What are the challenges that make the journey towards industrial symbiosis complicated?

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is an emerging approach that deals with the cooperative sharing of various firms’ resources (e.g., energy, wastes, materials by-products) and helps achieve sustainability in the supply chain. The journey towards industrial symbiosis (IS) requires firms to change from conventional linear business models to circular business models. However, transforming to circular business models is complex; several interrelated challenges hinder the journey towards IS. Therefore, the goal of this study is to model the challenges to IS in an emerging economy context. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique has been utilized in order to accomplish this goal. Findings reveal that, the organizational challenges are most significant in the journey towards IS. Furthermore, the findings help practitioners implement policies through understanding the causal relationships among the addressed challenges.