Knowledge Management for Entrepreneurship Development in the Circular Economy

Entrepreneurship development is continuously tied to boosting the economy of the individuals, society, and the nation. Amongst a variety of approaches devised for economic development by scientists, researchers, and economists, a novel tool of the circular economy has emerged to help industries generate dual benefits. The ability to revamp the economy and reduce awful environmental impact are its objectives. Further revelation is about the knowledge of traditional, recycling, and circular economies and useful strategies for developing entrepreneurship in a circular economy. The findings further revealed essential links to build processes and measures to manage the knowledge for circular economy development. The chapter has revealed a three-pronged approach as important to the development of entrepreneurship in a circular economy. In that context, economics, regulations, and technology are the three important dimensions found essential to developing entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship Development Interventions as a Pragmatic Approach to Political and Economic Restructuring in Nigeria

This study discusses the imperative of entrepreneurship development interventions as pragmatic responses to political and economic restructuring in Nigeria. The qualitative research method, which entails a systematic collection of information extracted from government documents and scholarly articles, was adopted. The extracted information was critically reviewed and synthesized using content analysis. The chapter found that political and economic structures in Nigeria are largely ineffective and require urgent restructuring. For political restructuring, there is a need for constitutional amendments, while for economic restructuring, the establishment of industrial clusters to reinvigorate entrepreneurship development interventions is imperative. The study concludes with policy implications and suggestions for further research.

Youth Entrepreneurship in the Circular Economy

The chapter focuses on the critical analysis of youth entrepreneurship in a circular economy. Youth entrepreneurs are important stakeholders in the circular economy operated in both developing and developed business environments. Youth entrepreneurial business activities include renewable energy, recycling, waste management, and organic food production. Youth entrepreneurial business activities are known to create both social and economic impacts in business environments despite the presence of several limiting issues and challenges that affect their overall potential as circular value creators in the circular economy. Some challenges experienced by youth entrepreneurs in a circular economy include waste prevention and lack of new and innovative circular technologies. In addition, key solutions to the challenges faced by youth entrepreneurs in a circular economy were discussed and analyzed.

Implementation of Circular Practices in Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries

New forms of production and consumption seek greater respect for the environment and the environment in which economic agents are. This has led to circular business practices becoming more important and generating benefits in the final product. This chapter will show the relationship between this practice and SMEs, the problems faced by these companies, and the benefits that this practice can generate for the growth and competitiveness of organizations. The chapter will show in its first part the evolution of the circular economy, and then explain the relationship between it and the SMEs, highlighting the problems and obstacles faced by these companies to implement best practices in production. Finally, recommendations are given to facilitate the implementation of this practice in companies.

Knowledge Management for the Circular Economy

The place of knowledge management in ensuring effective transition into a circular economy by developing a circular business model as an alternative to the conventional linear economic model is under-investigated. Knowledge coordination, creation, and dissemination capability of a firm are important in developing the green industry and offering new job opportunities. This chapter adopted a literature review approach to establish the link between knowledge management and transition into a circular economy. Findings show that the firm's eco-innovation process depends largely on strategic knowledge management. Therefore, systems understanding and self-motivated creativity are essential professional knowledge levels in developing circular business models for sustainability. Hence, firms need to enhance the knowledge-based for continuous business process improvement, eco-efficiency, and eco-innovation.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Management Skills at a Crossroad in the Circular Economy

Entrepreneurship is the process of starting a business, a start-up company, or an organization. Before a person is capable of starting a business, there are entrepreneurship and business management skills that need to be acquired. Business management skills involve planning, decision making, leadership, marketing, selling, financial management, project management, delegation, time management, problem-solving, and networking. Entrepreneurship skills enable an entrepreneur to be self-efficacy, innovative, taking control of business activities, articulating a need for achievement, and able to take risks. Thus, this chapter provides a desktop literature analysis of the relationship between entrepreneurship and management skills within a circular economy. The chapter further examines problems and solutions to sustainable entrepreneurship. There is a need for a study to investigate how innovative sustainable business models can be both fully profitable and sustainably oriented.

Transitioning From Medium to Large Companies in the Circular Economy

In this chapter, some key factors of the companies were analyzed, which during the development of their activities marked positively or negatively their passage through different growth scenarios for the transition from a medium to a large company in a circular economy in Colombia. The methodology that served as the basis of analysis aimed at compiling the information in secondary sources of the growth data in the last five years (2014-2018) of 100 medium and large Colombians with more operational income. Focus explicitly was one those working with the concept of a circular economy, registered in public sources in Colombia, such as the superintendence of companies (Supersocieties) and EMIS database. After this analysis, the findings, conclusions, and steps of the analysis model were identified so that the transition between the different scenarios proposed would produce the expected results to the companies. The working hypothesis was that there are some key factors that allow a medium-sized company to become a large company in a circular economy.

Circular Economy in Energizing Smart Cities

Principles of the circular economy are adopted in many fields to achieve sustainable ecosystems and to mitigate greenhouse gasses. Industry 4.0 technologies can significantly assist in applying circular economy principles to save energy and mitigate greenhouse gases to an extent. This chapter focuses on opportunities and challenges of adopting circular economy principles in the energy sector specifically in managing futuristic smart cities. Six major areas of energy conservation processes in smart cities are analyzed for this purpose. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the problem, an effective link is established between different areas such as circular economy, smart cities, Industry 4.0, and energy sector. Major energy conservation strategies such as demand-side management, waste to energy production, and recycling of apparatus are taken up. A novel, Industry 4.0-based information system for monitoring various energy-related processes in a smart city and a conceptual dashboard to visualize key indicators are proposed.

Circular Economy Model for the E-Waste Management Sector

The circular economy (CE) model has become highly relevant in recent years, with the electronics industry being one of the divisions that have thought about its application. Regardless of just a constrained measure of writing being accessible on waste electric and electronic equipment (e-waste), electronic waste or e-waste is a developing and quickly developing test for waste administration in the world. E-waste is a term for electronic items that have turned out to be undesirable, non-working, or outdated, and have basically come to the 'part of the arrangement', inside only a couple of brief years, given the quick innovative advances inside the business. E-waste is created from anything electronic —PCs, TVs, screens, PDAs, PDAs, VCRs, CD players, fax machines, printers, and coolers— and is commonly broken into two classes, information technology (IT) and consumer electronics (CE), on account of divergent systems and technologies required for recycling these products.

Sustainability and Justness for Transforming the Water Utility Companies' Business Models in the Circular Economy

The purpose of this chapter is to explore some of the problems of the transformation necessary to the business model of water and wastewater utility companies into a circular economy. This goal is accomplished by extending the understanding of the business model beyond the conventional understanding “within the framework of the corporation.” This expansion of the scope of the water and wastewater utility companies' business model is justified by the fact that water, the source of their business, is a vital natural capital, and along with its economic value, water is a recognized human right. The study elaborates on the part of the business model related to the issues of fair treatment of society in its relations with business. The authors also explore the issue of value creation for stakeholders not only within a business but also through cooperation between water businesses and stakeholders.