# At the Nexus of Blockchain Technology, the Circular Economy, and Product Deletion
## 3 Framework and Propositions
### Macro: Circular Economy at the Institutional Level
#### 4.1.1 Sharing or Servicizing Economy  
In CE a sharing or servicizing economy enables exchanging or leasing products and services. However, lack of information products throughout their lifecycle is a barrier of successful implementation of these and other circular economy principles [47; 48]. Accurate and real-time data sharing is an urgent need for shared economy activities. Blockchain technology can provide a platform for such activities. Blockchain can support transparency to supply chain networks to trace closing-the-loop activities. Network participants can track updated transactions, understand the product status, and exchange data efficiently. Blockchain technology can facilitate sharing economy activities by reducing the need for third parties in transactions [49]. Users can exchange their services and products through a blockchain platform directly, without intermediaries, and thus save money and time. This can further leverage sharing activities. Blockchain can contribute to product deletion management by providing accurate and reliable information related to shared products and services [50]. The ability to collect accurate updated data related to products can include the quality and circular possibility of products, their locations, and their current stage in the product life cycle. This gives companies the opportunity to trace and analyze reusability, performance, and durability of products and identify the points of failure. Those products \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline \hline
**Circular Economy** & \multicolumn{2}{l}{**Product Deletion**} \\  & \multicolumn{2}{l}{**Analysis, Evaluation and Decision Making**} \\ \hline _Meso (Networks and Supply Chains)_ & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Reverse logistics**} & \(\bigcirc\) & Implement reverse infrastructures in product development \\  & \(\bigcirc\) & Information on quality of returned products \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Industrial Symbiosis and Eco-Industrial Parks**} & \(\bigcirc\) & Intra-organizational involvement \\  & \(\bigcirc\) & Benefits to stakeholders \\  & \(\bigcirc\) & Waste exchange and byproduct information managed and verified \\  & & by block chains can influence product deletion decisions. \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Supply chain monitoring**} & \(\bigcirc\) & Increase product information and waste exchange between supply \\  & & chain actors \\  & \(\bigcirc\) & Increase the involvement of supply chain actors into product \\  & & deletion decision making \\  & \(\bigcirc\) & Invest in technological platforms for product development and \\  & & lifecycle management monitoring \\ \hline _Micro (Organizational/Consumer)_ & & \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Organizational Value and Knowledge**} & \(\bigcirc\) & Firm strategy \\  & \(\bigcirc\) & Value and culture: i.e., sustainability/CSR; openness to change; \\  & & product attachment \\ \cline{1-1}  & \(\bigcirc\) & Byproducts \\ \cline{1-1}  & \(\bigcirc\) & Product design and differentiation \\ \cline{1-1}  & \(\bigcirc\) & Operational capacity \\ \cline{1-1}  & \(\bigcirc\) & Replace product components with higher end-of-life value \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Consumer Knowledge and Behavior**} & \(\bigcirc\) & Customer demand \\ \cline{1-1}  & \(\bigcirc\) & Customer loyalty \\ \cline{1-1}  & \(\bigcirc\) & Consumer involvement in product deletion \\ \cline{1-1}  & \(\bigcirc\) & Consumer post-purchase behaviors \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Cont. with poor sharing value and with durability issues, e.g., contains short-term components and circularity concerns, can be candidates for removing them from the product portfolio. Companies can further build up their circularity capacity by designing products with maximum sharing values and circularity, expanding the scale of the product portfolio for the CE purpose, and introducing new CE technology or components to products. Records of leased products can be captured, no matter the location of these products, with performance information to determine if expectations of usage were met.