Flourishing Circularity: A Resource Assessment Framework for Sustainable Strategic Management

This paper introduces flourishing circularity as a transformative approach to resource assessment that transcends both traditional Resource-Based View (RBV) theory and conventional circular economy concepts. While Barney's RBV assumes a closed economic system where competitive advantage derives from controlling scarce resources, we demonstrate its fundamental limitations in addressing the polycrisis of breached planetary boundaries and social inequities. Similarly, while the circular economy focuses on resource reuse and recycling, it often merely delays environmental degradation rather than reversing it. Flourishing circularity addresses these shortcomings by reconceptualizing natural and social capital not as externalities but as foundational sources of all value creation. We develop a comprehensive framework for assessing resources within an open systems perspective, where competitive advantage increasingly derives from a firm's ability to regenerate the systems upon which all business depends. The paper introduces novel assessment tools that capture the dynamic interplay between organizational activities and coevolving social and ecological systems, enabling firms to identify leverage points where small interventions yield disproportionate system benefits. We further outline the core competencies required for flourishing circularity: regenerative approaches to social capital, regenerative approaches to natural capital, and systems thinking with cross-boundary collaboration capabilities. These competencies translate into competitive advantage as stakeholders increasingly favor organizations that enhance system health. The framework provides strategic leaders with practical guidance for transforming resource assessment from extraction to regeneration, offering a pathway toward business models that create value through system enhancement rather than depletion.