Special Issue "Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Performance Management"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Claudio Sassanelli
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano 20133, Italy
Interests: product–service systems; circular economy; design for X; product lifecycle management; Industry 4.0
Prof. Sergio Terzi
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano 20133, Italy
Interests: product lifecycle management; Industry 4.0
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The journal Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050, IF 2.576) is currently running a Special Issue entitled “Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Performance Management”, and we are serving as Guest Editors for this issue. We think you could make an excellent contribution based on your expertise.

Today more than ever, the world needs to be considered a finite and limited system, characterized by scarce resources and as a place where restock is not possible in an infinite way. As such, careful resource management needs to be planned and set by the concurrent actions of heterogeneous stakeholders, from policy makers up to academics and industrials, in order to effectively implement circularity and to be able to pursue sustainability in time. The different resources involved along the extended product lifecycle need to be adequately managed through innovative business models and design practices, coupled with reverse logistic and digital technology adoption. So far, several methods have been adopted and combined in different ways to measure and assess the circular performance of a system.

This Special Issue will highlight new opportunities and challenges for Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Performance Management, focusing on technological advancements and management initiatives, including public–private partnerships between stakeholders. We welcome papers on:

  • The exploration of how new digital technologies, gathered under the umbrella of Industry 4.0, can support the measurement and analysis of lifecycle data according to the industrial symbiosis level of the system. Since not only single companies but also industrial parks, global supply chains, urban territory, and municipal solid wastes can be taken into account as referring systems of a circular economy performance assessment, the analysis of data coming from an extended and circular supply chain gives the chance to approach very different scenarios in which circular business models have been adopted. This opens the way to also consider, in the measurement of the performance, specific building blocks such as reverse logistics and particular systems conditions;
  • The use of design practices to specifically empower product design and development according to specific measurement performances, such as design for X guidelines and checklists, and to give strategic directions to shift the linear lifecycle into a circular one;
  • The development of methods and practices able to systematically and practically measure and assess the circularity degree of a given system and to take into account all the heterogeneous resources involved in its lifecycle;
  • The development and adoption of methods and approaches, and of a set of related key performance indicators (KPI), suitable for the assessment of the circularity performance in different application fields. These KPIs can deal with the circularity degree of the resources occurring within the product life cycle and can also support the quantification of those that are the economic, environmental, and most of all, social benefits of the CE. These KPIs, from a regulations and reporting perspective, can support the creation of a product certification system related to the circularity of resource flows, internal reporting and benchmarking in companies or support in the creation/enrichment of databases useful for LCA, etc. From a companies’ portfolio circular innovation perspective, they can support not only the decision making process along the design of new products but also the comparison of different versions of the same product based on their degree of circularity;
  • The development of a Circular Economy maturity model, based on the definition of a set of KPIs for CE performance assessment, aimed at both defining companies’ level of readiness in terms of circularity and proposing a roadmap to better address CE;
  • Future perspectives on Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Performance Management.

Dr. Claudio Sassanelli
Prof. Sergio Terzi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Circular economy
  • Performance assessment
  • Industry 4.0
  • Industrial symbiosis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Review

Review
Circular Economy Performance Measurement in Manufacturing Firms: A Systematic Literature Review with Insights for Small and Medium Enterprises and New Adopters
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9049; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169049 - 12 Aug 2021
Viewed by 392
Abstract
The circular economy is a central and increasingly important topic within managerial and academic discourse. Although the circular economy could bring benefits to their performance, manufacturing firms still struggle with its adoption. As an effective adoption should pass for adequate performance measurement, the [...] Read more.
The circular economy is a central and increasingly important topic within managerial and academic discourse. Although the circular economy could bring benefits to their performance, manufacturing firms still struggle with its adoption. As an effective adoption should pass for adequate performance measurement, the present study performs a systematic literature review to deepen the knowledge of circular economy performance-measurement systems for manufacturing firms, both from a general perspective and to provide specific insights for small–medium enterprises and new adopters. The results show the lack of an integrated, holistic, and scalable framework for measuring circular economy performance, and only a few and dispersed specific indications for small–medium enterprises and new adopters. Shortcomings of the extant literature are identified in terms of integration of the circular economy’s level, theoretical development and empirical application, characteristics of the indicators proposed, considerations of sustainability, holistic perspectives on industrial systems, and scalability to adapt to firms’ different characteristics. The study paves the way for further research while offering theoretical and practical implications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Performance Management)
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Review
Synergy between Circular Economy and Industry 4.0: A Literature Review
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4331; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084331 - 13 Apr 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 980
Abstract
Recent research has shown that there is a correlation between the circular economy (CE) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0). In addition, other research papers have analyzed the way that CE uses the different I4.0 technologies to transfer from the existing linear economy to CE; [...] Read more.
Recent research has shown that there is a correlation between the circular economy (CE) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0). In addition, other research papers have analyzed the way that CE uses the different I4.0 technologies to transfer from the existing linear economy to CE; however, there are still gaps in the literature regarding the challenges and impacts that society and individuals must face to be ready for the transition from a linear to a circular economy. These challenges seek to guarantee the sustainability and sustainable development of the different business models that mobilize products and services through supply chains. Here, we conducted a review and compilation of the latest bibliography of circular economy and Industry 4.0 theory. The objective of this work is to present the evolutionary relationship between CE and I4.0, as well as its multi-step model of analysis. This research is relevant because its topics are timely and pertinent, especially for academics. Further, at the time that this research was performed, none of the countries were concerned about the impact that technological changes have on the human being and on society, and up to now we do not currently have studies that show how people are being trained to face the transition from the linear economy, which is common in most societies, toward a CE. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Performance Management)
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Review
A Systematic Literature Review on Data and Information Required for Circular Manufacturing Strategies Adoption
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2047; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042047 - 14 Feb 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 877
Abstract
In the extant literature, circular economy (CE) is considered a driver for sustainable development of the manufacturing sector, being it an industrial paradigm aiming at regenerating resources. CE is transferred to manufacturing companies through the adoption of different Circular Manufacturing (CM) strategies (e.g., [...] Read more.
In the extant literature, circular economy (CE) is considered a driver for sustainable development of the manufacturing sector, being it an industrial paradigm aiming at regenerating resources. CE is transferred to manufacturing companies through the adoption of different Circular Manufacturing (CM) strategies (e.g., recycling, remanufacturing, etc.). Nowadays, manufacturers are struggling to implement these strategies to limit their resource consumption and pollution generation. To enable their adoption, the extant literature unveiled the importance to control along the entire value chain different types of resource flows (i.e., material, energy, and information). Nevertheless, while for material and energy management some advancements were achieved, information management and sharing remains one of the major barriers in adopting these strategies. The present work, through a systematic literature review, aims to identify the relevant information and data required to support the manufacturer’s decision process in adopting and managing the different CM strategies to pursue the transition towards CM. Furthermore, based on the results obtained, this research proposes a theoretical framework. It elucidates the four main areas to be managed by manufacturers in adopting CM strategies and it provides to the manufacturer an overview of what should be updated and upgraded inside the company to embrace CM strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Performance Management)
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