What firm strategies in order to turn circular economy into a growth driver ?[Quelles stratégies d'entreprise pour une économie circulaire moteur de croissance ?]

Firms operate in a globalized economic system, which is increasingly characterized by natural resources scarcity, energy costs increase, environmental degradations and social imbalances. Circular economy offers firms concrete solutions to face these issues, through operational strategies such as recycling, reuse, remanufacturing, eco-design, functional economy or industrial ecology. Therefore, it constitutes a true and applied sustainable development model, which could decouple economic value creation from natural resources use and environmental impacts, while creating jobs. Number of pioneering companies have already identified the opportunities that are associated with these strategies, and changed their business model based on circular economy strategies. These volunteer approaches generates new economic, social and environmental dynamics, as well as innovative business positioning. The supporting material of this study, which is realized by the French Institute for circular economy, is the feedback from these firms. Its objective is to develop a better understanding of the motivations that pushed these firms to launch these strategies, as well as the incentives and the obstacles faced by these pioneers, both within their company and in their direct and indirect environment. It also aims, through case studies, to pave the way to potential actors who would wish to engage in circular economy strategies, and to outline areas for improvement and generalization of these approaches.