic
exploration of the circular economy concept would be rational. Currently academic
literature almost solely focuses on circular economy in China (Naustdalslid 2014;
Liu and Bai 2014; Su et al. 2013; Geng et al. 2012; Geng and Doberstein 2008; Yong
2007; Yuan et al. 2006). Learning more about circular economy in Western countries
can give important insights, help to deepen the understanding of the concept, and
improve its implementation. This might be especially interesting because of the
differences in market structure between China and the Western world. Research on
circular economy in China revealed that not market pressures, but governmental
regulations, are the primary influences on organizational behavior. This means
without regulations most organizations might not be actively involved in the circular
economy movement (Liu and Bai 2014). This implies a major difference of motives
to engage in circular economy between Chinese organizations and Western ones.
Western organizations, and therefore the organizations of this study, voluntarily
decided to engage in circular economy.
Second, one of the purposes of this study was to explore the impacts the im-plementation of a circular economy has on organizations. The result of this study
clearly shows that the impacts of a circular economy can be positive as well as
negative. The predominantly higher costs for circulatable resources and the high
R&D costs have been negatively perceived by the organizations of this study. On
the positive side additional revenue, competitive advantage and positive brand
image have been identified. This is interesting considering the existing literature
on circular economy impacts. While literature and reports almost solely focus on
positive impacts for organizations, the results of this study show that organizations
also face negative ones. The discrepancy between the findings in literature and those
in the empirical data of this thesis adds a new aspect to the discussion on circular
economy. Literature might lead to the conclusion that circular economy is a concept
with solely positive impacts. However, this study also identified negative impacts
as well as multiple challenges the organizations face during circular economy im-