Circular Business Models in Competitive Strategies: Domestic and Foreign Experience

Sustainable development is the most significant global goal and the economic cornerstone of achieving it is the transition towards a new, innovational model – the circular economy model. This process is the main driver of business evolution in many countries and it promotes the changes in current competitive strategies in line with best world practices. In the modern conditions of drastic transformation of global and national business spheres and intensifying competition the importance of the transition towards circular economy rises even more. The article focuses on circular business models widely embraced by national and foreign companies. The authors highlight different approaches towards classification of circular business models. It is underlined that the McKinsey ReSOLVE framework is the most practice-oriented one as it provides a detailed plan of establishing circular economy. The relevance of the topic is noting the role of circular models as promising competitive advantages. The authors demonstrate real examples of its usage thus showing the opportunities of it in competitive strategies. It is pointed out that possibilities of implementation of circular business models among industries and their economic returns vary. The special attention is drawn to the ‘virtualization’ model as it can be applied to many spheres with different effectiveness. The conducted research also proves that potential benefits of the business models in question go along with substantial costs of the transition period. The basic conclusion is the rising role of the circular economy business models in shaping modern commercial field.