Digital platforms for circular economy: Empirical development of a taxonomy and archetypes

Abstract Digital platforms hold promise to leverage the transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE), as they have already disrupted value-creation mechanisms and formed dynamic ecosystems in various domains. However, the solution space for CE platforms is vast and remains under-researched, challenging platform providers to find purposeful platform configurations and industrial companies to choose the right platform on the market. To support informed platform design decisions and uncover the existing CE platform configurations, we develop a taxonomy from a systematic literature review and an empirical dataset of 129 cases of CE platforms. The taxonomy provides a holistic view of the solution space, advancing our understanding of key configuration options. The taxonomy allows us to perform cluster analysis and derive six CE platform archetypes. These findings advance the theoretical knowledge indicating how platforms can support CE and help decision-makers design CE platforms or identify suitable CE platforms for their own circular activities.