Navigating Circular Economy Challenges in the Internationalization of Food Companies: MCDM‐Based Investigation

ABSTRACT In today's rapidly changing and highly competitive environment, internationalization has become a strategic necessity. It is no longer merely a source of competitive advantage, but a fundamental requirement for organizational survival. This need is particularly pronounced in the food industry, which faces stringent quality requirements and growing pressure to comply with international regulations. However, the internationalization of these firms brings significant challenges related to circular economy (CE) practices. The main goal of this study is to identify and evaluate the most important challenges and obstacles to implementing CE in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry. This study was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, through a literature review, the barriers to implementing CE in the internationalization process of food SMEs, along with the evaluation criteria related to these barriers, were identified. In the second phase, the identified criteria were weighted using the hesitant fuzzy best–worst method (HF‐BWM) in order to determine their relative importance. Finally, in the third phase, the barriers were ranked based on the obtained weights by applying the hesitant fuzzy CoCoSo (HF‐CoCoSo) technique, which is a rigorous multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM) method. The findings indicate that criteria “Loss of foreign customers' trust,” “Loss of sales and revenue,” and “loss of market share” received the highest weights. Moreover, the barriers “Financial constraints in implementing CE,” “Lack of successful business models and frameworks,” and “Uncertainty in reverse flows” were ranked as the most significant. The findings of this research contribute to enriching the existing body of knowledge on the internationalization of food industry enterprises by addressing the barriers associated with CE. Furthermore, the results provide decision‐makers with valuable insights to overcome the influential CE ‐ related obstacles affecting the internationalization process.