Enterprise Architecture for a Facilitated Transformation from a Linear to a Circular Economy

The circular economy is central to the agenda of responsible production and consumption with propositions for the conservation of natural resources and a broader understanding of the obligations of enterprises and product developers. The circular economy is challenging traditional operating models of enterprises due to the need to manage larger parts of the product life cycle and value chains. A linear economy will normally address a smaller part of the life cycle. The operating models of companies are supported with respect to information and technology with an enterprise architecture model. This article examines the necessary steps for analysing and designing the enterprise architecture model, aiming to facilitate the transformation of an enterprise from operating in a linear to operating in a circular economy model. The fundamentals and requirements of the circular economy enterprise are extracted to isolate the design requirements for the operating model, entailing cross-enterprise collaboration, traceability, and a broader value chain understanding. Furthermore, it conceptualizes enterprise architecture and its role and importance in connecting business strategies and operating technologies. This article develops an enterprise architecture framework, named the Circular Economy Enterprise Architecture Framework (CEEAF), which can form and support the effort of transitioning companies or be embedded into existing enterprise architecture frameworks. The CEEAF differs from traditional enterprise architecture frameworks by addressing the broader responsibility of the enterprise, the extended enterprise, the elimination of end-of-life perspectives and mind-sets, and the capabilities of the individual enterprise and its design activities.