
The labs
Circular supply chain management lab
Circular innovation in supply chains for sustainable and digital management.
The supply chain management processes—encompassing supplier and procurement management, product development, production, marketing, and logistics distribution, including demand management and reverse logistics—are constantly challenged to strike a balance between cost containment, customer/service orientation, and the need to implement increasingly circular and less linear business models.
Objectives
The Circular Supply Chain Management Lab (CSCM Lab) aims to explore and implement innovative strategies and practices that promote circular business models throughout supply chains.
The primary goal is to facilitate the transition towards a more sustainable and circular management of organizational and operational processes, with a particular focus on cost efficiency, customer orientation, and environmental sustainability. The Lab is committed to developing advanced measurement systems to help businesses monitor and optimize their circular processes, contributing to the decarbonization of the supply chain and achieving greater circularity in economic flows.
Challenges
Among the key challenges faced by the CSCM Lab is the need to balance cost reduction with the implementation of circular models throughout the supply chain.
The transition to a circular economy requires the adoption of new technologies and the integration of innovative practices, which often involve significant changes to existing processes. Effective information management, digitalization, and the use of enabling technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and IoT present additional challenges, as they require advanced skills and significant investments. Moreover, collaboration among various supply chain actors, from suppliers to end consumers, is essential to overcome the organizational and operational barriers that may hinder the adoption of circular models.
Areas of Focus
The CSCM Lab focuses its efforts on several key areas, including supplier and procurement management, product development and production, marketing, logistics, and reverse logistics.
Special attention is given to closing resource loops, slowing product life cycles, dematerializing processes, intensifying resource use, and narrowing production cycles. Another crucial area of focus is the implementation of enabling technologies that support digital transformation along the supply chain, which is essential for activating sustainable and circular processes. The Lab also promotes service regeneration, integrating digital transformation with environmental sustainability to create a long-term positive impact.
Papers in Circular Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management for circular economy: conceptual framework and research agenda
Link to the article
From trash to treasure: The impact of consumer perception of bio-waste products in closed-loop supply chains
Link to the article
Marketing a new generation of bio-plastics products for a circular economy: The role of green self-identity, self-congruity, and perceived value
Link to the article
Adopting a digital transformation strategy to enhance business network commons regeneration: an explorative case study
Link to the article
The challenge of remanufactured products: the role of returns policy and channel structure to reduce consumers’ perceived risk
Link to the article
Individual antecedents to consumer intention to switch to food waste bioplastic products: A configuration analysis
Link to the article
Selling circularity: Understanding the relationship between circularity promotion and the performance of manufacturing SMEs in Italy
Link to the article
The management of sustainable development: A longitudinal analysis of the effects of environmental performance on economic performance
Link to the article
Interval reference point technique for sustainable industrial process selection under uncertainties
Link to the article
Smartening sustainable development in cities: Strengthening the theoretical linkage between smart cities and SDGs
Link to the article
Co-production ‘thinking’ and performance implications in the case of separate waste collection
Link to the article
Assessing the environmental impact of logistics sites through CO2eq footprint computation
Link to the article
Understanding the dynamics of global supply chain sustainability initiatives: The role of institutional distance from the buyer's perspective
Link to the article
From end-of-the-road to critical node: The role of end-user “consumers” in shaping circular supply chain management
Link to the article
The cultural dimensions of sustainable development: A cross-country configurational analysis
Link to the article
Cultural and digital collaboration infrastructures as sustainability enhancing factors: a configurational approach
Link to the article
Investigating Circular Behavior Adoption across Gen Z: The Role of Perceived Value and Environmental Consciousness
Link to the article
Supply chain agility and sustainability performance: A configurational approach to sustainable supply chain management practices
Link to the article
Agile manufacturing and transformational capabilities for sustainable business performance: a dynamic capabilities perspective
Link to the article
How to align logistics environmental sustainability with corporate strategy? An Italian perspective
Link to the article
A lifecycle-based indicator to support residual solid waste flow planning at the regional level
Link to the article
Combining organizational and product life cycle perspective to explore the environmental benefits of steel slag recovery practices
Link to the article
I wanna be sustainable, but I don't wanna show it!’: The effect of sustainability cues on young adult consumers' preferences
Link to the article
Family SMEs and managerial approaches to sustainability in the blue economy
Link to the article
How sustainability shapes consumer preferences on special occasions
Link to the article
Integrating tourists’ walk and talk: a methodological approach for tracking and analysing tourists’ real behaviours for more sustainable destinations
Link to the article
Integrating product-focused life cycle perspectives in the fresh food supply chain: Revealing intra- and inter-organizational views
Link to the article
Brand transgressions in advertising related to diversity, equity and inclusion: implications for consumer–brand relationships
Link to the article
Innovators and Transformers Revisiting the gap between academia and practice: insights from the green logistics phenomenon
Link to the article
A call to action: a stakeholder analysis of green logistics practices
Link to the article
Interfirm Collaboration Enhancing Twin Transition: Evidence From the Italian Fashion Industry
Link to the article