2026

Arsić, Sanela 
Radić, Aleksandra 
Stojanović, Anđelka 

Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic

Proceedings - 28th International Scientific Conference Economic Competitiveness and Sustainability 2026, March 26–27, 2026, Brno, Czech Republic

23

38

English

M33 - Conference paper at an international conference, printed in full

The shift towards a circular economy requires the systematic integration of sustainability principles into economic and business processes, with digital technologies playing an increasingly important role. Among these, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems represent an important tool, as they enable the collection, integration, and analysis of data crucial for enhancing resource efficiency and implementing circular economy principles. This study aims to examine the relationship between enterprise-level digitalization, ERP system adoption, and circular economy performance at the country level by using circular economy (CE) indicators across European Union member states. The research adopts a twophase methodological approach. In the first phase, the TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making method was applied to rank EU member states based on a set of relevant CE indicators. In the second phase, the resulting TOPSIS scores were used to examine the relationships among circular economy performance, digitalisation, and ERP system adoption using regression analysis and a group-based comparative technique. The results confirm pronounced differences in the performance of the circular economy across the member states of the European Union, with innovative and industrially advanced countries occupying leading positions in the TOPSIS ranking. At the same time, the findings indicate that digitisation at the enterprise level, including the adoption of ERP systems and ICT technologies, is positively associated with circular economy outcomes at the macro-country level, but by itself is not sufficient to achieve high performance without adequate structural and innovation capacities. The findings should be interpreted as macro-level associations rather than direct causal effects, as the study relies on aggregated country-level indicators and proxy measures of enterprise digitalisation.

circular economy, ERP systems, digital transformation, sustainability indicators

DOI

10.11118/ecos2026_002

ISBN

978-80-7701-102-0

URI

https://repozitorijum.tfbor.bg.ac.rs/handle/...