Mapping the Circular Economy in the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises field: An exploratory network analysis

Abstract

The literature on the Circular Economy (CE) has shown considerable expansion over recent years, with various studies striving to guide corporate entities in transitioning from linear to circular production paradigms. While larger businesses and multinational corporations have been a central focus, a significant gap exists in understanding the transformation journey of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) towards circularity. This research aims to enhance the existing body of knowledge by mapping the knowledge at the intersection of SMEs and the CE. This study utilizes an exploratory approach and leverages network analysis and content analysis to scrutinize 126 academic papers indexed on Scopus. The findings indicate that the field is bifurcated into nascent and early-growth stages. Although CE appears as the prevalent theme in most of the papers surveyed, an emerging group of academics has begun to delve into the domain of SMEs and CE. Further to identifying thematic clusters, this research explores the main references from these two phases by exploring their contents. The study provides a series of recommendations for future research alongside methodological guidelines for theoretical and empirical investigations.