Decoupling Economic Development from the Consumption of Finite Resources Using Circular Economy. A Model for Developing Countries

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors, 

 

First, well done. Second, the paper can be improved as follow:

Table 1 shows only initiatives in developed countries, I suggest you add another table to show if there is any research/policy/initiative in developing countries because your title is about that.  Figures 3, 4 and 5 need to be reproduced because the quality and clarity of the figure are not to the standard of publications The conclusion part needs to be more detailed and explicit and try to avoid general statements in this part of the paper.

All the best 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your suggested revisions! There is no question that the paper is now significantly stronger as a consequence of your insightful comments and the efforts we have made in addressing them.  We hope that you will agree with the new version. Here we share how we have addressed your comments:

Table 1 shows only initiatives in developed countries, I suggest you add another table to show if there is any research/policy/initiative in developing countries because your title is about that.

Thanks for your observation, we divided Table 1 into two tables. Table 1 addresses the initiatives from developed countries whereas Table 2 encompasses the initiatives from developing countries (DCs). In this way we show that the gap of high impact research in developing countries is scarce. Also, we expanded our analysis to the literature with more initiatives regarding the impact of decoupling on DCs.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 need to be reproduced because the quality and clarity of the figure are not to the standard of publications.

We have improved the quality of the figures in order to meet the standards of the journal.

The conclusion part needs to be more detailed and explicit and try to avoid general statements in this part of the paper.

At the conclusion section we have been more specific with the insights obtained from the research. You can read these changes in section 6.

Thanks for your time and advice.

Sincerely,

The Authors

Reviewer 2 Report

According to the abstract, this study focuses on '…reviewing the extant literature on decoupling and propose a circular value ecosystem model (CVES) as part of a sustainable wealth-creation strategy. The findings of this paper also highlighted the following suggestions: (1) reduce, through substitution, the consumption of natural resources; (2) produce alternative economic increasing returns; (3) reduce the negative environmental impacts; and (4) create self-sustainable wealth for the economy, the environment, and the social development of most stakeholders of these regions'.

Suggestions:

The abstract should be more focused rewritten by providing a structured summary including, as in the order of the appearance of contextual background; objectives; data sources; study appraisal and synthesis methods; results; conclusions and implications of key findings etc. The introduction part is not adequate. Instead of a true or false research question, the essence is how circular value ecosystem capable of decoupling economic growth. The aim of this research is also not clear why to analyze the decoupling economic development from the consumption of finite resources. A research gap also should be emphasized why developing case is selected. Is there any difference between developed and emerging countries? In the case of Figure 3. 4. 5. the variables should be more visible (bold). Discussion. What kind of institutions will be unable to implement any decoupling strategy? Give more examples of such conditions involve strengthening institutions, i.e. a strong rule of law. The Conclusion section should go more beyond the interpretation and summary of the results. Some offered additional references: Weyer, S.; Schmitt, M.; Ohmer, M.; Gorecky, D. Towards industry 4.0 - Standardization as the crucial challenge for highly modular, multi-vendor production systems. 2015, 28, 579–584, doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.06.143. Nagy, J.; Oláh, J.; Erdei, E.; Máté, D.; Popp, J. The Role and Impact of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things on the Business Strategy of the Value Chain—The Case of Hungary. Sustainability 2018, 10, 3491, doi:10.3390/su10103491. Maybe the authors should consider reframing the paper and submitting it to a more appropriate language for readers.

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your great suggested revisions! There is no question that the paper is now significantly stronger as a consequence of your insightful comments and the efforts we have made in addressing them.  We hope that you will agree with the new version. Here we share how we have addressed your comments:

The abstract should be more focused rewritten by providing a structured summary including, as in the order of the appearance of contextual background; objectives; data sources; study appraisal and synthesis methods; results; conclusions and implications of key findings etc.

Thank you for this observation, we have rewritten our abstract according to the structure suggested. Now the abstract reads better.

The introduction part is not adequate. Instead of a true or false research question, the essence is how circular value ecosystem capable of decoupling economic growth.

Many thanks for the advice, we have changed the redaction of our research questions in the introduction section to avoid any confusion and added other concepts to clarify the main objectives of the paper; now it describes the structure of the paper better.

The aim of this research is also not clear why to analyze the decoupling economic development from the consumption of finite resources.

We added in the introduction section at page 2 a paragraph that make clear the importance of decoupling economic growth from environmental impact along with more supporting research. This is also addressed at the conclusions and final comments.

A research gap also should be emphasized why developing case is selected. Is there any difference between developed and emerging countries?

This is a very good observation. Let’s divide the question in two parts. The developing countries cases were selected because most of the countries that have a low GDP per capita, are is state of surviving, and uncapable to disassociate their economic growth from their environmental impact. Creating economic growth is necessary; -most of the countries with high GDP have effective sustainable strategies; if a country does not have a high GDP is almost improbable that it is able to achieve an effective decoupling. Therefore, there is a great difference on the strategic approaches, between countries with a well-supported economy that can invest in waste management, strict rules and regulations, water regeneration plants, etc; than countries where it is necessary  to build first an infrastructure capable of clustering companies, government institutions, banks, academia, etc on a determined region, and then to formulate a viable strategy.

Sustainability is expensive to implement, and we have to find structures, systems and flows to achieve alternative mechanisms, and we have found on circular economy a tool and a culture to leverage decoupling and find new opportunities; mainly for developing countries.

This approach is included on the paper on the “analysis of results”.

In the case of Figure 3. 4. 5. the variables should be more visible (bold). 

We have changed the quality of the images and now they are considerably more visible. Thanks to your observation.

What kind of institutions will be unable to implement any decoupling strategy? Give more examples of such conditions involve strengthening institutions, i.e. a strong rule of law.

At the discussion section we have specifically added a subsection that address the effect that institutions exert to the decoupling initiatives in developing countries.

The Conclusion sectionshould go more beyond the interpretation and summary of the results. Some offered additional references: Weyer, S.; Schmitt, M.; Ohmer, M.; Gorecky, D. Towards industry 4.0 - Standardization as the crucial challenge for highly modular, multi-vendor production systems. 2015, 28, 579–584, doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.06.143. Nagy, J.; Oláh, J.; Erdei, E.; Máté, D.; Popp, J. The Role and Impact of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things on the Business Strategy of the Value Chain—The Case of Hungary. Sustainability 2018, 10, 3491, doi:10.3390/su10103491.

At the conclusion section we have been more specific with the insights obtained from the research done. You can read these changes in section 6. Now we have emphasized more on the developing countries needs and solutions and on the importance of this approach as an alternative to create economic growth simultaneously to reducing and/or regenerating the environment.

Thanks for your time and advice.

Sincerely,

The Authors