Technology 4.0-based sustainable innovation practices in the cosmetics industry: toward a circular business ecosystem 4.0 research program

Centrale thesis Sustainable behaviour has become an unavoidable condition for the existence of any organization (Vargas-Gonzalez et al., 2019a), given the depletion of natural resources, global warming, regulatory pressures, and consumers’ increasing expression of sustainability in their purchasing behaviour (Oyman et al., 2022a, 2022b; Grappe et al., 2021; Zahid et al., 2018; UNEP, 2015). Sustainability is a multifaceted concept describing the “interconnections between environmental protection, economic performance, and societal welfare, guided by a political will, and ethical and ecological imperatives” (Glavič and Lukman, 2007, p.1884). The unsustainable practices in the cosmetics industry (CI), like widespread use of nondegradable plastic, wasteful packaging, and water wastage (Martinez, 2022), have pushed policymakers to call for further research on achieving technologies (IoT, IA, Big data, blockchain, geographical information system, etc.) enabling sustainable production and disposal of cosmetics products along their life cycle (Oyman et al., 2022; Ledesma, 2020; Tao et al., 2019; UNEP, 2015; Kagermann et al., 2013). The sustainable orientation challenges industry and policymakers in territories like Europe and France (Dandieu & Chaumier, 2020), where the CI is a key economic pillar employing nearly 1,969,000 people in Europe in 2021 and a major contributor to the economy through 54 billions € exportation in 2021 with France as leading exporter (Cosmetics Europe, 2022). Meanwhile, CI is partnering with innovation ecosystem actors (policymakers, non-profit organizations, civil society, other industries, and universities) to improve the sustainability of their products and supply chains (Ecovadis 2022; The Beauty Partners, 2022; Unilever, 2022). Recent literature concludes that CI sustainability is a complex phenomenon that cannot be thoroughly understood from a single perspective (Born et al., 2019), suggesting a circular business ecosystem (CBE) approach to understand this phenomenon (Bertassini et al., 2021). Nevertheless, these latter’s, like others on the topic (Benhur et al., 2020; Born et al., 2019; Rodrigues et al., 2023), have still not attempted to synthesize and critically analyse CI sustainability holistically nor focused on the role of industry 4.0 technologies in the CBE. Given this background, we herein aim to firstly complement the extant reviews on CI sustainability management by providing a holistic view of the knowledge structure of the research area, which is critical for scholars seeking to understand the area’s evolution. Secondly, we will also provide an ecosystem approach to understand the interactions between actors and industry 4.0 technologies that make up the CI’s CBE. Hence, two research questions (RQ1 and RQ2) will be studied respectively through bibliometric analysis and structural literature review (SLR): RQ1: What are the conceptual building blocks that make up the knowledge structure of CI sustainability research? RQ2: How do actors and Industry 4.0 technology interact to make up the cosmetics industry’s circular business ecosystem?