Making Operations More Sustainable: Transition Towards Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Circular Economy in the Era of Digitization

Businesses continually struggle to meet the ever-evolving needs of their customers while also pursuing a sustainable corporate evolution. Organizations are therefore subject to intense rivalry, which affects product lifespan, speed, quality, and cost. Organizations need to be quick and flexible in order to outperform the competitors in the market. Being flexible with regard to speed, affordability, quality, and innovations while taking social and environmental awareness into account is crucial for a business to gain a competitive advantage and create a more sustainable supply chain. However, flexibility measures have not been considered particularly at the supply chain level, and the focus remained more on a single organization in a supply chain. Moreover, the organization have started embracing flexibility, sustainability, and circularity (circular economy (CE)-based business approach) in their supply chains as business philosophy as they operate in a highly uncertain and resource-scared environment. Further, the global market dynamics and technological change have caused an increase in supply chain environmental uncertainty and complexity. Therefore, revisiting various supply chain strategies is required in order to assess their impacts on the environment and society. This study contributes to the understanding of the relation and risks related to the transition from a linear to a circular economy, and proposals for digitized or Industry 4.0-based responses as a means of overcoming these risks in a sustainable supply chain context. The findings of the study will also help organizations to develop an effective and integrated strategic approach that will foster sustainable operations through the utilization of improved knowledge of digitization and the circular economy.