Meeting the demands of a circular economy entails substantial organizational change and innovation, particularly by industrial incumbent organizations. This paper aims to deepen understanding of how such organizations use management controls to strengthen circular principles and drive innovation, while also shedding light on tensions in the management control system that may occur following the contrasting logics of linearity and circularity. The study collects qualitatively rich empirical data from three large industrial organizations in Sweden, employing 38 semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. The study suggests that the management control system serves as a valuable instrument for implementing circular principles through interventions, and conversely, as a system that can entrench a linear logic in organizations. Specifically, the analysis reveals that while circular principles are not fully integrated into all aspects of the management control systems, specific identified factors enable or impede innovation in the circular transformation. Imbalances and inconsistencies in the use of action-, result-, and cultural controls were also identified. The practical implications emphasize a risk of reducing circular initiatives to minor improvements without a comprehensive understanding of the needed radical changes and corresponding adjustments to the management control system. Overall, the research provides valuable and qualitatively rich insights connecting the adoption of the circular economy in incumbent organizations and further strengthens the bridge between literature on innovation management, circular economy, and management control systems, highlighting the importance of addressing tensions and imbalances for successful circular transformations.

Innovation and its management in retail organisations is an emerging field, yet the measurement of innovation in this context remains challenging and under-researched. The study investigates innovation in large Swedish retail companies, focusing on monitoring and measurement of innovation performance. Through a qualitative, multiple case study, our findings reveal that retailers are aiming to become more active innovators. They are exerting a greater control over the innovation process, implementing a range of financial and non-financial indicators that encompass inputs, outputs, and the process itself. Innovation projects serve as vehicles for experimentation and learning about how to improve the structure of innovation efforts. However, challenges still arise when strategic objectives are not aligned with performance measurements across the organisation. Nonetheless, existing performance measurement practices can support innovation capability development in retail, especially in relation to culture and competence development and utilising external knowledge for open innovation. The paper advances theory by offering insights into how retailers gain more control of innovation through measurement, contributing to the growing landscape of strategic innovation management in retail. We propose a model, informed by theoretically built framework and empirical data, to guide retail organisations in defining new measurements that promote a holistic perspective to building innovation capability.

Enabling a shift towards a Circular Economy (CE) relies on the alliance of existing and new stakeholders, their innovations and capabilities, and new ways of working together to achieve a new system-level goal. This paper scrutinizes the emergence of CE ecosystems with a particular focus on two frontrunner actors: one large industrial manufacturer and one municipality within the same geographical region, both with the same ambition to drive a CE transition. Specifically, it investigates what CE ecosystems are emerging, each actor's role in these, and their untapped circularity potential. Based on interviews with respondents from each actor, the study contributes to the emerging literature on how CE ecosystems arise and develop. Furthermore, the paper discusses how the actors could seize missed potential opportunities for circular ecosystems in the region studied.

Our knowledge of how to design innovation ecosystems that effectively deal with grand challenges or wicked problems is currently insufficient due to a lack of understanding of their joint innovation processes. Through the use of an in-depth case of an innovation ecosystem designed to combat organized crime, this study shows how diverse government authorities manoeuvre innovation and interact to continuously make the challenge amenable and identify and implement provisional and innovative solutions. Drawing on extensive data gathered from observations, documentation, and interviews with multiple stakeholders, we contribute to the innovation ecosystem literature by offering a model of three interdependent and complementary innovation processes: responsive, preventive, and tactical innovation, supporting an ongoing and distributed experimentation among diverse actors. Furthermore, we emphasize the use of a hybrid interorganizational structure that combines hierarchical and horizontal structures, over one that is entirely network-based, and we highlight the crucial role of a focal collective actor as opposed to a single orchestrator of the ecosystem. Finally, the study suggests attention not only to strengths and complementary attributes but also to vulnerabilities and gaps between involved actors, providing unique innovation opportunities. The paper offers valuable guidance to designers and coordinators of innovation ecosystems addressing grand challenges.

The transition to a Circular Economy (CE) promises improved work quality, social inclusion, and solutions to climate breakdown, resource scarcity, and biodiversity loss. However, its social sustainability implications particularly on a global scale remains unclear. Given the important role of Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) in this transition, it is crucial to examine their integration of social sustainability in relation to their transition to CE. This paper enhances understanding of MNCs' engagement in fostering a just transition to CE. Semi-structured interviews (n=22) were conducted with an MNC and actors within its innovation ecosystem in both a high-income and a lower middle-income country (LMIC). The study reveals (1) the early, substantial, yet fragmented efforts by the MNC to integrate social sustainability and CE, distinguishing between compliance and strategic practices; (2) the untapped potential in subsidiaries and suppliers in LMICs; (3) contrasting perceptions concerning the implications and handling of procedural and distributional justice of CE, currently undiscussed. The study advances the emerging discourse on CE and justice and the role of social sustainability practices in providing opportunities and challenges for a just and inclusive CE innovation ecosystem. 

Management control systems offers powerful ways of guiding employee behavior and implementing organizational strategy. Given the new business logic and the extensive and complex challenges that industrial firms face in light of a circular economy transition, this paper is oriented around two questions. First, the compatibility between traditional management control systems and circular economy. Second, how management control systems can support the radical transformation of firms that circular economy entails. By scrutinizing extant research on MCS, six propositions are developed and grounded in empirical illustrations. These propositions hold relevant implications for practitioners, and several promising avenues for future research are highlighted.

Circular economy (CE) is gaining interest among industrial firms in light of sustainability concerns, and several incumbent firms are integrating it into their strategy. In this study, we scrutinize learnings from three large established industrial firms with a clear CE agenda and that are front‐runners in CE strategy deployment. We analyze exploitation and exploration approaches to CE and problematize how these approaches relate to radical innovation, which we argue is critical for achieving CE. Semi‐structured interviews ( n  = 30) were used to collect data. We found several issues referring to (1) challenges and approaches to normative management, (2) how the innovation ecosystem is engaged, (3) how goals and metrics relate to CE, and (4) resources and coordination regarding the CE initiative. Overall, current exploitative approaches are favored over explorative, mirroring an undesired imbalance between the two. We suggest several ways to counteract this. For example, (1) addressing existing norms so that they align with the ambitions in CE, (2) actively managing collaboration in the innovation ecosystem, including radically new setups of different actors, and (3) that managers need to carefully consider when and how to use goals and measurements in a circular strategy deployment, to foster both radical and incremental innovation.

Barriers to access-based consumption (ABC) have been extensively studied in different strands of literature. However, cumulative knowledge is not organized to date, and a comprehensive overview of barriers identified by empirical studies in diverse strands is lacking. Such a picture is essential for laying the ground for further change-oriented research and actual changes in practice. This article reports on the results of a systematic review on barriers to transitioning from ownership- to access-based consumption. The review focuses on the literature strands product-service systems, circular economy, sharing economy, and collaborative consumption. Through open and axial coding of 289 barriers reported in 45 empirical studies, we found 17 themes of barriers concerning consumers, business, and society. The analysis of the barriers reveals four significant insights important for the research and practitioner community:

1. the overall experience of ABC and trust mechanisms need to be better understood;
2. organizational aspects in traditional business need a system change;
3. regulation plays a fundamental role in making ABC work for business, society, and sustainability; and
4. sharing risks and experimentation for new learnings are necessary.

These four major insights suggest that consumers need business and government to offer enabling conditions for ABC – spanning from raising awareness and understanding to improving user experience. Furthermore, businesses need governments to create the necessary structures to support ABC offerings – from decreasing risks to increasing incentives. How and which mechanisms can further facilitate circular behaviors is a salient topic for future investigations.

For industrial incumbents seeking business opportunities in line with sustainable development needs, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has gained significant traction. However, getting from a strategic ambition toward actions and innovations entails many challenges for organizations. In particular, one frequently overlooked issue relates to the use of management controls in relation to the CE strategy. Using data collected through a participatory action research collaboration spanning five years, this paper aims to give a detailed and empirically based description and analysis of how a frontrunner company has approached innovation goals and measurements in light of its CE strategy deployment. By analyzing the development in the case organization, key purposes behind CE metrics are discussed and analyzed together with challenges expressed by interviewees. In particular, our findings advocate the need for experimentation, ideation, and learning, rather than highly specific and restricting control measures.