Sample Masters Merit Management Dissertation Proposal
The relationship between sustainability and the circular economy will be examined, taking into account how it affects business models and innovation. This issue has emerged as a result of the growing issues of how to balance economic growth with the need to address societal inequality and environmental degradation, which is seeing an increase in stakeholder interest and demands for higher levels of action from governments and enterprises (United Nations Climate Change 2019; Mulvihill and Harris Ali 2017; George et al 2016). These difficulties span widely, from the idea of planetary limits (Galaz 2012; Rockstrom et al 2009).
The ideas of sustainability and the circular economy will be examined in order to gain a better understanding of the difficulties in creating connections between the sociological, economic, and environmental aspects of production and consumption (Mulvihill and Harris Ali 2017; Crane and Matten 2016).
This will conduct a survey of the literature on contemporary interpretations of the ideas of sustainability and the Circular Economy and illustrate their parallels and divergences (Geissdoerfer et al 2017). The effects of sustainability and the circular economy on business models and innovation will then be evaluated by examining the many corporate initiatives being made to address these (Mulvihill and Harris Ali 2017; Markard 2012).
Literature Review
The goal of the literature is to identify research gaps that will allow the dissertation to contribute to the existing state of knowledge in this field as well as to investigate current academic research that is pertinent to the proposed dissertation (Cresswell and Cresswell 2018). The initial review of the literature will explore the ideas of sustainability and the circular economy.
Sustainability
The idea of sustainability may be explored from a number of angles, one of which is the requirement to take into account how limited resources are and to assess how they might be protected and conserved to prevent their depletion and to support biodiversity and ecosystems (George et al 2016; Galaz 2012; Rockstrom et al 2009). In order to ensure that the current quality of life does not jeopardise future generations by escalating societal disparity and environmental degradation, it is also necessary to address the issues of intra- and intergenerational justice (Mulvihill and Harris Ali 2017; Geissdoerfer et al 2017). So, the focus of sustainability is on how to avoid further exploitation of the tensions that exist between economic growth, society, and the environment.
Research gaps
The paucity of academic research on the connection between sustainability and the circular economy, which has failed to adequately examine the similarities and differences between the two concepts, is one of the research gaps from the original literature survey (Geissdoerfer et al 2017). Because of this, there is a lack of conceptual clarity regarding the definitions and understanding of sustainability and the Circular Economy, as well as how these can be more successfully integrated to address the challenges of social equality and equity, increase environmental resilience, and maintain economic prosperity (Geissdoerfer et al 2017; Mulvihill and Harris Ali 2017).
Methodology
The methodology will outline the chosen study paradigm, the procedure for gathering data and analysing it, as well as the explanation for this (Cresswell and Cresswell 2018; Saunders et al 2016). This decision-making process was based on the most appropriate and effective method for exploring, evaluating, and communicating the research goal in order to make sure that it adds to the body of knowledge from both an academic and commercial standpoint (Cresswell and Cresswell 2018; Saunders et al 2016).
Ethics
Even when no main data are being gathered, it is still crucial to take research ethics into account to make sure that neither the researcher nor the research participants, nor the university, suffer any harm (Cresswell and Cresswell 2018). So, it will be necessary to guarantee that the information from the secondary sources is presented fairly and accurately as part of the research ethics for this dissertation proposal (Saunders et al 2016; Bryman and Bell 2015).
