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Cited by 134Corporate Social Responsibility ReportingSustainable Supply Chain ManagementEnvironmental Sustainability in Business

The Strategic Role of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Circular Economy in the Cosmetic Industry

Open access
Fortunati, Simona, Martiniello, Laura, Morea, Donato·2020·Sustainability
DOI 10.3390/su12125120
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Abstract

In the literature, circular economy (CE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are increasingly interconnected concepts. Turon at al. (2016) consider CE the guidelines of conduct for designing and developing good CSR strategies. In particular, the corporate management philosophy needs to be translated into mandatory CSR reports that better frames circular economy objectives by identifying and communicating actions to achieve sustainable development goals. The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of CSR reports in order to understand if cosmetic multinationals’ (MNC) nonfinancial reporting is focused on the concept of circular economy and if CSR reports ensure an adequate level of disclosure to circular strategies. Moreover, the paper highlights the advantages that arise by converging the concepts of CSR and CE. The originality of this paper lies on providing evidence on “how” MNC are implementing a circular model. This paper contributes to our understanding on the relation between CSR and CE; it assesses the state of the art of circular strategies in MNC and proposes a consolidation of the concept of CE in terms of sustainable strategic and managerial practices communicated to the market by CSR reports. Moreover, it brings MNC to a better understanding of the ways to communicate their new circular business model. The analysis reveals a good level of attention by MNC to circularity in drafting their CSR reports that in many cases are able to describe objectives and actions that embrace multiple dimensions.

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Crossref · 10.3390/su12125120

Cites

43 of 43 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Transportation of ingredients, materials, packaging, or final products and related CO2 emissions have a large influence on the environment.

    “Transportation of ingredients, materials, packaging, or final products and related emission of CO2 have a large influence on the environment.”

    From Use of Waste from the Food Industry and Applications of the Fermentation Process to Create Sustainable Cosmetic Products: A Review (2024) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results and Discussion section says that reducing CO2 emissions during product transportation matters because distribution has a significant environmental impact. It does not specifically discuss the transportation of ingredients, materials, or packaging; its discussion of those items concerns other stages of production. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Using electric or hybrid vehicles, choosing the best route, minimizing delivery frequency, and avoiding unnecessary wheel load can significantly reduce CO2 emissions during cosmetic distribution.

    “Using of electric or hybrid vehicles, choosing the best route of travel, minimizing the frequency of deliveries, and avoiding unnecessary wheel load, such as transporting glass packaging, can significantly reduce CO2 emissions during cosmetic distribution [6,52,53].”

    From Use of Waste from the Food Industry and Applications of the Fermentation Process to Create Sustainable Cosmetic Products: A Review (2024) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results and Discussion section links electric vehicles to lower CO2 emissions from cosmetic distribution, and the Lush Group section says minimizing transport reduces those emissions. The Pierre Fabre Group section also reports grouping shipments to reduce their frequency. The paper does not address hybrid vehicles, route selection, or avoiding wheel load from glass packaging, and it does not establish that the listed measures collectively produce a significant reduction. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Fuel consumption accounts for at least 30% of transport operating costs.

    “Due to the fact that fuel consumption accounts for at least 30% of transport operating costs, a change in the type of transport system from road to rail and from air to sea is highly recommended [6,9].”

    From Use of Waste from the Food Industry and Applications of the Fermentation Process to Create Sustainable Cosmetic Products: A Review (2024) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results and Discussion section discusses reducing transport-related CO₂ emissions, and the table in Conclusions and Future Research Directions mentions transport by sea or road. Neither addresses fuel’s share of transport operating costs; searches for the 30% figure and fuel operating costs found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.73)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Biodegradability and toxicity to aquatic organisms play an important role in the sustainability of raw materials.

    “In addition, an important role in the sustainability of raw materials plays their biodegradability and toxicity to aquatic organisms [6,7,9].”

    From Use of Waste from the Food Industry and Applications of the Fermentation Process to Create Sustainable Cosmetic Products: A Review (2024) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results and Discussion section discusses sustainable sourcing and environmental preservation, and the Conclusions tables mention respecting nature when using raw materials. Neither those passages nor searches for biodegradability and aquatic toxicity address whether those specific properties determine raw-material sustainability. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. European Commission Green Paper: Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility. Commission of the European Communities. 2001. Available online: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004 (accessed on 18 March 2020). · DOI · Paper page
  2. Leandro, A.; Paixao, S. Corporate Social Responsibility and Circular Economy: Two ways, same destinations? An outlook on both concepts and cases from Portugal. In Proceedings of the Congrès avniR, Lille, Portugal, 7 November 2018.
  3. Andrews, T. Reflections on "The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Grounded Theory Rev. Int. J. 2007, 6, 55-60.
  4. Denzin, N.K., Lincoln, Y.S., Eds.; Sage: London, UK, 1994; pp. 273-285.
  5. Bocken, N.; Miller, K.; Evans, S. Assessing the environmental impact of new circular business models. In Proceedings of the Conference New Business Models-Exploring a Changing View on Organizing Value creation, Toulouse, France, 16-17 June 2016.
  6. Morganti, P. New horizon in cosmetic dermatology. J. Appl. Cosmetol. 2016, 34, 15-24.

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Authors
Fortunati, S., Martiniello, L., & Morea, D.
Affiliations
  • Università degli Studi della Tuscia (IT)
  • Mercatorum University (IT)
Corresponding author
Morea, Donato
ORCID
Venue
Sustainability
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-06-23
Volume
12
Issue
12
Pages
5120
ISSN
2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/su12125120
OpenAlex
W3036290020
Cited by
134
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 3
FWCI
18.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • UNICA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (University of Cagliari) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
Keywords
circular economy, corporate social responsibility, cosmetic industry, multinational corporations, corporate social responsibility disclosure, nonfinancial disclosure, circular business models, Sustainable Development Goals, corporate sustainability communication

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