A Multilevel Analysis of Supply Chain Configuration in the Construction Circular Economy: Supply Push vs. Demand Pull

Supply chain (SC) configuration is strategically associated with supply push (SP) and demand pull (DP) strategies that often deal with corporate inventory. It can also be related to promoting knowledge or awareness. SP and DP measures have been weighed differently depending on varying contexts. Some studies argued that current policies about promoting innovations were overwhelmingly dominated by DP measures whose effectiveness of inducing non-incremental innovation was largely doubted due to the technological incapability resulted from SP negligence. There are also some studies claiming that current practices of promoting entrepreneurship relied heavily on SP factors, whereas some SP factors were proved with no correlation to start-up rates in high-tech industries. By comparison, a dynamic process is introduced from an innovation chain perspective, where the configuration of novel technology SC gradually moves from SP measures (e.g. technology push, public funded) to DP settings (e.g. market pull, mostly private funded) with the increasing level of technology maturity.

However, there is hardly any understanding of SP and DP in the context of construction circular supply chain (CSC) in the existing literature that also lacks an explicit definition of DP and SP. The challenges in circular economy (CE) implementation are not only involved with institutions pushing the development of new ideas or technologies but also the market creating the demand for them. The overwhelming adoption of either SP or DP measures can result in a growth plateau. For example, some 'waste-to-value' CE approaches such as production of bioplastic from sewage or recycling or LED lamp waste, are technically feasible but not economically competitive in the market. In this respect, pull measures are supposed to gain more attention to enhance 'market pull'.

The research question formulated for this project is 'what are the possible configurations that achieve both circularity and resilience in construction SCs?'. The importance of clarify this question is that it helps accelerate the transition to construction CSC by considering a resilient balance between SP and DP measures. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the resilience as to its dynamic nature of moving from one configuration to another to suit changing supply chain dynamics in construction CSC. This aim will be achieved by the following three objectives: 1) to clarify what SP and DP in CCE context and assess their current application, 2) to identify factors that determine the selection of SP and DP, 3) to explore the resilient balance between SP and DP and associated governance.

For the first objective, the student is currently conducting a systematic literature review to lay a theoretical foundation and provide a better understanding of construction CSCs. For the second and third objectives, the student will collect primary data via questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews. Besides, the student is currently considering using a system dynamic approach to modelling the introducing of a specific material from SP and DP perspectives. The student is also exploring potentials of System Dynamics (SC) for supply chain modelling in the second stage in his research.

The novel engineering and/or physical sciences content lies in that the research addresses the EPSRC circular economy theme by focusing on construction supply chains from managerial perspectives.