The development of Circular Supply Chains (CSCs) has been recognized as a crucial transition for sustainable and resilient production processes: CSCs maximize systems’ effectiveness, regenerate, and mitigate supply risk. Several are the impacts for sustainable development, but appropriate models for measuring these impacts and fostering the transition towards CSCs still need to be investigated especially at the meso-level (i.e., how companies contribute to a circular transition of supply chains while adopting CE principles), where supply chain network relationships are needed for realizing circularity. Network relationships are critical for the circular transition of manufacturing SMEs (the backbone of the European economy) given their typical resource constraints, which lead them to depend on networked environments. This project wants to explore how by leveraging supply chain network relationships involving players such as logistics providers (as network facilitators/orchestrators with asset and capacity sharing), intermediaries with technology-enabled platforms, etc., it is possible to generate an impact for manufacturing SMEs in the transition towards CSCs and how to qualitatively and/or qualitatively measure the impact of this transition. By developing and applying impact models related to a transition towards CSCs that leverages network relationships, it will be possible to promote better resource use and facilitate the realization of circularity for manufacturing SMEs.

The candidate should have adequate knowledge of bibliometric analysis tools (e.g., VoS Viewer) and of network analysis tools (e.g., Pajek). Other skills that are welcome regard abilities in text mining and text coding to conduct bibliographic reviews. Also, the candidate should have knowledge of the basis of quantitative methods such as Structural Equation Modelling and Interpretive Structural Modelling. These skills will serve well in the modelling of the supply chain network relationships and help in developing and applying the SMEs impact models to company data.

The Research Team at the school of Industrial Engineering of LIUC University is composed of: Alessandro Creazza (associate professor - sustainable Logistics and CSCs), Andrea Urbinati (assistant professor - CE business models), Fabrizio Dallari (full professor - logistics), Raffaella Manzini (full professor - sustainable performance measurement and innovation management). The Research Environment is the Green Transition Hub (GTH), the competence centre of LIUC University on ecological transition and Circular Economy. The GTH conducts research and dissemination activities through an advisory board composed of research centers and universities, associations, SMEs and multinational companies.