Circular economy maturity framework for SMEs

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are making strenuous efforts to implement Circular Economy (CE) practices. However, some challenges keep these businesses from switching from a 'take-make-dispose' linear economy to a closed loop with zero waste. In this strand, one such issue is related to the companies’ requirements to understand the level of circularity in their operations. Thus, this paper aims to develop a CE maturity framework for SMEs. The framework draws upon three main phases, encompassing a set of qualitative and quantitative methods. Phase I involves the planning efforts to determine the framework’s audience and scope; Phase II is the development stage concerned with identifying the current state of the art related to CE and developing the theoretical framework for SMEs; Phase III is associated with the framework’s evaluation process, in which an expert panel review was applied to guarantee its robustness and consistency. The work proposes the Circular Economy Maturity Framework (CEMAF), composed of five dimensions: take, make, distribute, use and recover . These dimensions are deployed in sub-dimensions measured with several maturity items and supported by objective evidence. The weighted average of results supported the development of a CE maturity index, enabling companies to benchmark with others. The overall contribution of the research is to introduce a framework for the literature that considers SMEs’ ofter-limited resources, helping practitioners to evaluate and manage CE, and allowing companies to reach higher levels of circularity.