Circular business models as management innovations in subsoil use

Abstract

In the last decade, there has been an active search for opportunities to implement the concept of sustainable development in practice. One of these areas is the formation of a circular economy, which provides for the development of closed-loop cycles of production and consumption based on circular business models. The article discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of using circular business models as managerial innovations in the field of subsoil use. Methodologically, the study rests on the conceptual foundations of business modeling and circular economy. The methods of analysis, synthesis, classification and observation are applied during the research. The work focuses on business model as a managerial innovation that provides a holistic view of entrepreneurial activity and shows its relationships with business processes in a company. The authors highlight the distinguishing features of circular business models, whether these are intra-firm models proposed in the reports of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Accenture, or inter-firm ones, which are circular industrial clusters or eco-industrial symbiosis. We develop a conceptual circular business model to be applied in the field of subsoil use, which specifies inter-firm business processes at a mining enterprise and substantiates the existence of direct and reverse symbiotic chains facilitating the exchange of products, services and waste within a circular industrial cluster. The research results demonstrate not only the possibility, but also the need to utilize circular business models in the context of subsoil use. This approach will help generate intra- and inter-firm benefits and thereby enhance the competitiveness of mining enterprises.