Evaluating the adoption of circular economy practices in industrial supply chains: An empirical analysis

The Circular Economy (CE) paradigm is gaining increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners in the manufacturing industry, as a way to realize a more sustainable use of natural resources. Academics are still trying to build theoretical foundation, working on a shared CE definition and investigating drivers, barriers and challenges. However, a specific analysis about how Supply Chains (SCs) are adopting CE strategies is still missing. This work is an attempt to fill this gap through an empirical analysis of a sample of 98 companies that declare to have started CE initiatives. The aim is to analyze the relationship between the level of SC integration and the adopted CE strategies (e.g. the number of objectives pursued, the life cycle phases impacted by CE). A sample of companies, which have declared to adopt CE strategies in their organizations, has been analyzed in order to extract knowledge from the industrial field. Although the sample in analysis is limited, some feedbacks can be outlined. The developed statistical analysis shows that: (i) there is a strict correlation between the level of external integration applied by the company and the number of CE objectives pursued; (ii) a higher SC integration might lead to a higher number of product/service LC phases impacted; (iii) the integration level has also an influence on the presence of impacts in the LC phases. This output could suggest that an effective CE adoption requires involving more value-added activities, usually controlled by different actors in the SC. A final discussion outlines the main highlights of this research.