All for One and One for All: Inter‐Firm Collaboration in the Transformation Towards a Circular Economy

ABSTRACT Collaboration is central to the circular economy. This study examines ways companies can advance the circular economy in their business operations through inter‐firm collaboration. The empirical data consist of 43 semi‐structured interviews with representatives of Finnish companies of different sizes and sectors that have implemented aspects of circularity in their operations. The findings reveal that companies approach inter‐firm collaboration by means familiar from the linear economy, for example, pooling resources. Still, inter‐firm collaboration can advance a circular economy: It not only helps individual companies in their pursuit of a circular economy but wider collaboration can also nudge whole sectors towards the circular transformation. In addition, inter‐firm collaboration can introduce new norms for conducting business. In the circular economy context, it was found that inter‐firm collaboration is currently a way for companies to overcome inadequacies in the system that are largely due to the relative novelty of the circular economy model.