Creating interdependent relationships for circular strategies adoption in Brazilian manufacturing

To implement circular strategies, such as reduce, reuse, and remanufacture, manufacturers need access to non-virgin materials spread across the supply chain with different actors. To this end, the creation of interdependent relationships is needed. Literature lacks clarity on the rationale for establishing supply chain relationships to enable circular strategies. This study applies Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) to define and explain the establishment and management of interdependent relationships required for the adoption of circular strategies. By integrating RDT with the 10-R framework of circular strategies, this study delivers a theoretically grounded analysis of empirical insights from a case study of circular strategy adoption in Brazilian manufacturing. The findings explain how manufacturers shape interdependent relationships with diverse external actors around actions, outcomes and conditions necessary for circular strategies. Interdependence fosters both willingness and capacity for actors to engage, despite inherent complexities and challenges. Practitioners can use these findings to identify relevant actors and actions for specific circular strategies, and to inform the outcomes and conditions necessary to promote and enable exchange relationships. Future research should extend this study’s theoretical framework to explore circular strategy adoption in other settings, particularly developed markets where contextual boundaries will be distinct from Brazilian manufacturers.