New article published on the dynamics of inter-organizational collaboration along the value chain in the transition to a circular economy
Based on a 1-year research project with a European industry consortium that spans the entire value chain of flexible packaging, this paper provides unique insights into the inter-organizational process among firms as they collaboratively make sense of changes required – to transform the value chain from linear to circular, and to align on a common pathway to achieve the required change.
Collaboration is key to transform value chains from linear to circular. But the efforts needed to reach alignment on a transformation pathway between the diverse stakeholders are often underestimated.
Over 1 year, we worked with stakeholders of DownloadCEFLEX - A Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging, a European industry consortium that spans the entire value chain of flexible packaging in a collaborative research project to identify topics of diverging opinions and facilitate the negotiation process among the firms to reach aligned position statements that would serve as guidance for the industry transition.
Our paper now published in Organization & Environment shows that the alignment process is heavily influenced by power play, silo mentality and struggles of identity. Stakeholders need to jointly make sense of the needed change on three levels—organization, value chain, and ecosystem— as they provide different reference frames needed to understand the interdependencies between firms, embrace compromise and collectively develop and align on a transition pathway.
Read the paper Downloadhere.