Message from Editor (s)

Over the due course of time sustainability and circular economy (CE) has gained attraction among business, people, policy makers, environmentalist, and economist. CE is essential today to promote the goals of sustainable development. CE is a closed loop model of production and consumption which involves waste prevention, recycling, repairing, production of goods and services in a sustainable way. It is a contradistinction to linear economy model which is based on make-consume-throw principles. By contrast, CE is all about transforming the waste to be fit for consumption through recycling of the waste products or services. This is done by sourcing the materials for the manufacture of new product from the old products. For a business this helps to reduce the cost of input resources, reduce the expense of waste disposal, reduction in the usage of natural resources thereby leading to sustainable practice of meeting our needs without compromising the needs of future generations. This will eventually help to obtain higher resource efficiency and less waste production. By and large today’s scenario of manufacturing is slowly moving into circular economy with the assistance of innovation, government policies and regulations. It is high time that our industries and business should implement the CE in full force to restore the damage done to our planet. This transition involves revamping the business models by adopting the principles of eco-designs, plan for longevity of produce, technological change, innovation of new process and management solutions, implementation of new policies and guidelines. Despite these new changes, the success of the CE transition relies on the receptivity of the business leaders, their commitment to the sustainable practices and the willingness of all the managers in the organization to change and adapt this circularity approach.

The topics addressed within the issue continue to be dominated by Covid-19 and its antecedents but are also more widespread than that topic. The topics include adoption of ecommerce, social media, industry 4.0, innovation and to name many but not all. This is extensive collection of contemporary and thematic topics that should be of interest. Overall, this issue is a comprehensive collection of future trends in VUCA world context.

Two conferences highlighted in this special issue are recognized from India, with ten articles published from these conferences. The conferences were the AICTE sponsored International Conference on Circular Economy, Management and Industry Leading towards Sustainability, October 2021, organized by Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Management Studies and Research, Navi Mumbai, in collaboration with Apeejay School of Management, Dwarka Delhi on 21st and 22nd October’2021 (CFP easychair.org)). The 2nd Conference on Business Data Analytics was organized by Apeejay School of Management, Dwarka, Delhi, on 12th November’2021 (CFP easychair.org). Prof. Anuj Kumar was the convener of both the conferences.

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