Competitive advantage and internationalization of a circular economy model in apparel multinationals

Abstract

The circular economy model enables businesses to incorporate regenerative manufacturing systems that use closed-loop resources to achieve economic and environmental sustainability. The work focuses on the circular economy’s competitive advantage from the multinationals apparel industry’s internationalization paradigm. A qualitative data analysis technique was used to analyze secondary data obtained for this work. Also, two cases study was selected to demonstrate the circular economy model practice. As a result, the fast fashion industry is increasingly focused on sustainability and environmental value development. Firms need competitive advantages to grow and can grow by leveraging the competitive advantages of the circular economy. Sustainable practices are not only essential for development but also business practices like production and operations. The value creation and competitive advantage in this work can also benefit the practitioners of this discipline when taking internationalization decisions from a circular economy perspective.

Keywords

• apparel multinationals
• circular economy
• competitive advantage
• covid
• fast fashion
• oli paradigms
• sustainable solutions
• value creation