Exploring the transition towards circular supply chains through the arcs of integration

Abstract

The Circular Economy aims at fostering the development of a new economic system characterised by regenerative and cyclical flows of materials and energy. Such a paradigm shift is expected to signal an industrial transformation that will incorporate different product designs and end-of-life strategies intending to narrow, slow, and close resource loops. Within this context, the development of circular supply chains extends beyond traditional linear supplier-manufacturer-customer networks to include new actors and facilitate horizontal collaboration across different industrial sectors. The current literature has identified collaboration and coordination as fundamental components of a systemic transition to a Circular Economy. Thus, it is imperative to increase the capacity of companies involved in the supply chain to share information and knowledge in order to reduce uncertainty and resource dependency. While the literature points towards the role of supply chain integration in facilitating the adoption of Circular Economy practices, this concept has typically been defined within traditional linear supply chains. As such, the objective of this paper is to critically examine the supply chain integration concept and assess its suitability for the analysis of circular supply chains. To this aim, by using the case of four real-life companies, we point to the direction of the arcs of integration as a tool that could enable the simultaneous examination of the level of integration for both forward and reverse supply chains. According to the results, three propositions are then developed based on the type and degree of supply chain integration, which pave the way for implications and future research avenues.