Moving Beyond Circular Utopia and Paralysis: Accelerating Business Transformations Towards the Circular Economy

The circular economy constitutes a paradigm shift which has proven to be both engaging and unrealistic. While scholars and practitioners have started to advocate for a move toward the circular economy, promising a full reconfiguration of underlying practices and processes, many have become disillusioned about the lack of traction and progress. The circular economy transition has fallen between utopia and paralysis. This article discusses circular utopia and paralysis from a social-symbolic perspective, examining discursive, relational, and material inflators and impediments of the circular economy transition, and the business transformations that have been pursued to navigate within the pragmatic in-between state. We develop a Circular Economy Business Transformation Framework, which assesses how organizations can combat utopia or overcome paralysis and subsequently position the special issue papers within it. We conclude with an agenda for future research aimed at finding pragmatic and actionable, yet significant, business transformations toward the circular economy.