In recent years, the circular economy (CE) model has emerged as a central approach to reconcile ecological sustainability with the organisation of production and consumption. In industrial contexts, CE transformation represents a move away from linear throughput models toward systems that recirculate materials, redesign production, and align technological, institutional, and market structures with regenerative principles. However, industrial change unfolds within inherited production, governance, and spatial arrangements that constrain what firms perceive as feasible. In this perspective paper, we examine how CE ambitions interact with the structural realities of process industries. We consider whether sectors such as steel and pulp and paper can achieve comprehensive circular transformation without addressing the technological, institutional, and temporal tensions that operate within specific spatial contexts.We argue that despite the well-intentioned goals of CE, its implementation can encounter persistent structural challenges. We identify three core structural tensions related to technology, institutions, and time, each of which is shaped by spatial conditions. These tensions influence how organisations balance efficiency, legitimacy, and long-term adaptation. The analysis shows that pulp and paper benefits from regional governance, coordination, and gradual experimentation. In contrast, steel faces technological lock in, centralised systems, and long investment cycles that restrict transformative outcomes and often produce symbolic rather than systemic circular progress.

Over the past few decades, the circular economy (CE) has shifted from a normative sustainability vision to a dominant framework in policy agendas, corporate strategies, and academic research. In Europe, for instance, CE has evolved into a pivotal strategy for tackling environmental issues and decreasing the negative impact of high-emitting sectors by translating CE principles into proactive tools encouraging the green transition of European economies. However, while widely promoted as a response to climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion, the CE has also attracted increasing scrutiny due to limited real-world impacts, rebound effects, and the persistence of efficiency-oriented approaches that leave prevailing production and consumption patterns largely unchallenged. To address this tension, this paper presents an analysis of 1,533 CE papers in the context of European countries, focusing on dominant research themes, intellectual structures, and emerging trends in the field. Our findings demonstrate the growing role of the "utopia-paralysis" tension, the relational turn beyond technocentric circularity, circular business model innovation, coopetition initiatives, platformization of the CE, just transition, and circular justice. Furthermore, alongside these dominant themes, we assess the visibility and positioning of sufficiency and regenerative economy perspectives within the broader CE literature. By situating these emerging concepts within the evolving research landscape, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on the maturity, direction, and transformative ambition of the CE as a sustainability paradigm.

The circular economy (CE) is now a cornerstone of global environmental policy. However, current debates often frame CE as a future-oriented strategy to be adopted or scaled, implicitly assuming that emerging economies and the Global South are starting from strictly linear conditions. Drawing on practice-oriented and institutional perspectives, this paper reconceptualizes CE as a set of already-operating, economically rational practices-such as repair, reuse, and informal material circulation. We argue that the central governance challenge in these contexts is not the introduction of CE from scratch, but understanding how existing circularity is recognized, reorganized, or displaced during institutionalization. By synthesizing research across capability, governance, transition, and justice-oriented framings, we illustrate how dominant models neglect everyday circularity as "informal" rather than constitutive of the system. We develop a practice-based translation perspective to distinguish between practices of CE and CE in practice, elucidating how these processes shape value creation and power relations. Ultimately, this paper posits that emerging economies are not merely "catching up," but are analytically informative settings for understanding circular governance under constraint. We conclude by outlining implications for transformative and mission-oriented innovation policy.

Green finance (GF) has emerged as a key policy instrument for advancing the circular economy (CE), yet its impact varies considerably across OECD countries. Existing research has not sufficiently examined how institutional, technological, and cultural contexts shape this relationship. This paper addresses this gap by integrating multiple theoretical perspectives: neo-institutional theory, green multi-stakeholder theory, innovation diffusion theory, and the technology-organization-environment framework, to investigate the moderating and mediating roles of cultural diversity, technological innovation, and digitalization in the GF-CE nexus. Drawing on a panel dataset covering OECD countries from 2014 to 2023 and applying fixed-effects regression analysis, we find a generally positive association between GF and CE investments. However, moderated-mediation effects reveal more complex dynamics. Technological innovation and digitalization significantly moderate the GF-CE relationship, while only digitalization exerts a positive mediating influence. Cultural diversity exhibits a dual effect: It mediates the GF-CE relationship positively but moderates it negatively. Moreover, subgroup analysis indicates that in highly circular OECD economies, GF may generate diminishing or even negative returns, particularly by constraining technological innovation. These findings highlight the contingent nature of GF effectiveness and carry important implications for tailoring CE policies to different institutional and technological contexts.

The mining sector, like other sectors of the economy, is under increasing pressure to adopt circular economy (CE) principles across its value chains and core operations. This paper offers a critical and conceptually grounded contribution to understanding how CE can support systemic transformation in one of the most resource-intensive and path-dependent sectors of the global economy. It examines the structural and institutional conditions that shape the adoption of CE in mining and identifies key tensions that constrain or enable transformative change. In parallel, the paper explores emerging pathways informed by technological innovation, shifts in production routines, and the rise of new circular business models. These insights are synthesised into a multi-level framework that captures the dynamic interactions between micro-, meso-, and macro-level processes shaping CE transitions. In addition to offering a diagnostic perspective, the framework outlines concrete action points for advancing systemic change.

PurposeThe innovation activities of firms are shaped by a variety of barriers that can, paradoxically, either stimulate or hinder their innovation performance. Collaboration among ecosystem partners is often essential for navigating these challenges, particularly in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, where persistent shortages of resources and skills make external support crucial. Despite its importance, collaboration does not uniformly yield positive outcomes and can exert a double-edged influence on innovation processes. This study examines whether innovation barriers are transformed into product and process innovations through different types of collaboration and how these mediation patterns unfold in catching-up CEE economies.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze how innovation barriers influence the innovativeness of firms, using a sample of 4,230 firms across eight CEE states. Firm-level data are drawn from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) and capture innovation barriers, product and process innovations, and three collaboration types: private market, value chain and public research. The model focuses on the mediating role of these collaboration types and includes a multi-group comparison between firms collaborating only domestically and those engaged with foreign partners.FindingsOur findings show that value-chain ties consistently channel innovation barriers into process innovation, while product innovations require public research linkages to be present. Interestingly, we show that private market ties can boost process innovation but also play an unsuccessful role in mediating innovation barriers to new products. When considering firms' international engagement, those linked with foreign cooperation partners benefit more from the public research route to product novelty, while domestically oriented firms rely more strongly on value-chain collaboration for process upgrading.Originality/valueThis paper contributes by treating collaboration as a partner-specific mediating mechanism rather than a generic enabler and by introducing a threefold distinction between private market, value-chain and public research collaboration. It provides context-sensitive evidence from underexplored CEE innovation systems on how distinct collaboration modes convert innovation barriers into product and process innovations and how these effects differ between nationally and internationally oriented firms.

The global expansion of solar energy presents a paradox: while it is a key sustainable technology, a comprehensive waste management strategy for decommissioned solar panels remains insufficient. Previous studies have examined this issue, yet waste volume estimations remain incomplete due to the exclusion of early waste streams and the failure to account for temporal fluctuations in key variables. This study addresses these gaps by employing System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) to capture a more nuanced understanding of the heterogeneity of decommissioned panels. The findings reveal significant discrepancies between projections from conventional static models and those generated by the developed model, underscoring the need for more adaptive forecasting methods that account for temporal variations and the evolving characteristics of decommissioned panels. Furthermore, this paper highlights the inefficiencies of uniform waste management approaches, emphasizing the need for differentiated strategies based on panel characteristics. Crucially, the findings challenge the recycling-centric paradigm by exposing the overlooked potential of functional discarded panels, advocating for circular strategies that prioritize reuse and secondary markets.

This paper reorients the focus of circular economy (CE) transitions by introducing the concept of locally embedded circular economy systems (LECES). Rather than treating local economies as passive recipients of global CE strategies, the paper positions them as active arenas for reconfiguring industrial logics, institutional arrangements, and resource flows. It argues that a shift toward LECES is essential for fostering inclusive, resilient, and context-sensitive pathways to circularity. The paper develops a framework to explore how circularity can serve as a catalyst for local economic revitalisation. It highlights the significance of place-based capabilities, traditional practices, local innovation systems, and inter-firm collaboration in shaping circular trajectories grounded in local specificities. The analysis identifies three interrelated pillars for embedding CE within local economies. First, Institutional anchoring refers to how local governance structures and civic engagement shape norms, policies, and regulatory frameworks. Second, Industrial integration highlights how firms collaborate to establish closed-loop systems within and across sectors. Third, Cultural and material embeddedness underscores how local traditions, identities, and resource regimes inform circular practices.

Purpose With the recent proliferation of AI, organisations are transforming not only their organisational design but also the input and output operational processes of the hiring process. The purpose of this paper is to explore the organisational and operational dimensions resulting from the deployment of AI during talent acquisition process. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted semi-structured interviews and meetings with human resources (HRs) professionals, recruiters and AI hiring platform providers in Sweden. Using an inductive data analysis rooted in the principles of grounded theory, the study uncovered four aggregate dimensions critical to understanding the role of AI in talent acquisition. Findings With insights from algorithmic management and ambidexterity theory, the study presents a comprehensive theoretical framework that highlights four aggregate dimensions describing AI’s transformative role in talent recruitment. The results provide a cautionary perspective, advising against an excessive emphasis on operational performance driven solely by algorithmic management. Research limitations/implications The study is limited in scope and subject to several constraints. Firstly, the sample size and diversity are restricted, as the findings are based on a limited number of semi-structured interviews and meetings with HRs professionals, recruiters, and AI hiring platform providers. Secondly, the rapid evolution of AI technologies means that the study’s findings may quickly become outdated as new advancements and applications emerge. Practical implications The results provide managers with actionable information that can lead to more precise and strategic management practices, ultimately contributing to improved organizational performance and outcomes. Plus, enhancing their ability to make informed decisions, optimize processes and address challenges effectively. Social implications The results signal both positive and negative impacts on employment opportunities. On the positive side, AI can streamline recruitment processes, making it easier for qualified candidates to be identified and hired quickly. However, AI systems can also perpetuate existing biases present in the data they are trained on, leading to unfair hiring practices where certain groups are systematically disadvantaged. Originality/value By examining the balance between transactional efficiency and relational engagement, the research addresses a crucial trade-off that organizations face when implementing AI in recruitment. The originality lies in its critique of the prevailing emphasis on e-recruiting.

Digital technologies are widely recognised as crucial for promoting the circular economy in industry. However, there still needs for clearer guidance for industrial practitioners on properly using digital technologies to support the implementation of the circular economy. Further efforts are needed to characterise such a relationship better. This work conducts a systematic literature review aimed at understanding the nature and scope of the relationship by examining current knowledge at the intersection of the two domains, i.e. digital technologies and the circular economy. Specifically, the analysis focuses on identifying moderators and mediators of this relationship. About the former, the study discusses the relevance of management commitment, competencies, stakeholders and contextual factors; concerning the latter, the study discusses the relevance of supply chain integration and collaboration and examines in more detail the role of digital-enabled dynamic capabilities, given their promising relevance in the current debate. Based on the review, a research agenda is proposed with suggestions for future research directions on the relationship between digital technologies and the circular economy.

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the implications of the recent European Union Regulation 2023/1542 on the circular economy and stakeholder strategies within the electric vehicle lithium-ion battery (EV-LIB) sector. It aims to explain the policy intentions, recommend practical strategies for stakeholders and examine how the new regulation exerts pressure on stakeholders to transition from older directives to more sustainable practices and operational standards, while also highlighting policy gaps.Design/methodology/approachThe research employs a dual-method approach, combining text analysis of EU legislation with semi-structured interviews of industry stakeholders. This methodology allows for a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory impacts by integrating legislative intent with practical, on-the-ground insights from key players in the EV-LIB sector.FindingsOur findings show that the three aggregated dimensions of operational sustainability, R&D and new technologies and collaborative dynamics are the key dynamics underlying the intended outcomes. The findings also highlight the policy’s historical development, the stakeholder categories, the implications for each and practical recommendations in responding to the policy requirements. Additionally, the findings identify policy gaps, such as weak incentives and broad economic operator classifications, with examples from international markets. The regulation creates proactive stakeholders driving innovation and collaboration and reactive ones adapting to changes, where static implicit implications may affect their viability by imposing unequal burdens.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze the new EU Regulation 2023/1542, offering novel insights into the strategic responses required by stakeholders to adapt to the regulatory pressures. By focusing on the latest regulatory framework and its practical implications, the study bridges the gap between policy and practice, providing valuable guidance for industry players navigating the evolving regulatory environment.Highlights(1)EU’s policy shift from Directive to Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 has extended implications on the Electric Vehicles battery sector.(2)Duel qualitative methods of text analysis and semi-structured interviews validated three aggregate dimensions and policy gaps.(3)R&D with advancing technology, Operational sustainability and safety and Collaboration dynamics are dominating the scene.(4)Emergence of Proactive vs Reactive stakeholder dynamics.(5)The broad classification of “economic operators” and insufficiently detailed incentives, hinting at potential competitive imbalances and underexplored roles of end-users in achieving circular economy goals are appearing policy’ gaps.

The circular economy (CE) model has recently gained considerable attention from academics and policy bodies as a key approach to tackling environmental problems. On the scholarly front, we have, in recent years, witnessed an exponential growth of publications with focus on CE practices. On the policy front, the CE model is embraced by regional, national, and supernational bodies who have instituted legislation to promote its evolution and sustention. The CE model is often depicted as a novel approach to transforming industries and societies in literature and policy circles. But is its practice novel? This perspective paper highlights some practices predating the recent popularization of the CE model by presenting historical illustrations. We argue that while the CE model is an important approach to mitigate climate change and is also gaining importance in the literature, some of the currently promoted CE principles were already in place in ancient times due to necessities emanating from resource scarcity.

Research in large scale infrastructure projects have argued that the overall project performance is subject to lock-in, yet this is little understood empirically and more research is needed. Recently studies reported that lock-in can occur both at the decision-making level and at the project execution level respectively. The underlying patterns influencing project scope transformation, due to evolving expectations and/or stakeholder’s perspective and the occurrence of lock-in influence in project performance. This paper explores the relationship between project scope and lock-in within large infrastructure projects in the context of cost over-run. Based on empirical data from 20 High Speed Rail (HSR) projects in Spain with multinational sets of actors, and anchored in the Management of Project (MoP) paradigm, the paper shows that a holistic perspective is essential for successful outcome. Methodologically, the paper uses data mining and a case study approach to explore mechanisms that underlie lock-in in relation with scope demarcation – tracked through contract change. It suggests that an investigation of lock-in in relationship to scope demarcation and through the lens of path dependence contributes to the understanding of cost over-run emergence. Preliminary findings highlight contract type and its content to have a great influence in cost over-run.

The configuration of closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to recover and remarket products has been discussed as a crucial pathway in the transition towards the circular economy (CE). However, in the context of the CE, circular supply chains (CSCs) have an extended role to recover materials and minimize waste that goes beyond the particular firm’s product recovery and remarketing. Thus, the open-loop supply chains (OLSCs) have an equally important role to play as supply chain configurations where actors other than the OEM engage in product and material recovery. While the literature on CLSC is a mature field, studies that analyze the complementary nature of CLSC and OLSC in addressing the transition to the CE are scant. Based on a systematic literature review (2007–2021), this paper contributes to literature by identifying some of the characteristics of OLSC, providing empirical illustrations, and developing a conceptual framework of the open- and closed-loop supply chain continuum.

The circular economy (CE) has recently gained attention as a key transformative strategy. However, as with previous transformation processes, the transition towards the CE is not a smooth process since there are underlying structural tensions in incumbent systems that need to be overcome. One industry that is currently undergoing transformative pressure is the automobile industry where the transition to electric vehicles that use lithium-ion batteries is creating structural tensions. In this paper, we adopt a multi-actor perspective and analyze the strategies that different actors pursue to manage the structural tensions that are induced by the transition towards lithium-ion batteries with the goal of creating and sustaining a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) model. Through a case study of the key actors (mining firms, material manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers, and recyclers), we reveal the particularities of managing structural tensions which are influenced by temporal, spatial, and contextual factors. We demonstrate our claim by first expanding the application boundary of the concept of structural tensions to show the interconnection between strategic choices made by actors at operational and technological levels; and second, unfolding the dynamics of managing structural tensions in the CE transitions from a multi-actor perspective. The results of this study may support industrial actors to achieve a better understanding of the consequences of their short- and long-term CE transition strategies, and resolve conflicts in visions and priorities during the transition process.

Supply network collaboration has been recognised as a vital enabler in the transition to a circular economy. Even so, the existing literature has directed limited attention to the nature of these relationships and the motivation behind them. Hence, there is a need to understand the actual activities of actors engaged in collaboration to address this knowledge gap. The steel industry presents an interesting example. Given that more than one-third of the world's steel production originates from scrap, its supply is essential to the survival of the steel industry. Based on an explorative case study, this paper investigates collaboration of steel producers, a procurement intermediary and scrap dealers to facilitate steel recycling. These actors deal with the practical challenge of variation in the quantity and quality of steel scrap by engaging in various types of collaboration. This paper seeks to analyse the nature of these collaborations and answer the question of why actors engage in supply network collaboration. The paper identifies a complex web of relationships and outlines differing motives for and against collaboration, with specific focus on three types. While quality control is the main motive in dyadic vertical collaboration between a buyer and a supplier, efficiency is the main motive for both horizontal collaboration between buyers and lateral collaboration amongst all actors in the supply network. Thus, this paper adds to the conventional wisdom of sequential, dyadic, linear and vertical relationships, providing a deeper understanding of the types of supply network collaboration from the underexplored context of steel recycling.

This paper provides an exploratory understanding of the process of knowledge-work in the inter-organisational setting of a large-scale infrastructure project. Taking a process perspective, it explores why an autonomous project-owner organisation in the rail industry sector finds difficulties to transform and exploit the project network-related knowledge in a coopetitive context. The paper builds on a case study of a High-speed Rail Line (HSL) project in Spain. Based on the longitudinal qualitative secondary analysis, the authors put forth a contingency framework that proposes four contexts linking the transformation and exploitation of the knowledge from the inter-organisational network to the project-owner organisation; whether (i) the interplay between industrial setting and the project arrangement empowers product or process knowledge and (ii) the senior, and programme management awareness to feed-forward learning relies on individual- or institutionalised-based learning. These four contexts and their underlying conditions pose different knowledge-work related problems and suggest implications for practice in inter-organisational collaboration and beyond.

Recently, fingers have been pointed towards the impacts of social media platforms' algorithms. Although billed as transformative and democratic, most social media platforms are often in the headlines for disseminating "conspiracy theories " and "fake news ". However, the debate on new technology is not new. This viewpoint puts the current debate on social platforms in the context of the historical debate. In it, we firstly provide a comprehensive review of a seminal book by Neil Postman (1985), Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Although published decades ago before the introduction of today's social media platforms, the book is today a topic du jour. Secondly, we put the analysis from the review in the context of today's social media proliferations. The originality of this review is that it describes the impact of consuming technology without questioning it and that what we are witnessing is a shift from word-centered typography to image-centered social media. Postman calls this era "the age of exposition ", which gradually intoxicates academia and political discourses, thereby losing seriousness, clarity and value within public discourse.

This chapter is based on analyzing Porter’s hypothesis stating that pollution could be seen as a kind of resource waste and that a firm’s reuse of this waste could lead to the firm’s competitive advantage, higher R&D, product innovation, and performance. However, countries in the Europe differ due to their historical legacy. Using data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey (2019), we put Porter’s hypothesis in the context of the “catching-up” countries of Central and Eastern Europe (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). These countries differ significantly from their Western neighbors, especially in terms of lower innovation performance and environmental awareness. The results of our analyses confirm the importance of environmental regulations and their influence on firms’ R&D but also show them to be triggers for environmental awareness among firms. By contrast, we do not confirm the validity of the strong version of Porter’s hypothesis, which expects environmental regulations to impact the performance of firms in the countries studied. In addition, we point out an important role of firms’ R&D within product innovation processes. This chapter brings several contributions. From the theoretical point of view, we link theory regarding the validity of Porter’s hypothesis on the “catching-up literature” and on firms’ environmental awareness. From the practical perspective, we provide practical implications.