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Paper short abstract

This paper examines Japan’s regional circular economies as systems of sustainability coordination. Comparative case studies show how locally embedded rules, identities, and collaborations enable circular practices, while revealing economic limits, trade-offs, and spillovers beyond the region.

Paper long abstract

Global sustainability agendas increasingly rely on standardized indicators and firm-level commitments, yet their implementation ultimately depends on locally embedded economic and organizational arrangements. This paper examines how sustainability transitions are coordinated at the regional level by analysing Japan’s Regional Circular Economies (RCEs) as place-based economic systems.

Drawing on three comparative case studies — Osaki Town (Kagoshima), the Hokushin “Smart Terroir” initiative (Nagano), and the Kyo-Lemon project (Kyoto) — the paper investigates how local actors coordinate environmental goals, economic viability, and social acceptance under diverse territorial conditions. Rather than treating “local voices” as normative claims, the analysis conceptualizes them as carriers of place-specific knowledge, identity, and coordination mechanisms that shape collective economic behaviour.

The findings highlight three core features of regional circular economies. First, sustainability practices are embedded in locally shared rules, identities, and routines, which reduce coordination costs and support high levels of participation. Second, local circular initiatives involve continuous negotiation of trade-offs — such as efficiency versus inclusiveness, tourism versus everyday life, and behavioural burden versus environmental benefit — revealing the economic limits of purely community-driven models. Third, although RCEs strengthen regional resilience, they also generate spillovers across regions and global supply chains, raising questions about scalability and externalized costs.

By linking local embeddedness to broader economic coordination problems, this paper contributes to business and management debates on sustainability transitions, regional development, and the role of firms in fragmented global contexts. The Japanese cases demonstrate both the potential and structural limits of place-based sustainability, offering insights for multinational enterprises and policymakers seeking to align global strategies with local economic realities.