The role of digital technologies on the transition toward circular supply chains. A systematic literature review.

In the recent years, Circular Supply Chains (CSCs) have emerged from the implementation of Circular Economy strategies at the supply chain level (Farooque et al. 2019; Fraccascia et al. 2019). CSCs extend the boundaries of closed-loop and green supply chains by involving stakeholders out of the original supply chain contexts. The collaborative mechanisms among the new actors foster the transition towards “regenerative and restorative” self-sustained systems (Gonzalez-Sanchez et al. 2020; Fraccascia and Giannoccaro, 2020). To this regard, new digital technologies (DTs) play as enabling factors (Kristoffersen et al. 2020). However, how the DTs can support the design, implementation, and management of CSCs merits further investigation since literature appears still sparse and fragmented. We conducted a Systematic Literature Review of the studies published between 2004 and 2020. The results from the bibliometric network analysis suggest important theoretical implications. The investigated topic is fast-growing and highly multidisciplinary, as demonstrated by the 312 documents published in the last 6 years (~95% of the collected documents) in 37 scientific journals and involving 945 researchers from 65 different countries. The analysis suggests that main topics regard the use of (1) Big Data Analytics, Blockchain, Internet of Thing, and Artificial Intelligence related technologies for developing circular business models of sustainable waste management; (2) Additive Manufacturing, Cloud Computing and Cloud Manufacturing related technologies for high sustainable product/service life-cycle; (3) AI multi-objective optimization algorithms for improved decision-making abilities on sustainable supplier selections. The results from the content analysis inform managers and practitioners on how DTs influence (1) the dimensions of supply chain agility, transparency, traceability, and information sharing; (2) the design of end-of-life strategies (e.g., reuse, recycle, reduce, repair, refurbish), waste management practices, and cooperative mechanisms among multiple stakeholders.