virtuous circle

A diagram illustrating a virtuous circle in the management context

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜː.t͡ʃʊ.əs ˈsɜː.kəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝ.t͡ʃu.əs ˈsɝ.kəl/

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• Hyphenation: vir‧tu‧ous cir‧cle

virtuous circle (plural virtuous circles)

1. A situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve than the original one.

   Synonym: virtuous cycle

   Antonyms: vicious circle, vicious cycle

   • 1847, [John Lettsom Elliot], A Letter to the Electors of Westminster. From a Conservative, 2nd edition, [London]: John Hearne, […], →OCLC, page 18:

     [T]he less our agriculturists are interfered with by the importation of foreign corn, the more money have they to spend with their manufacturing brethren, who, in turn, secure of their steady profits at home, are able to ship extensively to distant markets with little apprehension as to the result. In political economy there may be "vicious circles," but there are "virtuous circles" too, and this is one of them.

   • 1990, Philip G. Cerny, “The Modern State at the Crossroads: Structuring the Field of Political Action”, in The Changing Architecture of Politics: Structure, Agency, and the Future of the State, London, Newbury Park, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, part I (The Principles of Political Structuration: Structure, Agency, and the Development of the Modern State), page 100:

     State structuration, in effect, was characterized by the maintenance of a ‘virtuous circle’ from the post-feudal period to the middle of the twentieth century. This virtuous circle, however, must not be mistaken for inevitability. The state is neither universal nor a higher stage of some sort of teleological evolutionary process. Should other structures […] prove superior in structural capacity in a phase of stress and change, and prove capable of acquiring sufficient legitimation, […] then the virtuous circle could conceivably be broken and the modern state superseded.

   • 1997, Charles Leadbeater, “The Virtuous Circle of Social Capital: How Social Entrepreneurs Inherit, Create, and Invest Social Capital”, in The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur, London: Demos, published 2001, →ISBN, page 67:

     Successful social entrepreneurs go through a cycle of growth in several linked stages. At each stage they could fail and the organisation could go into decline. […] We call this complete process the ‘virtuous circle of social capital’ because it starts with the inheritance of social capital and ends with the returns from the investment of social capital.

   • 2015, H[ailan] Yang, S[tephen] L. Morgan, “Development of China’s State-controlled Firms: The Case of the Consumer Electronics Sector”, in Hailan Yang, Stephen L. Morgan, Ying Wang, editors, The Strategies of China’s Firms: Resolving Dilemmas (Elsevier Asian Studies Series), Waltham, Mass., Kidlington, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, Elsevier, →ISBN, section 1.8 (Discussion: State Ownership and Competitiveness), page 16:

     We can explain these differences in terms of a virtuous circle of positive feedback in response to market stimulus or a vicious circle of defensive and negative feedback that reinforced anti-market orientations associated with their administrative heritage before the advent of economic reforms.

• positive feedback

• virtuous circle and vicious circle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia