A circular business cluster model for sustainable operations management

Ecological pollution, scarcity of resources, climate change and population growth have forced organisations to transform from a linear to a circular economy. Hence, the need arises to redesign value chains and traditional business models. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop a new conceptual eco-cluster model called ‘Circular Business Cluster Model’ to combine the advantages of both clustering and a circular economy. This paper seeks to establish a framework and provide guidelines for policy-makers such as governments, local authorities and organised industrial zone administrators. The contribution of this paper is to highlight and emphasise the crucial role of circular economy principles to transform a classical business model into an eco-business model. Circular Business Cluster Model includes the conceptual framework, network structure, interactions between cluster components and 6R activities. A case study was conducted to check the applicability of the proposed Circular Business Cluster Model. Eleven centres in this model were evaluated. Fuzzy Best-Worst Method (BWM) was used to find the relative weights. Based on the Circular Business Cluster Model, theoretical and managerial implications have been presented.