Analysis of barriers to the adoption of circular supply chain management: a case study in the air conditioning industry

ABSTRACT Circular supply chain management (CSCM) is a process used to design the supply chain by recycling, remanufacturing or refurbishing, repairing, and reusing products However, no study has been encountered in the literature that analyzes CSCM barriers in the air conditioning sector. Hence, this study is aimed to investigate the barriers to CSCM adoption in the air conditioning industry. A case study was conducted on a company operating in the global air conditioning sector. Initially, literature review and expert opinions have been used to identify essential barriers. Later, 6 main barriers and 21 sub-barriers were ranked using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method based on the interval type-2 fuzzy sets. The findings indicate that “Regulatory” is the most crucial, and “Operational” is the least important main barrier. The findings of the study would be useful for practitioners and policymakers to focus on the most prominent barriers in the air conditioning supply chains. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT