Circular Economy, Transition to a Circular Economy for Business Development

The circular economy stands as a promising solution to urgent environmental crises, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion. Assessing its economic implications is pivotal for transitioning from linear to resource-efficient production chains. The circular economy, driven by principles such as “reduce, reuse, recycle”, aims to reduce production and consumption costs while delivering significant environmental benefits. Efforts to achieve sustainability goals revolve around three broad categories: green resource procurement, operational efficiency, and end-of-lifecycle considerations. Many companies, including Cisco, express optimism about achieving net-zero commitments by 2050, yet a significant proportion faces challenges, stemming from organizational misalignment and skill deficits. This research focuses on Cisco as a case study to examine its adoption of circular economy principles, the transition of its business practices, and the resulting impact on business development strategies. Utilizing a case study methodology, this research reviews theories, reports, and statistics to identify key features, characteristics, and results of best practices. The paper comprises four chapters, addressing circular economy concepts, methodology, the case study, and implications of findings. Three hypotheses guide this study and six research questions. The research methodology is the case study to explore the transformative potential of the circular economy, focusing on Cisco’s case. It uncovers the economic dimensions of circular economy adoption, emphasizing its benefits, challenges, and critical lessons for other companies embarking on similar sustainability journeys. Cisco’s multi-faceted strategies, spanning economic development, education, employment policies, energy, land development, sustainable development, training, and transport, exemplify how circular economy principles can be embedded into various facets of an organization.