DOI: 10.1002/bse.71757 ISSN: 0964-4733
Sustaining Circular Economy Practices: Comparing Supply Chain Resilience, Well‐Being, and Technology Adoption in SMEs Across the United Kingdom and France
Yen‐Tsang Chen, Fouad Ben AbdelazizABSTRACT
Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) face increasing pressure to adopt the circular economy (
CE
). However, prior research often treats
CE
as an outcome rather than as an ongoing organizational process. This study adopts a Strategy‐as‐Practice perspective to examine
CE
as a set of routines through which strategy is carried out in daily activities. We analyze how supply chain resilience, technology adoption, and organizational well‐being support
CE
and how these factors relate to economic, environmental, and social performance. Using survey data from 175 SMEs in France and the United Kingdom and partial least squares modeling, we find that technology adoption consistently supports CE, whereas resilience and well‐being have more context‐dependent effects.
CE
is conceptually shared across countries but differs in practice. It is consistently associated with environmental performance, whereas its links to economic and social performance vary. The study shows how organizational routines and institutional context shape
CE
practices and performance.