Circular supply chain management: A definition and structured literature review

TLDR: A review of the literature on CSCM is presented in this paper, where the authors classify various terminologies related to supply chain sustainability and conceptualize a unifying definition of CSCMs.

About: This article is published in Journal of Cleaner Production.The article was published on 2019-08-10 and is currently open access. It has received 339 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Supply chain sustainability & Supply chain.

Figures

Figure 1. Linear, closed loop and circular supply chains

Figure 6. Classification of CSCM research

Table 1: Sustainability in SCM and CE

Table 2: Keywords used for search and number of papers retrieved

Table 5: Summary of future research directions in CSCM

Figure 4. Distribution of reviewed articles by country

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "Circular supply chain management: a definition and structured literature review" ?

In response, this research first classifies various terminologies related to supply chain sustainability and conceptualizes a unifying definition of CSCM. Using this definition as a base, it then conducts a structured literature review of 261 research articles on the current state of CSCM research. Based on the review results, the researchers call for further studies in the following directions that are important but received little or no attention: design for circularity, procurement and CSCM, biodegradable packaging, circular supply chain collaboration and coordination, drivers and barriers of CSCM, circular consumption, product liabilities and producer ’ s responsibility, and technologies and CSCM. 

Q2. What have the authors stated for future works in "Circular supply chain management: a definition and structured literature review" ?

Based on the review results, Table 5 outlines the importance of each research direction, the extent of relevant knowledge gap, potential impact of conducting research in the research direction, and the urgency for further research. Packaging solutions based on biodegradable materials deserve much future research and investments for enhancing the rate of transition to CEs. Given that many consumers are unwilling to return used products ( van Weelden et al., 2016 ), it is important to study strategies and incentives for changing consumer behaviors to support the cause of circularity. Future research is needed to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of an extended producer responsibility legislation ( King et al., 2006 ; Zhu et al., 2010 ) to hold producers accountable for their products, even long after a sale to end customers. 

Q3. What are the main characteristics of the PSSs?

The PSSs exemplify a range of business models from being ‘product orientatedwith a few extra services included’ to more ‘result-oriented’ services with no predeterminedproduct involved (Hobson, 2016; Yang et al., 2018). 

Q4. What is the role of steel scrap in the recycling process?

Giventhe recyclable nature of the material itself, steel scrap is an important resource for steelmakingwhich can be recovered from products (Wübbeke and Heroth, 2014; Broadbent, 2016; Dienerand Tillman, 2016). 

Q5. What is the definition of green logistics?

‘Green logistics’ is recognized as producing and distributing goodsin a sustainable way, taking account of environmental and social factors. 

Q6. What is the main factor that influences consumers’ motivations regarding mobile phones consumption in Austria?

Wieser and Tröger (2016) studied consumers’motivations regarding mobile phones consumption in Austria using dimensions such as thetiming of replacement, repair, and reuse of mobile phones. 

Q7. What are the frequently used methods in different studies?

Conceptual/Theoretical model (43 papers) and Literature review (38) are the second and thirdmost frequently used methods in different studies, respectively. 

Q8. What did the authors do to reduce subjectivity?

Tominimize subjectivity, the authors: (i) cross-checked results; and, (ii) conducted regularmeetings among themselves to resolve any emerging inconsistencies in interpreting the results. 

Q9. What are the possible remedies to the lack of metal recycling?

On the other hand, betterregulations and effective use of taxation, encouraging R&D in metals, establishment ofextended producer responsibilities systems (Mo et al., 2009; Gumley, 2014) and use of robustforecasting models (Gauffin et al., 2016) were discussed as the possible remedies to the lackof metal recycling. 

Q10. What is the definition of sustainable supply chain management?

this closely mirrors the definition of sustainable supply chain management:“the management of material, information and capital flows as well as cooperation amongcompanies along the supply chain while taking goals from all three dimensions of sustainabledevelopment, i.e., economic, environmental and social, into account which are derived fromcustomer and stakeholder requirements” (Seuring and Müller, 2008, p.1700).