Circular Value : A Scoping Review of the Circular Economy’s Effects on Value-Creation

The current environmental- and resource management problems will force companies to look for solutions that proffer more sustainable improvements in resource productivity, eco-efficiency, and cleaner production. A response to this is the circular economy (CE), which seeks to surpass the current production and consumption model. The aim of this scoping review was to identify what themes are recurrent in the current debate on CE and value-creation, while also identifying in which geographic region these discourses are the most frequent and what types of funding these studies acquired. The study investigated the available CE and value-creation literature in the context of business models. Initially, a total of 5751 research articles were reviewed, but merely 26 articles passed the exclusion criteria. Of these, 11 articles discussed the most recurrent theme, “Optimising models” (i.e., the need to improve routines, business plans etc.). There was a consensus that there is a lack of adequate CE standards and generalizability as many CE frameworks are specific to the industry researched. In conclusion, there is need for a deeper academic discussion on how to measure economic value in a CE and on finding ways of analysing and comparing short- and long-term benefits