Supply chain redesign for the circular economy

The transition from a linear economic model to a circular economy is rapidly becoming a necessity rather than an option for businesses. However, research on frameworks for building and operating circular supply chains is still lacking. Aiming to fill this gap, this paper identifies drivers and challenges for redesigning supply chains for the circular economy through a systematic literature review and a multiple case study analysis. The major drivers identified are brand image improvement and expansion to new markets and customer segments. The main challenges are lack of experience and knowledge, financial investment and product design. Based on the comparative analysis of six cases of companies having implemented circular supply chain management, we propose a process framework for operating circular supply chains. Our framework builds on the well-established SCOR model and includes the two additional processes use and recover as suggested by Vegter et al. (2020). From the multiple case study analysis, we derive the required sub-processes for the eight primary management processes of this extended SCOR model. The resulting framework can be used as a blueprint for companies designing circular supply chains.