IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v32y2023i3p1159-1174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review

Author

Listed:
  • Magdalena Rusch
  • Josef‐Peter Schöggl
  • Rupert J. Baumgartner

Abstract

Digital technologies (DTs), such as the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, or blockchain, are considered as enablers for a more sustainable and circular economy. So far, literature on these topics has mostly focused on specific DTs and subareas of sustainable product management (SPM). The aim of this paper is to provide a more comprehensive overview of current and potential examples of DT applications in SPM (e.g., product design/assessment, supply chain management, and business models). The collected examples (n = 146) were analyzed based on a systematic literature review, using quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Deductive and inductive analyses of the examples revealed the potential of DTs in terms of their usability along the product life cycle, their role as enablers for circular economy strategies and in specific SPM activities. DT application often entails only incremental improvements, for example, increased efficiency of existing processes, with more radical forms of improvement remaining relatively scarce. There is clear room for greater adoption and optimization of DTs, in various areas of SPM, so as to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable and circular economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Magdalena Rusch & Josef‐Peter Schöggl & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2023. "Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1159-1174, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:32:y:2023:i:3:p:1159-1174
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3099
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3099
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.3099?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zied Jemai & Rim Jerbia & Mouna Kchaou Boujelben & Mohamed Amine Sehli & Mohamed Amine Sehli, 2018. "A stochastic closed-loop supply chain network design problem with multiple recovery options," Post-Print hal-01742193, HAL.
    2. Gustavo Cattelan Nobre & Elaine Tavares, 2017. "Scientific literature analysis on big data and internet of things applications on circular economy: a bibliometric study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 463-492, April.
    3. Sara Saberi & Mahtab Kouhizadeh & Joseph Sarkis & Lejia Shen, 2019. "Blockchain technology and its relationships to sustainable supply chain management," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(7), pages 2117-2135, April.
    4. de Jesus, Ana & Mendonça, Sandro, 2018. "Lost in Transition? Drivers and Barriers in the Eco-innovation Road to the Circular Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 75-89.
    5. Kirchherr, Julian & Piscicelli, Laura & Bour, Ruben & Kostense-Smit, Erica & Muller, Jennifer & Huibrechtse-Truijens, Anne & Hekkert, Marko, 2018. "Barriers to the Circular Economy: Evidence From the European Union (EU)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 264-272.
    6. Roberto Rocca & Paolo Rosa & Claudio Sassanelli & Luca Fumagalli & Sergio Terzi, 2020. "Integrating Virtual Reality and Digital Twin in Circular Economy Practices: A Laboratory Application Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-27, March.
    7. Alan Murray & Keith Skene & Kathryn Haynes, 2017. "The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 369-380, February.
    8. Ming Xu & Hua Cai & Sai Liang, 2015. "Big Data and Industrial Ecology," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(2), pages 205-210, April.
    9. Charles J. Corbett, 2018. "How Sustainable Is Big Data?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(9), pages 1685-1695, September.
    10. Sivarajah, Uthayasankar & Kamal, Muhammad Mustafa & Irani, Zahir & Weerakkody, Vishanth, 2017. "Critical analysis of Big Data challenges and analytical methods," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 263-286.
    11. Paolo Rosa & Claudio Sassanelli & Andrea Urbinati & Davide Chiaroni & Sergio Terzi, 2020. "Assessing relations between Circular Economy and Industry 4.0: a systematic literature review," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(6), pages 1662-1687, March.
    12. Kirchherr, Julian & Reike, Denise & Hekkert, Marko, 2017. "Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 221-232.
    13. Guillaume Chapron, 2017. "The environment needs cryptogovernance," Nature, Nature, vol. 545(7655), pages 403-405, May.
    14. David Teh & Tehmina Khan & Brian Corbitt & Chin Eang Ong, 2020. "Sustainability strategy and blockchain-enabled life cycle assessment: a focus on materials industry," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 605-622, December.
    15. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    16. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    17. Albert Weckenmann & Ştefan Bodi & Sorin Popescu & Mihai Dragomir & Dan Hurgoiu & Radu Comes, 2019. "Hit or Miss? Evaluating the Potential of a Research Niche: A Case Study in the Field of Virtual Quality Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, March.
    18. Emilia Ingemarsdotter & Ella Jamsin & Gerd Kortuem & Ruud Balkenende, 2019. "Circular Strategies Enabled by the Internet of Things—A Framework and Analysis of Current Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-37, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nawres, Darragi & Nedra, Bahri-Ammari & Yousaf, Anish & Mishra, Abhishek, 2024. "The role of augmented reality in shaping purchase intentions and WOM for luxury products," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Magdalena Graczyk-Kucharska, 2023. "Sustainability in the Development of Green Organizations Based on the Example of Manufacturing Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Xiaodan Gao & Jinbao Li, 2024. "China’s Digital Economy: A Dual Mission of Carbon-Emission Reduction and Efficiency Enhancement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Javeed, Sohail Ahmad & Akram, Umair, 2024. "The factors behind block-chain technology that boost the circular economy: An organizational perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Iordanis Eleftheriadis & Evgenia Anagnostopoulou, 2024. "Developing a Tool for Calculating the Carbon Footprint in SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-23, February.
    6. Liping Liu & Lichuan Cui & Qian Han & Chunyu Zhang, 2024. "The impact of digital capabilities and dynamic capabilities on business model innovation: the moderating effect of organizational inertia," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Tan, Fuqiang & Zhang, Qingyu & Mehrotra, Ankit & Attri, Rekha & Tiwari, Himanshi, 2024. "Unlocking venture growth: Synergizing big data analytics, artificial intelligence, new product development practices, and inter-organizational digital capability," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    8. Sorin-Daniel GHEORGHE, 2023. "Internet of Things and Circular Economy: A State-of-the-Art Review," Informatica Economica, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 27(4), pages 44-60.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moritz Böhmecke‐Schwafert & Marie Wehinger & Robin Teigland, 2022. "Blockchain for the circular economy: Theorizing blockchain's role in the transition to a circular economy through an empirical investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(8), pages 3786-3801, December.
    2. Concepción Garcés-Ayerbe & Pilar Rivera-Torres & Inés Suárez-Perales & Dante I. Leyva-de la Hiz, 2019. "Is It Possible to Change from a Linear to a Circular Economy? An Overview of Opportunities and Barriers for European Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Gilbert Silvius & Aydan Ismayilova & Vicente Sales-Vivó & Micol Costi, 2021. "Exploring Barriers for Circularity in the EU Furniture Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Hervé Corvellec & Alison F. Stowell & Nils Johansson, 2022. "Critiques of the circular economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(2), pages 421-432, April.
    5. Yamoah, Fred A. & Sivarajah, Uthayasankar & Mahroof, Kamran & Peña, Iker González, 2022. "Demystifying corporate inertia towards transition to circular economy: A management frame of reference," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    6. Iordanis Eleftheriadis & Evgenia Anagnostopoulou, 2024. "Developing a Tool for Calculating the Carbon Footprint in SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-23, February.
    7. Anna Avdiushchenko, 2018. "Toward a Circular Economy Regional Monitoring Framework for European Regions: Conceptual Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-26, November.
    8. Maryam Hina & Chetna Chauhan & Rajat Sharma & Amandeep Dhir, 2023. "Circular economy business models as pillars of sustainability: Where are we now, and where are we heading?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 6182-6209, December.
    9. Zhen Liu & Jing Liu & Mohamed Osmani, 2021. "Integration of Digital Economy and Circular Economy: Current Status and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-27, June.
    10. Francesca Gennari, 2023. "The transition towards a circular economy. A framework for SMEs," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(4), pages 1423-1457, December.
    11. Chembessi Chedrak & Gohoungodji Paulin & Juste Rajaonson, 2023. "“A fine wine, better with age”: Circular economy historical roots and influential publications: A bibliometric analysis using Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1593-1612, December.
    12. Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar & Shauhrat S. Chopra, 2022. "Leveraging Blockchain and Smart Contract Technologies to Overcome Circular Economy Implementation Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, August.
    13. Gabi Försterling & Ronald Orth & Benjamin Gellert, 2023. "Transition to a Circular Economy in Europe through New Business Models: Barriers, Drivers, and Policy Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-40, May.
    14. Georgios Lanaras-Mamounis & Anastasios Kipritsis & Thomas A. Tsalis & Konstantinos Ι. Vatalis & Ioannis E. Nikolaou, 2022. "A Framework for Assessing the Contribution of Firms to Circular Economy: a Triple-Level Approach," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    15. Rajeev Rathi & Dattatraya Balasaheb Sabale & Jiju Antony & Mahender Singh Kaswan & Raja Jayaraman, 2022. "An Analysis of Circular Economy Deployment in Developing Nations’ Manufacturing Sector: A Systematic State-of-the-Art Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-23, September.
    16. Jing Shao & Cedric Aneye & Alyona Kharitonova & Wei Fang, 2023. "Essential innovation capability of producer‐service enterprises towards circular business model: Motivators and barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4548-4567, November.
    17. Belmonte-Ureña, Luis Jesús & Plaza-Úbeda, José Antonio & Vazquez-Brust, Diego & Yakovleva, Natalia, 2021. "Circular economy, degrowth and green growth as pathways for research on sustainable development goals: A global analysis and future agenda," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    18. OCOLIȘANU Andreea & DOBROTĂ Gabriela & AGÂRBICEANU Marcela Simona, 2022. "The Implications Of The Circular Economy On Sustainable Economic Growth," Management of Sustainable Development, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 14(1), pages 16-21, June.
    19. Cui, Yongfeng & Liu, Wei & Rani, Pratibha & Alrasheedi, Melfi, 2021. "Internet of Things (IoT) adoption barriers for the circular economy using Pythagorean fuzzy SWARA-CoCoSo decision-making approach in the manufacturing sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    20. Biman Darshana Hettiarachchi & Stefan Seuring & Marcus Brandenburg, 2022. "Industry 4.0-driven operations and supply chains for the circular economy: a bibliometric analysis," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 858-878, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:32:y:2023:i:3:p:1159-1174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.