Circular supply chain management for sustainability: evidence from a developing country

What if a product lasts for a long time without waste? This fundamental question lies at the heart of the circular product design (CPD), which rethinks the product design and manufacturing in the era of mounting waste, climate change, and resource depletion. However, product design cannot work alone to address all such challenges, as it is only the starting point for applying circular thinking across supply chain functions. Considering this, product design requirements must align with technology and supply chain practices to meet all circularity principles (R’s strategies). This study aims to investigate how manufacturing firms utilise their design capabilities and technologies (such as additive manufacturing) for CPD to operationalise circular supply chain management (CSCM) through top management commitment, thereby enhancing sustainability performance. In pursuit of the research aim, this study investigates how circular product design, supported by additive manufacturing and design capabilities, facilitates the operationalisation of circular supply chain management through top management commitment to enhance sustainability performance. A mixed-methods approach is used to address the research question within the manufacturing firms in Bangladesh. Building on the principles of using dynamic capability theory and institutional theory, this study confirms that AM plays a significant role in CPD. This relationship further demonstrates that integrating design capabilities such as design for assembly and disassembly and design for recyclability, along with material selection capabilities, leads to CPD that improves the performance of new products. The findings further demonstrate that CSCM practices drive economic, social, and environmental performance when they are accepted and managed under three types of pressures (coercive, normative, and mimetic) alongside top management commitment. By combining dynamic capabilities with institutional drives for CPD, this study advances these theoretical perspectives in the context of CSCM. The study also provides valuable insights for manufacturers and policymakers seeking to integrate circularity principles into their product design and supply chain practices to advance sustainable development goals (SDGs). Finally, the study highlights the limitations of how design capability, technological adoption, and institutional environment shape the transformation towards a circular supply chain. These limitations will help open the avenues for future research.