Development of the Concept of Circular Supply Chain Management—A Systematic Review

Abstract

This systematic review presents the most important characteristics and trends of research in circular supply chain management (CSCM), taking into account the impact of COVID. In addition, the similarities and differences between the basic concepts often used as synonyms for sustainability are also presented. First, the sample database (39,000 records) was based on a search containing publications’ titles regarding supply chain management (SCM). After narrowing the topic from SCM towards CSCM, the considered paper characteristics were expanded, including abstract and author keywords, to get a manageable number of samples for the systematic analysis (6095 documents) and the most accurate results possible. The analysis’ base sample was divided into two periods (before and after 2012) due to a significant increase and change in the number of publications, their subject, characteristic journals and geographical location. Sustainability has emerged since 2012, while a circular approach emerged after 2017 with a significant share of research, mainly thanks to relevant EU policies. Although the role of the US has been decisive in the field, the European research bases of previous years have increasingly been replaced by Far Eastern dominance. Currently, CSCM’s most important journal is the International Journal of Supply Chain Management (Elsevier), but most articles on the impact of COVID have been published in Sustainability (MDPI). More effective policy implementation and the fight against COVID in the development of supply chains are also likely to spread the circular economic model in the future.

Circular supply chain management within the wind energy industry – conceptional ideas towards more circularity

“…Practical implications from a CSCM perspective should be highlighted in this section by following the structure of existing frameworks. A CSCM should enable a holistic system thinking with a positive effect on economic, ecological, social and regenerate objectives (Farooque et al 2019;Lengyel et al 2021;Mendoza et al 2022). The proposed methodology is to be applied to the wind energy industry in Germany.…”

“…For CSCM, researchers have developed a variety of different conceptions (Alhawari et al 2021;Corvellec et al 2021;Kirchherr et al 2017;Lengyel et al 2021).…”

“…In this context, Lengyel et al (2021) argue that the CE concept is not yet fully integrated into SCM. They also state that existing literature not always considers the three dimensions of sustainable development as part of CSCM.…”

Digitization of the work environment for sustainable production

“…For CSCM, researchers have developed a variety of different conceptions (Alhawari et al 2021;Corvellec et al 2021;Lengyel et al 2021).…”

Process performance measurement framework for circular supply chain: An updated SCOR perspective

“…The integration of circular thinking into the management of SCs is one of the emerging research streams of the sustainability discourse in SCM (Farooque et al, 2019;Farooque et al, 2022). In the last five to ten years, the number of published scientific papers focusing on the CSC and its management has increased significantly (Lengyel et al, 2021;Montag, 2022). Although the link between CE and SCM was mentioned as early as 2006 (Farooque et al, 2019), publication data show that a differentiated field of research has only recently been established (Montag, 2022).…”