Although there is a growing body of literature concerning Circular Economy (CE), there is little, in terms of frameworks in the literature, which focuses on embedding CE values in consumer Retail Reverse Logistics (RRL) operations. The aim of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that supports the adoption of CE values within RRL operations. The framework is designed to assist both practitioners and academics in better understanding the key management aspects involved. The methodology adopts a mixed methods approach combining a desk-based research with rich empirical data from interviews with senior management practitioners and academics in the fields of CE and RRL. From this research, it was found that embedding CE values within RRL necessitates the adoption of a multi-faceted approach. The adoption of the framework will have an impact on practitioners by assisting them in moving towards a more restorative and less impactful approach to their RRL practices. The work is considered innovative and novel as this is the first time the empirical results that suggest a multi-dimensional approach embedding CE values in RRL operations are presented.

Purpose: The purpose of the work presented in this paper is to capture the current state of Six Sigma as well as to document the current practices of Six Sigma through a systematic literature review so as to extend and update the previous work of Brady and Allen.Design/methodology/approach: The approach to this paper is to answer the questions such as “what is Six Sigma?”, “what are the applications of the Six Sigma?”, “what are the main enablers and barriers to its application?” and “what are the emerging trends?” These questions are used to guide the search of papers from various publication databases even if it is expected that existing literature might not be sufficiently developed to translate each question directly into a finding. The literature is then analysed and the major emerging themes are presented.Findings: Seven key findings (topics on which the views of the authors converged) and two issues (topics on which authors had differing views) have been established. These include the interpretation of Six Sigma, tools and techniques, implementation of Six Sigma, benefits, adoption, enablers and links to other disciplines.Originality/value: The systematic literature review approach used in this paper allows emerging trends and issues in Six Sigma to be highlighted in a structured and thematic manner, enabling the future work to progress as Six Sigma continues to develop and evolve. The findings also open up new opportunities to apply Six Sigma in the fields that are not widely explored before for instance sustainability and product‐service systems.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to unveil the circular economy (CE) values with an ultimate goal to provide tenets in a format or structure that can potentially be used for designing a circular, closed-loop supply chain and reverse logistics.Design/methodology/approach: This is desk-based research whose data were collected from relevant publication databases and other scientific resources, using a wide range of keywords and phrases associated with CE, reverse logistics, product recovery and other relevant terms. There are five main steps in the reformulation of CE principles: literature filtering, literature analysis, thematic analysis, value definition and value mapping.Findings: In total, 15 CE values have been identified according to their fundamental concepts, behaviours, characteristics and theories. The values are grouped into principles, intrinsic attributes and enablers. These values can be embedded into the design process of product recovery management, reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chain.Research limitations/implications: The paper contributes to the redefinition, identification and implementation of the CE values, as a basis for the transformation from a traditional to a more circular supply chain. The reformulation of the CE values will potentially affect the way supply chain and logistics systems considering the imperatives of circularity may be designed in the future.Originality/value: The reformulation principles, intrinsic attributes and enablers of CE in this paper is considered innovative in terms of improving a better understanding of the notion of CE and how CE can be applied in the context of modern logistics and supply chain management.

Despite the growing awareness about Circular Economy (CE) in production and supply chain management, there is little evidence linking CE practices to environmental and economic performances, especially within the traditional wood furniture industry in Indonesia. As with other management practices, implementation of CE can be supported by various factors. Among these factors are the so-called environmental-oriented supply chain cooperation (ESCC) practices. The study reported in this paper has three purposes. First, to investigate how the different levels of ESCC practices will affect the CE practices across the traditional wooden furniture industry in Central Java, Indonesia; second, to investigate the relationship between varying ESCC practices (which is grouped based on the implementation of CE practices) on the CE-targeted performances; and third, to examine the role of ESCC practices as a moderating variable in the relationship between CE practices and CE-targeted performances. This study uses primary data which were collected through closed questionnaires to 190 valid samples of wooden furniture SMEs across the cities of Jepara, Kudus, Rembang, Semarang, Blora and Surakarta. The data were processed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), K-means clustering analysis, Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and regression analysis. The results indicated that, depending on the levels of ESCC practices, the SMEs could be grouped into leaders, followers and laggard, which also determined the extent to which they practised the CE principles. The study also elaborated on the interactions between ESCC and CE practices, and how these might affect the CE-targeted environmental and economic performances.