Enablers for circular ecosystem transformation: A multi-case study of Brazilian circular ecosystems

Although a growing research stream indicates that many firms have transformed their ecosystems toward a circular ecosystem, the current scholarship provides limited theoretical and empirical insights into the enablers of this transformation process. In order to clarify some of these enablers, our research settings consisted of 7 focal firms engaged in transforming their business ecosystems into circular ecosystems. We adopted a theoretical sampling to perform longitudinal research from 2008 until 2023. Building on rich multiple case studies, we identify four categories of enablers: affiliation, interdependence, alignment, and ecosystem engineering. Based on these themes, we propose a new theoretical framework that characterizes theoretical and empirical insights regarding how to facilitate circular ecosystem transformation. The proposed framework opens up new opportunities to explore potential enablers to leverage circular ecosystem configurations, which are unique and whose multidirectional value alignment is much more challenging than a single firm's structures.