Organizational Practices, Values, and Mindsets as a Basis for Circular Economy Transition

The circular business environment is complex. Incorporating circular economy (CE) requires changes in organizational culture while relying on innovative organizational practices. These practices, by significantly influencing the business’ performance, can provide guidelines for implementing CE principles. Organizational values, for example, influence innovation and performance while seeking the alignment of the values shared among leaders, employees, suppliers, partners, consumers/users, and society. Furthermore, behaviors and mindsets dictate a positive predisposition toward CE offerings, determining, for instance, consumers’ acceptance and adoption of circular products or services. Hence, the organizational need is urgent to evaluate its adherence to these innovations brought by CE to improve their performance, prevent obstacles, and overcome barriers. This can be achieved by combining circular practices, values, and mindsets and associating them to maturity levels, which is supported by a systematic and collaborative view, considering the whole business ecosystem, which allows the increase of responsiveness, flexibility, and resilience in the organization. Therefore, this chapter aims to propose a pathway based on a circular business system perspective to support the organizational transition journey toward CE, associating, at maturity levels, practices related to circular ecosystems, human and organizational competencies, circular business models, resources and their flows, and support activities, also considering the relevance of organizational culture change and consumer mindset.