Made of oysters, hemp and shuttlecocks: a study of cross-industrial collaboration for the circular economy

Purpose Recent supply chain research highlights the importance of studying collaborative practices to achieve a circular economy. It shows that one lever for scaling up the model could be systemic operations involving collaborations going beyond traditional industrial boundaries in order to access new resources for circular supply chains. This paper thus aims to study cross-industrial circular collaborations (CICCs), how they emerge, how they function and what factors affect their development and outcomes. Design/methodology/approach This is an explorative, qualitative study of four circular supply networks straddling different industrial sectors. The theoretical approach is based on the inter-organisational proximity framework which captures the geographical, cognitive, organisational, institutional and social convergence factors of these collaborations. Findings The study proposes that five dimensions of proximity need to be acted on to create the right level of convergence and that this varies over the phases of emergence and functioning of CICCs. The efforts to bring these actors together depend on the degree of convergence actions needed and other contextual factors relevant to the circular economy. Practical implications Managers and policy makers can benefit from this study that provides a first list of facilitating factors and obstacles to the realisation of these cross-industrial collaborations, along with examples of actions to help organisations from different industries converge for effective circular outcomes. Originality/value The paper contributes to the body of knowledge on cross-industrial innovations and circular collaborations by adopting the organisational network as the unit of analysis and analysing them in the specific context of circular operations.