ADOPTING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY: SUPPLY CHAIN AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

The circular economy (CE) is an alternative economic paradigm that is regenerative by design and aims at decoupling economic growth from material input by reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering materials and energy to minimise resource depletion, waste and emissions. The adoption of CE practices requires companies to access external resources and capabilities, creating disruptive changes due to the creation of the reverse flow of value, materials and information. Despite the proliferation of scholarly articles on CE within the supply chain management (SCM) discipline, literature is often centered around well-established themes, such as the identification of drivers, barriers, practices and enablers for transitioning towards a circular business model, or highlighting the importance of collaboration among stakeholders. However, other aspects remain overlooked. This PhD thesis aims to investigate i) How the adoption of CE practices affects the power and dependence dynamics of buyer-supplier relationships, and ii) How the organizational dynamics, factors and individual managerial behaviour play a role in the CE adoption within an organization. To investigate the first objective, I observed the deployment of a CE project pursued by an Italian manufacturing firm, focusing on how CE adoption impacts the less studied power and dependence dynamics between the focal firm and its suppliers in two material streams: plastic and steel. Through a longitudinal, single case study and abductive reasoning, it challenges the assumption that dependence on external resources should always be reduced. Stemming from the insights emerging from the longitudinal case study, such as the role of middle managers acting as change agents to favour the emergence of CE projects, the second objective is to offer a behavioural interpretation of CE adoption within the organizational boundaries. Through multiple case studies that involve two additional companies, it explores the organizational dynamics across different sectors, firm types and extent of the managerial support. This thesis contributes both theory and practice. By advancing four theoretical propositions this thesis contributes to the theoretical perspective on CE research by discussing counterintuitive findings and introducing embeddedness theory as opposed to resource dependence theory. Moreover, it provides a research agenda suggesting four main areas of research currently under-explored, but holding significant potential for advancing CE practices in the industrial context. Finally, this thesis offers actionable guidance for managers on how to implement CE practices while accounting for their unique characteristics and sometimes counterintuitive dynamics.