Considering entrepreneurship and bricolage connections with the circular economy

Abstract

The focal article by Schilling et al. (2026) advances an important discussion of how industrial-organizational psychology can enable circular economy implementation within established organizations and deepen our understanding of how these processes work. Much of the discussion in the focal article on circular economy implementation focuses on how incumbent organizations can adapt their existing production and management systems. Less attention has been given to which types of companies and contexts are likely to adopt and test circular economy elements. Organizations of all sizes share a responsibility in advancing the circular economy. Large established corporations and organizational ecosystems have established processes and supply chains that rely on significant workforces trained and rewarded to operate within them. A circular economy does not emerge solely through scale but through distributed adaptation. Implementing a circular economy in such well-established companies or ecosystems is a difficult task beyond small-scale pilots or experiments.