Circular business models: A state-of-the-art systematic literature review and future opportunities

Circular Business Models (CBMs) have emerged as essential instruments for advancing circular economy and sustainability by reconfiguring how firms create, deliver, and capture value. Despite increasing scholarly attention, the field remains conceptually fragmented, lacking consistent definitions, clear value dimension integration, and comprehensive cross-sectoral insights. This study presents a systematic literature review of 381 peer-reviewed journal articles to synthesize the state of CBM research. Through inductive and deductive content analysis, the study introduces 22 structural dimensions, including CBM definitions, types, tools and frameworks, business ecosystem perspectives, supply chain segments and others. Results show that absence of industry-specific tools, limited applications of theories, insufficient focus on policy and compliance, inadequate attention to informal sector practices, and underutilization of digital technologies and reverse logistics are some of the research gaps. Sector-specific patterns reveal that electronics and ICT, energy, plastics and packaging, fashion and textiles, the food sector, and the built environment dominate empirical research, with limited cross-sectoral generalizability. By analyzing enabling factors (e.g., innovation, stakeholder collaboration, institutional support) and barriers (e.g., regulatory gaps, cost burdens, lack of awareness), this review advances the understanding of CBM adoption and implementation complexity. It also maps future research directions including the need for harmonized CBM definitions, longitudinal assessment and socio-technical system perspectives. The findings provide targeted guidance for academics in structured, system-level theory building, for practitioners in operationalizing circularity, and for policymakers in designing effective interventions. This review establishes a unified foundation for future CBM research and implementation that supports systemic change toward a sustainable circular economy.