Conceptualising Collaborations beyond Industrial Boundaries: A Literature Review and a Theoretical Proposition to Understand Cross-Industrial Collaborations in the Circular Supply Network

Anne Ratsimandresy () and Joe Miemczyk
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Anne Ratsimandresy: Sustainability Department, ESCP Business School, 79 Avenue de la République, 75011 Paris, France
Joe Miemczyk: Sustainability Department, ESCP Business School, 527 Finchley Road, London NW3 7BG, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: This state-of-the-art review paper aims to provide an overview of the current research in supply chain and management on cross-industrial collaborations. It also formulates a theoretical proposition to study them. This research on cross-industrial collaborations is carried out in the more specific context of the circular economy, as the scale-up of this economic model has the particularity of requiring collaborations between organisations from different industrial sectors, a subject that remains to date relatively unexplored. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part is a literature review. A presentation on current knowledge on supply-chain collaborations for the circular economy is realised, followed by a literature gap exploration of cross-industrial collaborations. The second part is a theoretical proposition. Concepts of the network theory and of the inter-organisational proximity framework and their relevance are explained, followed by a proposition of a combination of the two views to conceptualise cross-industrial collaborations. The objective of this concept paper is to provide a thematic and theoretical background for future studies to understand how to connect non-traditional actors within a supply network, how companies from different industries manage to collaborate, and to assess the opportunities and pitfalls of these collaborations for the scale-up of the circular economy.

Keywords: supply networks; circular economy; collaboration; cross-industry innovation; inter-organisational proximity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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