Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies have been highlighted in recent literature as enablers of servitisation. Simultaneously, businesses are advised to implement a circular economy (CE) to bring new opportunities. However, it is pertinent to mention that little attention has been given to assess the role of I4.0 in adopting the CE and servitisation in a fully integrated manner. This research fills this gap by developing a conceptual framework through a systematic literature review of 139 studies investigating the relationship between the I4.0, CE, and servitisation. This study identifies the impact of these variables on a firm’s operational and financial performance (revenue stream, growth, and profitability). Our research findings advocate that adopting I4.0 technologies to the business and manufacturing model enables sustainability, energy and resource efficiency while enhancing performance and offering innovative products through smart services. Thus, firms must systematically adopt I4.0 technologies to support a CE model that creates value through servitisation. This study identifies the research gaps that are unexplored for practitioners and future researchers while providing insight into the role of I4.0 in implementing CE in the servitisation business model.

The role of Industry 4.0-enabled data-driven shared platform as an enabler of product-service system in the context of circular economy: a systematic literature review and future research directions. Business Strategy and Development.

Circular economy (CE) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) laid the foundation of intelligent and sustainable manufacturing based on real-time data collection. However, the absence of a human-centric approach has recently pushed for a more value-driven Industry 5.0 (I5.0) vision. A systematic literature review is conducted by critically analysing the peer-reviewed academic journals to evaluate the material-flow of a product's lifecycle and information-flow in a data-driven platform to find any existing relationship between the CE and I4.0 nexus with I5.0. The results indicate that the application of I5.0 is significantly more comprehensive as it is not limited to industry-focused but also considers broader societal values. I5.0 places the human-centric approach at the centre of the production process and utilise innovative technical advancement to provide a sustainable and resilient smart manufacturing path. It extends the tech features of I4.0 and complements the CE paradigm that prospers beyond jobs and growth while respecting the environment.

It is a common perception that circular economy (CE) principles positively influence the servitisation strategy. The firms improve their productivity and resource/energy efficiency by engineering functional efficacy in a sustainable product. However, the managerial practices that support this distinctive business model (BM) are relatively sparse despite their liaisons. Therefore, this paper is focused on addressing this gap by investigating the managerial practices that firms can implement to explore the downstream opportunities of CE and servitisation BM. This paper uses a systematic literature review (SLR) approach to frame a theoretical model. The findings were improved by cross-validation using a text mining technique, demonstrating how organisations may co-create and extract value through CE and servitisation to develop a flexible management system. This study used the business model canvas antecedents to map a set of managerial practices to understand the mythography of the servitisation approach with CE principles. The findings show that identifying key stakeholders assists a firm in selecting an appropriate strategy based on sustainable value propositions that include cost structure and revenue streams to close the resource loop. Managerial commitment is critical in achieving the maximum economic, environmental, and societal potential. A few research agendas with distinct research orientations are proposed to mitigate the significant research gaps in CE and servitisation literature. This study provides managers and practitioners with some intriguing insights as it emphasises the need to select a suitable strategy to utilise a firm's resources successfully.

This study aims to explore the role of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies with the circular economy (CE) in the shadow of a Product Service System (PSS). Integrating innovative technologies creates a circular economic system that enhances the value and legitimacy of their trade. Recently, many global industries have shifted their focus towards product-based services to perpetuate in today’s competitive market without negatively influencing environmental detrition. This is the first study to highlight how the service-centric paradigm has a significant impact on the creation of circular products, the management of their lifecycles, and their cost analysis. Additionally, this study will advance our understanding of how I4.0 technologies use waste to create sustainable energy sources rather than consuming virgin resources (normally considered a linear model). This research used the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology to analyse and categorise a literature survey of 126 research articles published over ten years (2013-2022). The analysis indicates that the early research is mostly focused on defining the key variables (CE, I4.0, and PSS) and developing various frameworks to promote eco-efficient services and/or sustainable development using I4.0 technologies and is engineering focused. It is established that two propositions leverage CE; the first one is value co-creation, which enhances perceived value. In contrast, the other one is related to the application of data-driven platforms using I4.0 technologies for sculpting the strategy and other decision support. There need to be more studies analysing CE, I4.0, and PSS. Therefore, this study has analysed the suitability of the theoretical propositions regarding the impact of applying I4.0 technologies with CE and PSS towards this paradigm shift.