Thematic analysis of circular economy practices across closed-loop supply chains: An institutional theory perspective

A circular economy (CE) presents an alternative solution to the scarcity of natural resources and environmental concerns. Institutional pressures motivate adopting and developing CE practices in various supply chain stages (SC), and successful implementation across the SC is challenging and risky. The situation is more complicated in the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) structure. This study explores CE practices at different SC stages and the impact of their implementation on CLSC performance. This study uses a mapping tool for decision-making: SIPOC (suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, customers). We adapt and rename this tool as "circular SIPOC" based on the feed-forward and feedback flow of the complete material across different CLSC tiers. A circular SIPOC chart, coupled with institutional theory, is used to identify CE techniques from the three manufacturing CLSCs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), supported by thematic analysis. The findings indicate two unique and standard practice classifications in SCs. They further show that traditional practices are easy to implement, while individual practices have medium to great difficulty in implementation and related SC performance. This study's contribution is the detailed list of CE-based practices in three CLSCs and the criticality of their implementation. Following the institutional theory, government institutions may use the findings of this study to put coercive, normative, and mimetic pressure on organizations, encouraging the adoption of these CE practices and helping bring the CE a step closer.