Circular Economy practices enabling Circular Supply Chains: An empirical analysis of 100 SMEs in Italy

Abstract

Within Circular Economy (CE) studies, the concept of Circular Supply Chains (CSCs) is still not mature, although it is expected to significantly develop in the next few years thanks to the growing interest of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. CSCs represent the result of designing and synchronizing industrial functions among companies and with the outside partners to close the cycles, dematerialize the flows, reducing inputs and losses along the system. Besides being an interesting topic for large and structured companies, CSCs seem also to be relevant for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which struggle to understand what CE practices can be implemented to make the transition towards a CE and enable CSCs. With the aim to seize the supply chain opportunities due to a CE transition of SMEs, an analysis of the literature was initially carried out to highlight the main CE practices that companies may implement, which also enable CSCs. Then, an empirical investigation on a sample of 100 SMEs in Italy, through an internet-based search and multiple case studies, was carried out to understand the practical implementation of CE practices in SMEs in Italy that enable CSCs. We believe our research in the present paper adds to the existing research on CE and CSCs, by providing a holistic view of how CE practices enable CSCs and shows how these practices may benefit the supply chains where companies operate, beyond their business processes.