IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v33y2024i2p575-596.html

Interrelationships between circular economy and Industry 4.0: A research agenda for sustainable supply chains

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Luiz de Mattos Nascimento
  • Diessica de Oliveira‐Dias
  • José Moyano‐Fuentes
  • Juan Manuel Maqueira Marín
  • Jose Arturo Garza‐Reyes

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to propose a novel classification of the interrelationships between Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies and circular economy (CE) principles that highlights the most conclusive findings and extant gaps in the relevant research. A systematic literature review has been developed to locate, select and evaluate relevant contributions made to CE interrelationships with I4.0 technologies. Studies have been analysed and classified according to the specific I4.0 technology and CE principle addressed (10Rs). The articles have been clustered into three main groups: (i) useful application of materials, (ii) extending the lifespan of products and their parts and (iii) smarter product use and manufacture. A mind map of the investigated articles has been used to establish the interrelationships between individual technologies and each CE principle at the supply chain level. Based on this classification, a focus group interview (FGI) was held with experts to dig deeper into the interrelationships between I4.0 technologies and CE principles. The FGI results have identified how each as yet unexplored I4.0 technology could be linked to each CE principle. A Fuzzy Delphi (FD) study was also applied to identify the most relevant I4.0 technologies for improving CE principles and closing gaps in the literature regarding the 10R CE principles. In addition, guidelines have been established to assist with practical applications and generate a research agenda on the interrelationships between I4.0 technologies and CE principles at the supply chain level. Implications for theory include the extension of view from the research gaps between I4.0 technologies and the 10Rs identified in the literature; also, an FGI and FD were performed based on the detected research gaps to identify future lines of research for academics and offer useful guidance to directors and managers on I4.0 technology interrelationships for improving at least one of the 10R CE principles. The contribution to practice aims to enable managers to easily identify which technology from the I4.0 domain should be used to advance any given CE principle. Lastly, we provide useful guidance on the application of as‐yet‐unused technologies to improve CE principles.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Luiz de Mattos Nascimento & Diessica de Oliveira‐Dias & José Moyano‐Fuentes & Juan Manuel Maqueira Marín & Jose Arturo Garza‐Reyes, 2024. "Interrelationships between circular economy and Industry 4.0: A research agenda for sustainable supply chains," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 575-596, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:33:y:2024:i:2:p:575-596
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3502
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3502
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.3502?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian F. Durach & Joakim Kembro & Andreas Wieland, 2017. "A New Paradigm for Systematic Literature Reviews in Supply Chain Management," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 53(4), pages 67-85, October.
    2. Despeisse, M. & Baumers, M. & Brown, P. & Charnley, F. & Ford, S.J. & Garmulewicz, A. & Knowles, S. & Minshall, T.H.W. & Mortara, L. & Reed-Tsochas, F.P. & Rowley, J., 2017. "Unlocking value for a circular economy through 3D printing: A research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 75-84.
    3. Gustavo Cattelan Nobre & Elaine Tavares, 2017. "Scientific literature analysis on big data and internet of things applications on circular economy: a bibliometric study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 463-492, April.
    4. Özden Tozanlı & Elif Kongar & Surendra M. Gupta, 2020. "Trade-in-to-upgrade as a marketing strategy in disassembly-to-order systems at the edge of blockchain technology," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(23), pages 7183-7200, December.
    5. Rodrigo Goyannes Gusmão Caiado & Luiz Felipe Scavarda & Bruno Duarte Azevedo & Daniel Luiz de Mattos Nascimento & Osvaldo Luiz Gonçalves Quelhas, 2022. "Challenges and Benefits of Sustainable Industry 4.0 for Operations and Supply Chain Management—A Framework Headed toward the 2030 Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-26, January.
    6. Roberto Rocca & Paolo Rosa & Claudio Sassanelli & Luca Fumagalli & Sergio Terzi, 2020. "Integrating Virtual Reality and Digital Twin in Circular Economy Practices: A Laboratory Application Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-27, March.
    7. Aditya Chidepatil & Prabhleen Bindra & Devyani Kulkarni & Mustafa Qazi & Meghana Kshirsagar & Krishnaswamy Sankaran, 2020. "From Trash to Cash: How Blockchain and Multi-Sensor-Driven Artificial Intelligence Can Transform Circular Economy of Plastic Waste?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, April.
    8. Henning Wilts & Beatriz Riesco Garcia & Rebeca Guerra Garlito & Laura Saralegui Gómez & Elisabet González Prieto, 2021. "Artificial Intelligence in the Sorting of Municipal Waste as an Enabler of the Circular Economy," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-9, March.
    9. Emilia Ingemarsdotter & Ella Jamsin & Gerd Kortuem & Ruud Balkenende, 2019. "Circular Strategies Enabled by the Internet of Things—A Framework and Analysis of Current Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-37, October.
    10. T. C. Edwin Cheng & Sachin S. Kamble & Amine Belhadi & Nelson Oly Ndubisi & Kee-hung Lai & Manoj Govind Kharat, 2022. "Linkages between big data analytics, circular economy, sustainable supply chain flexibility, and sustainable performance in manufacturing firms," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(22), pages 6908-6922, November.
    11. Noelia Garcia-Buendia & José Moyano-Fuentes & Juan Manuel Maqueira-Marín & M. J. Cobo, 2021. "22 Years of Lean Supply Chain Management: a science mapping-based bibliometric analysis," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(6), pages 1901-1921, March.
    12. Kirchherr, Julian & Reike, Denise & Hekkert, Marko, 2017. "Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 221-232.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mahak Sharma & Pratibha Singh & Konstantinos Tsagarakis, 2024. "Strategic pathways to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 12 through Industry 4.0: Moderating role of institutional pressure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(6), pages 5812-5838, September.
    2. Debraj Bhattacharjee & K. Navaneethakrishnan & Animesh Ghosh & Naman Dubey, 2026. "Decoding the pricing determinants of refurbished smartphones within circular business model: an analytical approach," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(2), pages 123-141, April.
    3. Svenja Damberg & Ulla A. Saari & Morgane Fritz & Vytaute Dlugoborskyte & Katerina Božič, 2024. "Consumers' purchase behavior of Cradle to Cradle Certified® products—The role of trust and supply chain transparency," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(8), pages 8280-8299, December.
    4. Srikant Gupta & Rajesh Kumar Singh & Chintan Amrit, 2025. "Integrating Industry 4.0 with Circular Economy Approach for Sustainable and Flexible Manufacturing Systems," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 26(1), pages 115-145, March.
    5. Bruna da Silva Santiago & Luiz Felipe Scavarda & Rodrigo Goyannes Gusmão Caiado & Renan Silva Santos & Daniel Luiz de Mattos Nascimento, 2025. "Corporate social responsibility and circular economy integration framework within sustainable supply chain management: Building blocks for industry 5.0," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 269-290, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Magdalena Rusch & Josef‐Peter Schöggl & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2023. "Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1159-1174, March.
    2. Ziyuan Chi & Zhen Liu & Fenghong Wang & Mohamed Osmani, 2023. "Driving Circular Economy through Digital Technologies: Current Research Status and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-28, December.
    3. Zhen Liu & Jing Liu & Mohamed Osmani, 2021. "Integration of Digital Economy and Circular Economy: Current Status and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-27, June.
    4. Kristoffersen, Eivind & Mikalef, Patrick & Blomsma, Fenna & Li, Jingyue, 2021. "Towards a business analytics capability for the circular economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Gunasekara, Lahiru & Robb, David J. & Zhang, Abraham, 2023. "Used product acquisition, sorting and disposition for circular supply chains: Literature review and research directions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    6. Alessandra Neri & Marta Negri & Enrico Cagno & Simone Franzò & Vikas Kumar & Tommaso Lampertico & Carlo Andrea Bassani, 2023. "The role of digital technologies in supporting the implementation of circular economy practices by industrial small and medium enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4693-4718, November.
    7. Gianmarco Bressanelli & Federico Adrodegari & Daniela C. A. Pigosso & Vinit Parida, 2022. "Towards the Smart Circular Economy Paradigm: A Definition, Conceptualization, and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    8. Mónica Duque-Acevedo & Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña & Natalia Yakovleva & Francisco Camacho-Ferre, 2020. "Analysis of the Circular Economic Production Models and Their Approach in Agriculture and Agricultural Waste Biomass Management," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-32, December.
    9. Núñez-Merino, Miguel & Maqueira-Marín, Juan Manuel & Moyano-Fuentes, José & Castaño-Moraga, Carlos Alberto, 2022. "Industry 4.0 and supply chain. A Systematic Science Mapping analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    10. Kristoffersen, Eivind & Mikalef, Patrick & Blomsma, Fenna & Li, Jingyue, 2021. "The effects of business analytics capability on circular economy implementation, resource orchestration capability, and firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    11. Arijit Bhattacharya & Shefali Srivastava & Abhijit Majumdar, 2024. "Circular supply chains in manufacturing—Quo vadis? Accomplishments, challenges and future opportunities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4397-4423, July.
    12. Kayikci, Yasanur & Kazancoglu, Yigit & Gozacan-Chase, Nazlican & Lafci, Cisem & Batista, Luciano, 2022. "Assessing smart circular supply chain readiness and maturity level of small and medium-sized enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 375-392.
    13. Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes & Parisa Ziarati & Pablo de Frutos Madrazo & Iza Gigauri, 2025. "Digital Marketing as a Driver of Change Towards the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-24, June.
    14. Sultan Çetin & Catherine De Wolf & Nancy Bocken, 2021. "Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-34, June.
    15. Ilaria Tutore & Adele Parmentola & Michele Costagliola di Fiore & Francesco Calza, 2024. "A conceptual model of artificial intelligence effects on circular economy actions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4772-4782, September.
    16. Trevisan, Adriana Hofmann & Dukovska-Popovska, Iskra & Acerbi, Federica & Terzi, Sergio & Sassanelli, Claudio, 2026. "Teaching methods for building human capital for the twin transition: a skill-based approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    17. Özden Tozanlı & Elif Kongar & Surendra M. Gupta, 2020. "Evaluation of Waste Electronic Product Trade-in Strategies in Predictive Twin Disassembly Systems in the Era of Blockchain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-33, July.
    18. Agnieszka Starzyk & Kinga Rybak-Niedziółka & Przemysław Łacek & Łukasz Mazur & Anna Stefańska & Małgorzata Kurcjusz & Aleksandra Nowysz, 2023. "Environmental and Architectural Solutions in the Problem of Waste Incineration Plants in Poland: A Comparative Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, February.
    19. Noelia Garcia‐Buendia & Miguel Núñez‐Merino & José Moyano‐Fuentes & Juan Manuel Maqueira‐Marín, 2024. "Squaring circular supply chain management: A comprehensive overview of emerging themes and trends," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(8), pages 8190-8210, December.
    20. Harshad Sonar & Vivek Khanzode & Milind Akarte, 2022. "Additive Manufacturing Enabled Supply Chain Management: A Review and Research Directions," Vision, , vol. 26(2), pages 147-162, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:33:y:2024:i:2:p:575-596. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.