Circular Economy Ecosystem Coordination: A comparative study of two sectoral cases

Circular solutions require a systemic approach involving multiple actors within and across industrial sectors. This has implications for the structure and dynamics within geographically bounded entrepreneurial ecosystems. Actors within the entrepreneurial ecosystem assume the role of ‘system coordination’ but very little is known about this role. As circular solutions and transformations cannot be realized in isolation, a better understanding of this coordination role is pertinent, which actors perform it and the strategies they use to overcome challenges. We conduct a comparative study of two sectoral cases in the Netherlands. Our preliminary findings from the case on circular textiles shows that coordination is distributed among several and diverse ecosystem actors to close technical material flows, whereas our preliminary findings in agri-food show that coordination is concentrated among actors that explicitly assume the coordination role to close biological material flows. We intend to make novel contributions to the literature on circular economy business transformation and entrepreneurial ecosystems as well as provide insights on the system coordination role for policy makers and practitioners.