A systematic literature review exploring uncertainty management and sustainability outcomes in circular supply chains

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) has inspired the emergence of circular supply chains (CSCs) to reduce the environmental impacts of linear production systems. However, the transition to CSCs faces numerous challenges and uncertainties, which in turn impact the sustainability performance of CSCs. Following a systematic review process, this paper aims to identify the uncertainties that CSCs entail and the uncertainty management strategies which can be used to mitigate them to enhance their sustainability performance. A conceptual framework is proposed under which the current literature on CSCs, including 106 peer-reviewed English journal articles, is analysed and discussed based on CE practices, uncertainty management, and sustainability performance indicators. This framework offers guidance to CE and CSC scholars and supports practitioners and policymakers in being aware of the uncertainties related to the operationalisation and implementation of the CE in order to offer CE-inspired solutions. This paper also proposes a research agenda to investigate the integration of CE practices with supply chain management; the ways in which organisations manage different uncertainties simultaneously; and the effect of multiple uncertainty management strategies on firms’ sustainability performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Circular economy
• circular supply chain
• closed loops
• uncertainty
• sustainability
• systematic literature review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018) scheme, grant agreement number 814247 (ReTraCE project). FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions

Notes on contributors

Felipe Alexandre de Lima

Felipe Alexandre de Lima holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business & Trade and a master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Fortaleza, Brazil. He is a doctoral student at the Chair of Supply Management, University of Kassel (Germany), and early stage researcher in the Realising the Transition to the Circular Economy (ReTraCE) project. He is investigating supply chain risk and uncertainty management in circular supply chains.

Stefan Seuring

Stefan Seuring is full professor of Supply Chain Management at the University of Kassel, Germany. Stefan is one of the globally leading authors on sustainable supply chain management, but also covers topics on supply chain strategy, digitisation and circular economy. Stefan has collaborated interdisciplinary in research project with colleagues from agriculture, engineering and political sciences. The Web of Science and Clarivate Analytics listed him as a highly cited researcher, in 2018 for Cross-field in 2019 and 2020 for Economics and Business.

Philipp C. Sauer

Philipp C. Sauer joined EM Strasbourg Business School, France in 2021 as an associate professor of Supply Chain Management. Before, he served as an assistant professor of Management Engineering at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy. He holds a PhD in Supply Chain Management from the University of Kassel, Germany and his research covers topics on sustainability, digitalisation, resilience and uncertainty with a particular focus on multi-tier supply chains.