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The EU agri-food sector, which is mainly composed of small and medium-sized enterprises has become more demanding in terms of technological inputs to reduce costs, improve the added value of food products, achieve sustainability issues, or address new market opportunities. The introduction of new technologies poses challenges for SMEs that lack the resources and time to cope with the technological transformation, which involves not only the assimilation of new technology in organizational processes but also business model innovation. In this context, this research aims to empirically explore the paths of agri-food SMEs engaged in the technological transformation process, based on the drivers and barriers, as well as the strategies used by these companies to overcome these barriers. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 14 EU agri-food SMEs were conducted and analysed using a combination of deductive pattern-matching and inductive approach. Based on similarities in terms of drivers, barriers, and strategies, seven main groups were identified to draw the paths of the technological transformation process for agri-food SMEs. Findings reveal that there is one common strategy that is adopted by all 14 companies, namely the employment of different types of partnerships and collaborations that allow companies to successfully enter new markets. The study contributes to the literature on technology transformation related to the agri-food sector, by proving insights into how EU agri-food SMEs cope with this process.

Traditional industries, seen as cultural heritages, need to be innovative to grow and survive in the era of fast technological advancement. Traditional industries are continuously encountering decline. This research aims at identifying and addressing barriers to innovation to make an informed decision for better survival and improvement. A review of literature was used to propose a hierarchical structure of criteria in which innovation barriers were categorized into organizational, environmental, and supply chain dimensions. An online questionnaire was designed based on a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method called Best–Worst Method (BWM) to identify the importance of the barriers. The opinion of 41 experts working in the Iranian Carpet and Leather industries was collected. The results indicate that organizational culture and management support are the most important barriers to innovation in the Leather and Carpet industries. We also found that environmental criteria are the least important criteria in both selected traditional industries. Results illustrated that the two industries have no significant difference in the three perspectives.

Purpose: While new rich learning opportunities emerged through the introduction of Innovation Platforms (IPs) in agricultural value chains, the extent to which IPs enhance farmer experiential learning is still unclear.Design/methodology/approach: This paper brings clarity to the above question by interviewing 91 coffee IP farmers. Data were analyzed through content analysis to generate overarching themes for farmers’ experiences, learning activities, and outcomes.Findings: Results reveal that participation in IP learning activities generates farmers’ knowledge to cope with coffee value chain challenges. Specifically, farmers’ making-meaning of challenges and generating new solutions represents an iteration between individual critical reflection and experimentation of value chain activities. The IPs facilitated multi-directional knowledge flowsamong farmers by mobilizing necessary resources.Practical implications: As many Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) governments cannot provide sufficient extension support, farmers increasingly rely on IPs whose processes stimulate members’ learning commitment and endeavors. Nevertheless, Governments can use these findings to tailor the design and implementation ofIPs to farmers’ experiential learning processes.Theoretical implications: The study contributes to experiential theory in the context of agriculture by advancing a model on how IPs can accelerate farmers’ experiential learning processes based on the challenges experienced.Originality/value: This article extends knowledge of experiential learning in IPs context.

Despite the evident upsurge of e-commerce (EC) over the past decades, the peak of online demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the huge involvement of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the online businesses to survive, the extant literature has neglected to analyse how MSEs orchestrate their resources between internal and external investments. Past studies, also in the case of SMEs, have tended to adopt a more firm-centric perspective focusing on the organisational conditions that determine firms’ performance after the usage of EC, failing to explore the inter-organisational relations between MSEs and other actors in their ecosystem. Indeed, as MSEs may suffer from liability of smallness and lack of resources, they may rely more than other actors on the nexus of relations that emerge within the digital ecosystem generated through the usage of EC platforms. By relying on 37 interviews with owners or managers of MSEs operating in the food and beverage industry, we investigate the dynamics of resource distribution between MSEs and the other actors in the EC ecosystem. We identified the changes in interdependencies, the information asymmetries, and the power imbalances related to the interplay between MSEs and other actors within the EC ecosystem.

The paper presents an integrated framework of success and failure factors of agricultural cooperatives and its applicability based on a review of recent literature and an illustrative case study. We identify six categories of success and failure factors: the societal environment, quality of management, strategy, member base, commitment, and product aspects. Contrary to expectations that failure factors mirror success factors, the framework shows that the two represent distinctive features in at least some of the distinguished categories. The analysis of an agricultural cooperative in Peru, selected and presented as an illustrative case study, shows the applicability of the framework for the analysis of success and failure factors of cooperatives., International Journal on Food System Dynamics, Vol 14, No 1 (2023)

Women entrepreneurs’ performance in connection to their contribution to family livelihood in developing countries is yet an under-researched potential for addressing poverty and its roots. Their performance can be characterised as multi-dimensional. Next to business performance (e.g. profitability and growth), women entrepreneurs aim at a personal- and a societal performance as well. Although such a multi-dimensional performance reflects the interplay between the individual and the communal nature of entrepreneurship, especially in developing countries, the conditions for women to achieve this performance in such challenging contexts seem still unfavourable. This study analyses how entrepreneurial orientation (EO), distinguished in its three dimensions, of women entrepreneurs operating in a constrained context can leverage their business performance so that they can enhance their societal performance, in this case, their family livelihood. In particular, antecedents of EO, determinants of business performance and its influence on family livelihood are researched. The results of a structural equation model on data collected from Bangladeshi women entrepreneurs suggest that the financial capital and education level are antecedents positively influencing innovative- and pro-active EO, whereas risk-taking EO is positively influenced by financial capital only. EO, financial capital, business training and experience have a direct positive influence on women’s business performance, whereas barriers in the social environment exert a direct negative influence. Apparently, women entrepreneurs appear to fuel and shape their EO in such a manner that through their business performance, a strong contribution to their family livelihood is given.

The 2008–2009 global economic downturn emphasized the role of demand contractions and the potential mediation role of trade on firms' performance in times of crisis. Evidence in anticyclical sectors such as the food industry is scarce. Using European firm-level data on the 2008–2009 crisis, we explore (i) whether the internal demand or market synchronism (external demand) prevailed when assessing their relation with the crisis and (ii) the role innovation strategies played in mitigating this in weathering the drop in demand. Results indicate that the more internationalized firms are, the more they suffer from economic crises, with exporters the most affected, but that innovation can have a mitigating role. [EconLit Citations: F14, G01, O32].

The phrase “local collective action” is increasingly being used to describe how civil society engages with, and acts upon, sustainability transformations. While existing research has framed local collective action as an outcome of creating a shared agenda on a local level, there have been calls for exploring the diversity of ideas, motives, and ambitions people have when they join local energy initiatives. This article aims to identify the diverse attitudes towards local collective action envisioned by those who engage in local energy initiatives. We use Q methodology to analyze people’s perceptions of the local collective action they are engaged in and how those perceptions could manifest in different pathways for sustainability transformations. Forty-seven statements reflecting various approaches to local collective action were sorted by people engaged in various local energy initiatives in the northeast of the Netherlands. Based on the analysis, we distinguish four factors—Localism, Facilitation, Orchestration, and Radical Transformation—that express the diverse aspirations, motivations, and rationales associated with local collective action in local energy initiatives. The findings emphasize that for those engaged in local energy initiatives (LEIs), local collective action means navigating among different assumptions, values, and transformation processes, which often oscillate between guiding principles that emphasize “getting things done” and “creating a pleasant atmosphere”. We argue that these four factors can serve as a starting point for developing local collective action strategies to help local communities and authorities unpack possible tensions, confrontations, and conflicts concerning local energy initiatives. These findings point out that while local energy initiatives rely on people’s energy and enthusiasm, practitioners and governments should be cautious while embracing their ambitions and values.

Previous Responsible Innovation (RI) research has provided valuable insights on the value conflicts inherent to societally desirable innovation. By observing the responses of firms to these conflicts, Value-sensitive Absorptive Capacity (VAC) captures the organizational capabilities to become sensitive to these value conflicts and thus, innovate more responsibly. In this article, we construct a survey instrument to assess VAC, based on previous work by CSR and RI scholars. The construct and concurrent validity of the instrument were tested in an empirical study, including 109 employees of 30 food manufacturing firms. The results from the survey were then compared with the conceptual VAC dimensions. With this comparison, we do not only contribute to the substantiation of the VAC construct, but we also show how inductive and deductive approaches can be combined to build theory regarding RI in a transdisciplinary manner.

Actors, including economists, carry a responsibility for their actions and the consequences thereof seems obvious. In economics and among large numbers of economists this notion that economists should be responsible for their actions and the consequences thereof is not shared widely, as the financial crisis of 2007–8 and its aftermath indicated. We address related issues: economics has not really allowed conceptual space for the concept of responsibility. Responsibility, as commonly understood, is a duty or obligation of one particular individual towards others, such as individuals or institutions including the state. Individuals can thus be ‘held responsible’ for how their (lack of) actions affect others in a broad sense. We define responsibility as one’s self-limiting and self-assumed obligation towards others to be aware of how one’s actions have consequences for others–consequences which one is obliged to factor in when deciding upon an action. In this sense, we build on the work of Young ([2006]. Responsibility and Global Justice–a social connection model. Social Philosophy and Policy, 23 (1), 102–130.). Failure to factor in the consequences of one’s actions on others trying to avoid damage to others, even more than seeking others’ benefit, is a failure to behave responsibly. We discuss what this entails for the discussion about a professional code of conduct for economists. A code of conduct (rather than a law), i.e. a set of agreed upon rules to guide preferred behaviours of economists about what it means to act responsibly, will only prescribe to the extent that economists choose to have it affect their behaviour.

The Stage-Gate process is a tool used by innovation managers to rationalize resource allocation the innovation process by breaking the innovation process into different stages, and determining progress and prospects at gates using pre-determined criteria. This study determines the performance impact of investing financial resources relatively heavily in the front-end or early stages of new product development (NPD) projects. Data was collected for NPD projects for one of the largest consumer electronics firms in the world. Investing relative more resources in front-end activities positively affects performance. The degree of newness of an NPD project positively moderates this relationship.

In this article, a systematic approach is suggested to identify unexplored opportunities and recommend a business model for sustainability for startups. Considering a particular sector, following the proposed approach, an entrepreneur should first determine the importance of the different areas which could be improved in that sector. Then the current performance of these areas is also evaluated. Subsequently, by an importance-performance analysis, an entrepreneur can obtain information on areas that can be improved but that are currently underperforming. These are the areas that can be considered as opportunities with high success rate by the entrepreneurs for being survival. The proposed approach is applied to the case of dairy farming in The Netherlands. Data is collected from a sample of top experts in this field and analyzed using best-worst method and importance-performance analysis. We found that, of the technological, social, and organizational areas in Dutch dairy farming, the social area is the one area where the performance does not reflect its importance. Following the business model for sustainability, the entrepreneurs are advised to adopt archetypes that are suitable for the social area.

Efficient knowledge and information transfer within as well as across organizational boundaries are of a proven importance for survival and growth of firms. At the same time, however, on the one hand, knowledge available within organizations is not always used to its full capacity, at times at the considerable detriment of organizations involved. Furthermore, on the other hand, despite the recognized importance of an efficient interorganizational knowledge transfer, many collaborations have not delivered on their promises. Merges and acquisitions deals, for instance, are prone to fail. The goal of this article is to propose and illustrate a conceptual argument why knowledge and information transfer that crosses departmental and firm boundaries, and in doing so often also domain or disciplinary boundaries, is challenging.

Significant detrimental effects of agricultural intensification and specialization are becoming increasingly evident. Reliance on monocultures, few varieties, and intensive use of agrochemicals is a major factor in climate change, biodiversity decline, soil health deterioration, and pollution, putting our food system at risk. This requires sustainable agricultural processes, such as crop diversification, to be more rapidly and effectively tested, adopted, and scaled. While these processes are typically introduced at niche level, they often struggle to scale and to induce broader sustainability transitions. In this study, we investigate how scaling may occur, focusing on institutional logics, their changes, and realignment over time. In particular, we applied an abductive research strategy to collect empirical evidence from two in-depth, longitudinal case studies of innovation niches related to crop diversification. Doing so, we show for the first time that, despite their many differences, scaling processes of crop diversification in both niches converge, presenting similar progressions in terms of institutional dimensions, and facing similar obstacles when it comes to value chain formation. While initial experimentation could still be implemented using organizational forms familiar to the lead actors, we discover that a systemic lack of adequate value chain arrangements obstructed the scaling process of crop diversification in both cases. These findings have been used to reflect on the role of value chain relations in scaling processes in sustainability transitions in agriculture.

This chapter discusses finance and accounting in the circular economy transition. Strategic decision-making in organisations is determined mostly by financial ratios to maximise financial profits. When companies adopt a circular business model, creating a positive environmental impact becomes part of the strategy and needs to be accounted for. Unfortunately, accounting for circular business output and impact is at odds with classical accounting, which is based on linear business models. By using data from three business cases that are in the process of creating a viable circular business model, we show opportunities and bottlenecks of financial accounting and financing for companies with circular business models. The inability of current accounting principles and structures to register the additional value of circular business models, coupled with the lack of understanding surrounding the risks involved, is a major hurdle for valuing and funding these business models.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are pushed to introduce new technologies due to different requirements and changes in the business setting. The SMEs' transformation to exploit new technologies is challenging given their lack of resources and the complexity of technological transformation, which encompasses technology assimilation and business model innovation (BMI). Although studies recognize the complementarity of technology assimilation and BMI for benefiting from technology, the literature is fragmented, and the technological transformation phenomenon remains abstract, especially in the SMEs' context. To improve understanding of technological transformation in SMEs, a systematic literature review was performed on 165 peer-reviewed papers published from 1999 to 2022, building upon BMI and technology assimilation constructs. The descriptive analysis outlines the field's evolution in terms of research and technological trends. The content analysis shows that: most papers focus on factors; the literature falls short of providing theoretical conceptualization and guidelines for the technological transformation process; only a few studies are dedicated to assessing the outcomes of technological transformation in SMEs; and the papers suggest that SMEs present a low transformation level. Finally, we inductively built a framework for technological transformation and suggest five research avenues.

The purpose of this study is to examine the reported architectural approaches and governance mechanisms for digital business ecosystems (DBEs). A systematic literature review is employed, in which 92 relevant articles are selected for analysis. This study provides an overview of articles, reports the formal modeling notations, modeling viewpoints, and design patterns used for DBEs in the reviewed articles, discusses DBE governance mechanisms, and provides evidence of the alignment between DBE architecture and DBE governance.

The cultivation of renewable raw materials on arable land is challenged by the ongoing fuel-versus-food debate resulting from increases in maize cultivation, shorter crop rotations and land competition. Accordingly, the current legal framework for biogas production in Germany focuses on limiting cultivation of traditional biogas substrates, such as silage maize, and promoting the use of various alternatives, such as waste materials and by-products. One new sustainable substrate alternative is the use of cereal straw compacted to pellets. Although straw pellets generally have good fermentation properties, they are still rarely used in German biogas production. Since earlier research on agricultural production practices in general has shown that farmers can be divided into groups regarding their acceptance behaviour and the speed to successfully adopt innovative practices and technologies on their farm, this study addresses the research question: How can biogas plant operators in Germany be categorised with regards to their intention to use straw pellets as innovative and sustainable substrate alternatives? In order to answer this question an exploratory factor analysis and subsequent hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted with survey data obtained from German biogas plant operators (n = 309) in early 2021. Based on variables indicating the intention to use and use behaviour regarding straw pellets in biogas plants, four clusters are identified. Plant operator’s innovativeness, perceived risk and the influence of social environment show differences between the clusters. Additionally, the characteristics of the innovation “straw pellets”, such as economic performance and sustainability, were assessed differently by the four clusters of German biogas plant operators. While the clusters do not show significant differences in the socio-demographic characteristics, they do so in the farm characteristics (farm activities besides biogas production, size of the plant, the proportion of slurry/dung and silage maize). According to the results two of the four clusters have a higher acceptance of straw pellets, which also means that they are earlier in considering the actual use. The initiation of regional working groups, information campaigns and financial incentives can support plant operators, especially in the two clusters of potential early adopters, in accepting straw pellets. This should ultimately result in a faster and wider use of straw pellets as substrates in the whole biogas sector.

CONTEXT: Digital technologies nowadays play a major role in innovation within the agri-food domain. The evolution of IT systems has currently arrived at a level that involves complex systems integration and business ecosystems in which many stakeholders in different roles are involved. A new paradigm for digital innovation is needed that copes with this increased complexity. OBJECTIVE: This paper presents an empirically informed framework for analysing and designing viable, sustainable digital innovation ecosystems in the agri-food domain. METHODS: The research is based on a series of European large-scale public-private innovation projects from 2011 to 2021 with a total budget of 73 M€. They involved hundreds of stakeholders that were developing a large number of digital solutions through which a digital innovation ecosystem for agri-food was formed. In a longitudinal study, a conceptual framework was used to analyse these projects and describe how the digital innovation ecosystem has developed. Lessons learnt are translated into a number of design principles and an organizational approach to foster digital innovation ecosystems in agri-food. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The conceptual framework consists of 6 key concepts: (i) innovation strategy, (ii) innovation organization, (iii) innovation network that contains (iv) the innovation process and (v) the innovation object and finally (vi) an innovation infrastructure. Along these 6 concepts, lessons learnt and in total 21 design principles are derived from analysing the projects forming a basis for the organizational framework. At the core of this framework is a lean multi-actor approach to trials and use case development interacting with a set of multidisciplinary activities: (i) developing a common technical collaboration infrastructure, (ii) identifying value streams with user engagement, (iii) engaging the right partners and stakeholders at the right time supported by strategic project planning and dynamic management. The most important conclusion is that effective, successful and quick use of appropriate IT in agri-food requires that actors should not be analysed in isolation from both their technological and business environment. Another consequence is that a ‘minimal viable ecosystem’ only emerges after considerable time, resources and ingenuity is invested and may require outside (government) intervention. SIGNIFICANCE: Results from this paper can be used both by public and private stakeholders to diagnose and improve digital innovation projects and develop viable, sustainable digital innovation ecosystems in agri-food.

The actual real-life challenges that research practitioners (and others) face when attempting to work transdisciplinarily are not well documented. To encourage reflection, WUR organised the Wageningen Integration for Impact event in June 2022. Based on an analysis of lessons learned during this event, and a number of subsequent reflection sessions, a group of mostly WUR researchers developed this report. The aim is to identify strategies to overcome often experienced challenges among researchers engaging in transdisciplinary research. We developed a number of recommendations: 1. Embed learning about transdisciplinary research better in the organisational culture. 2. Acknowledge and value the expertise that is required to bring together different types of knowledge. 3. Identify and apply specific selection criteria for project leaders and business developers, so that people are selected based on their expertise in managing transdisciplinary projects. 4. Acknowledge that politics are part and parcel of transdisciplinary research and develop a clear vision on how to navigate knowledge politics as WUR. 5. Lobby for more flexible and longer-term funding; apply this to internal research projects. 6. Strengthen and professionalize transdisciplinary education at BSc, MSc and PhD level, as students are the future. 7. Build on and nourish the positive energy that exists within knowledge institutes among a growing group of researchers who is eager to work transdisciplinarily. The above mentioned suggestions could result in a (WUR) community which, on the longer-term, could contribute significantly to the co-creation of societally relevant solutions but also to bringing the conceptual discussions about transdisciplinarity to a higher level.

The transition towards a circular economy within the construction industry continues to be a formidable challenge. One reason why the construction industry is not at the forefront of circularity is due to the complexity of ecosystem-level organizational forms. In the construction industry, the product-based organizational form characterizes an ecosystem structure with multilateral interdependencies among firms seems to be a more compatible approach towards circularity. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted into how the inter-organizational arrangements and interdependencies of actors within a product-based structure affect the orchestration and alignment between different firms during the implementation of new circular practices in the construction industry. Using an explanatory multi-grounded theory approach, this study investigates how product-based organizational forms affect partner alignment in construction ecosystems compared to project-based organizational forms during the implementation of new practices within the wider transition towards circularity. Based on a multiple-case study involving seven ecosystems, it is suggested that there is a positive connection between a construction ecosystem implementing a product-based approach and the extent of partner alignment being performed by the lead firms as well as a stronger iterative use of orchestration mechanisms to achieve partner alignment. The findings are relevant for both business ecosystems and sustainability scholars.

In recent years, the rapid growth of user-generated content has led to much research evaluating the patterns of online information exchange. These studies demonstrate that online communities are valuable data sources which provide rich, longitudinal data that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible to access. Given the increased research interest, mining and analysing online social networks has become an important research domain, encompassing a variety of approaches. To analyse the large number of observations commonly found in online communities, we propose to first mine the data using a so-called Webscraper and then combine Social Network Analysis (SNA) with Sentiment Analysis to explore both content and relationships. The hands-on approach described in this article is targeted at researchers without a background in technical disciplines. Instead of focusing on some of the specific algorithms that facilitate the mining and analysis of online data, we describe how to use and combine out-of-the-box solutions to collect and analyse the online network data. Moreover, we document the steps taken and present important lessons learnt throughout the process of collecting and analysing data from an online health community with 108,569 registered users who contributed to 197,980 discussions with a total of 484,250 replies. In sum, our method proposes to: • Extract all relevant data from an openly accessible online community using a Webscraper. • Determine and visualise the relationships between users and the properties of the social network as a whole using Social Network Analysis. • Conduct Sentiment Analysis to detect the emotional tone of the online contributions, and to possibly infer further variables from the text such as the personality characteristics of users.

The actual real-life challenges that research practitioners (and others) face when attempting to work transdisciplinarily are not well documented. To encourage reflection, WUR organised the Wageningen Integration for Impact event in June 2022. Based on an analysis of lessons learned during this event, and a number of subsequent reflection sessions, a group of mostly WUR researchers developed this report. The aim is to identify strategies to overcome often experienced challenges among researchers engaging in transdisciplinary research. We developed a number of recommendations: 1. Embed learning about transdisciplinary research better in the organisational culture. 2. Acknowledge and value the expertise that is required to bring together different types of knowledge. 3. Identify and apply specific selection criteria for project leaders and business developers, so that people are selected based on their expertise in managing transdisciplinary projects. 4. Acknowledge that politics are part and parcel of transdisciplinary research and develop a clear vision on how to navigate knowledge politics as WUR. 5. Lobby for more flexible and longer-term funding; apply this to internal research projects. 6. Strengthen and professionalize transdisciplinary education at BSc, MSc and PhD level, as students are the future. 7. Build on and nourish the positive energy that exists within knowledge institutes among a growing group of researchers who is eager to work transdisciplinarily. The above mentioned suggestions could result in a (WUR) community which, on the longer-term, could contribute significantly to the co-creation of societally relevant solutions but also to bringing the conceptual discussions about transdisciplinarity to a higher level.

This incisive Handbook provides a global update on the state of knowledge in cooperatives and mutuals, expertly describing future directions for research and education. Showcasing extensive discussions of cooperative theory, Matthew S. Elliott and Michael A. Boland, and the contributors, assess cooperatives' social, economic and environmental effects and analyse the impact of regional and cultural features that make cooperatives unique.The insightful chapters are organised into key sections, including theory, organisation, governance and cross-sector applications, and introduce a relevant theory, framework, special topic or mini case on cooperatives and mutuals. The Handbook also examines the role of leaders, members and producers in supply chain governance and looks at different forms of cooperatives and mutuals and their prominence in the economy.Offering an excellent in-depth read, this Handbook will be a vital additional resource for economics scholars and researchers, and those teaching and working on cooperatives and mutualism. It will also prove helpful for conducting leader and member education programs.

This study investigates the direct and indirect effect of open communication, information exchange, and intra-organisational ties on the quality (trust, satisfaction) and continuity (commitment, dependence) of the vertical relationship between farmers and their buyers. Data were collected through interviews with two groups of vegetables producers—members of a producer organisation (PO) and independent producers—in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces of Indonesia. The results demonstrate that open communication and information exchange improve relationship quality, while intra-organisational ties (only relevant for PO members) improve both relationship quality and relationship continuity. Moreover, open communication, information exchange, and intra-organisational ties indirectly influence relationship continuity through relationship quality. The paper adds to the literature by distinguishing between relationship quality and relationship continuity in the value chain and by investigating the impact of intra-organisational ties in a PO on the vertical buyer–farmer relationship.

Agriculture is facing major challenges related to climate chance, loss of biodiversity and food security. To mitigate these problems, a societal transition towards more sustainable food systems is needed. Agricultural cooperatives play major roles in this sustainability transition. Using a transition theory framework, the chapter presents a narrative review of literature on what cooperatives do, and what they could do, to make agriculture and the whole food system more environmentally sustainable. Besides current activities in marketing farm products and providing inputs - both highly important for supporting members to apply sustainable farming practices - cooperatives can set up dialogues within the membership to develop a shared sustainability vision, engage in networking with external stakeholders to lobby for favorable institutional conditions, and more generally take up the role of sustainability intermediary.

This chapter discusses finance and accounting in the circular economy transition. Strategic decision-making in organisations is determined mostly by financial ratios to maximise financial profits. When companies adopt a circular business model, creating a positive environmental impact becomes part of the strategy and needs to be accounted for. Unfortunately, accounting for circular business output and impact is at odds with classical accounting, which is based on linear business models. By using data from three business cases that are in the process of creating a viable circular business model, we show opportunities and bottlenecks of financial accounting and financing for companies with circular business models. The inability of current accounting principles and structures to register the additional value of circular business models, coupled with the lack of understanding surrounding the risks involved, is a major hurdle for valuing and funding these business models.

As digitalization increasingly gains attention in the agriculture sector, many African youths are seizing the opportunity provided by digital technologies to engage in agriculture. While prior studies have started examining the intricacies of digitalization in agriculture, they have paid less attention to its implications for fostering institutions and inter-organizational synergies that can support and sustain the businesses of youth enterprises engaging with Africa’s agriculture. Against this backdrop, we undertook a qualitative case study to shed light on the development of a community of practice comprising youth enterprises engaging in agriculture through digitalization. Thus, we studied Africa Goes Digital (AFGD), a consortium of young African enterprises that rely on digital technologies and solutions to provide services to farmers across the African continent. The results showed that: (1) the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) played a pioneering role as a development agency in supporting enterprises with drones and training for agriculture, which led to the formation of AFGD; (2) two prevalent themes characterized the services offered by AFGD members; (3) AFGD brings members under one platform where they leverage WhatsApp for communication and knowledge sharing and Twitter to showcase success stories and form partnerships with each other to execute certain development projects with governments and development agencies; (4) the lack of regulations or the restrictive regulations on the use of drones are still problems that some members face, and the high costs of sensors and related drones are challenges for the members. Building on the results, we discuss the implications of digitalization for supporting African governments in meeting sustainability goals and conclude by describing the theoretical contribution of our study and promising future research directions.

Sustainability is a key element in the agribusiness sector. The most relevant arguments for implementing sustainable management practices affect multiple levels of analysis; ecosystems (macro-level), organizations (meso-level), and individuals (micro-level) have all to make sure that their practices converge toward a more sustainable approach to agribusiness. Of particular importance is understanding how and to what extent changes and innovations in agribusiness can contribute to solve urgent societal challenges, accomplish the largest number of sustainable development goals, and leverage upon the most recent technological advancements.

The agri-food and forestry sectors are in transition towards more sustainable, green, and innovative systems tackling several challenges posed by globalization, governance, and consumers’ demands. This transition to novel processes, markets, and businesses requires skills and competences to prepare the new generations and upskill the actual workforce. The purpose of this paper was to assess the skills and knowledge needs of future professionals in the agri-food and forestry sectors, from European stakeholders’ perspectives, by using a European questionnaire. Overall, respondents highlighted the importance of improving sustainability and soft and digital skills. In particular, food safety management and control; quality management and assurance of processes and product; efficient use of resources and organization; and planning, visioning, and strategic thinking skills ranked higher. In almost all countries, respondents had the perception that neither formal nor non-formal training covered training needs, though formal training was more suited to address education requirements. Both for organizations and individuals, it is far more relevant to have skills to perform than to have training recognition. The outcomes also provide findings that can be used to help develop updated curricula that meet the sector’s needs.

Multiple value chain challenges confront smallholder farmers, which necessitate context-specific solutions. Family resources, such as information and production inputs, are valuable assets for farmers. When properly used, farmers’ family resources can help them in learning how to address value chain challenges. Yet, the learning in rural agricultural value chain literature still does not inform how family resources influence farmers’ learning. Design/methodology/approach: Face-to-face interviews with 214 coffee farmers were used to investigate how family resources shape farmers’ experiential learning process. The data was analyzed using PLS-SEM. Findings: Results show that family resources play a crucial role in farmers’ experiential learning process, particular in reflecting on and addressing value chain challenges they are confronted with. Practical implications: Smallholder farms, as a collective and farmer-centered experiential learning context, can serve as a source of inspiration for extension agents bringing the paradigm shift from technology transfer to participatory advisory services to reality. Theoretical implications: The study contributes to experiential theory in the context of agriculture by advancing a model on how rural family support can function as a resource to change the mechanisms underlying farmers’ experiential learning. Originality/value: The smallholder farm is a node in larger social learning networks (e.g. Innovation platform), where resources such as information, labor, emotional support, and production inputs, circulate.

The 2008 crisis has highlighted the need for a more active industrial policy, and the lockdown and the collapse of supply chains due to the 2020 pandemic only reinforced this process. In this chapter, we show that the effectiveness of practical industrial policy solutions requires taking into account their geographical and sectoral aspects. Of particular importance are activities in the area of R&D support policy, which not only contribute to increased competitiveness of industry, but also determine the possibility of its transformation toward climate neutrality, especially in the renewable energy sector. We are well aware of the potential threats associated with the spending of public funds as they may interfere with the free market, but with an appropriate industrial policy these actions are likely to have more beneficial than potential negative effects. Taking into account the areas where firms source their inputs and the areas where they sell their products and services (they may do both locally and globally), we propose categorizing firms into four groups or cells. For each category, we propose a catalog of industrial policy tools. In our opinion, only actions that reflect the specificity of firms stand a chance of delivering the planned results. We suggest a generic way, from an institutional economic point of view, to analyse government policy in general and industrial policy in particular.

Sustainable intensification aims to minimize the negative impacts of the current agricultural system while maintaining productivity and economic outputs. This study demonstrates that contract farming is a potential mechanism to support many, but not all, farmers in adopting sustainable intensification practices. A discrete choice experiment on a hypothetical value chain contract introducing three sustainable intensification practices, namely extended crop rotation, reducing agrochemicals and planting flower strips, was conducted with a sample of 314 north-Italian wheat farmers. The results show that permanently eliminating glyphosate from the plot under contract is strongly resisted by farmers, while farmers have less strong preferences between introducing legumes or oilseeds in rotation, and between temporary or permanent flower strips. Findings also indicate that farmers who are more educated, are not members of cooperatives and who generally prefer more flexible sales arrangements are unlikely to be triggered to adopt sustainable intensification practices through contract farming. Overall, this study indicates that while voluntary contract arrangements can be a potential tool to increase uptake of sustainable intensification practices, they will likely need to be complemented with more public policy intervention in order to bring sustainable intensification practices to scale.

PurposeDrawing from the knowledge-based view of the firm, this paper aims to explore the knowledge management practices that the acquirer uses to exploit its knowledge creating conditions for the exploitation of the target’s knowledge and to explore its knowledge by realizing routines for the integration of new knowledge within the target.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents an in-depth case study analysis based on the acquisition of a Dutch food service organization by an Italian company operating in the same sector.FindingsThe case study analysis reveals four mechanisms for knowledge integration, two aimed at exploiting the acquirer’s knowledge, and two aimed at exploring the acquirer’s knowledge.Originality/valueThis paper unveils that it is the interlinkage among organizational, human and technological factors, at multiple layers of the target, which allows the knowledge integration within the post-acquisition process.

Coopetition may help firms to respond collectively to technological change, and compete against disruptive innovation. Yet, coopetition often creates tensions, as coopetitors need to engage in persistently contradictory activities. While existing research focuses on dyadic coopetition, we know much less about multilateral coopetition; specifically, how tensions in multilateral coopetition arise and how they are managed in response to disruptive innovation. We use an in-depth case study of nine Dutch firms, who respond to digital disruption by introducing a new digital music platform, to analyse how tensions evolve in a multilateral coopetition entity. Our findings reveal two coopetitive tensions: a novel multilateral generalist–specialist contribution tension, and the well-known value creation–capture tension. The generalist–specialist contribution is an actor-activity-based tension that originates from the variable contributions of different vertical and horizontal coopetitors over time. Coopetitors try to resolve or balance this tension constantly via commensuration and orchestration of individual coopetitors' contributions, but the tension remains dormant and therefore re-appears. The second tension appears to stabilize over time as the coopetitive entity manages to balance the value creation–capture tension through an iteration of cooperation-inducing, competition-inducing and attendance to redirecting external events. The tensions are interlinked: the generalist–specialist contribution tension triggers subgroup coalition formation, which spurs the value creation–capture tension. We contribute to the coopetition literature by explaining how tensions emerge and are managed in multilateral coopetition, pointing to a new tension inherent in multilateral coopetition. Furthermore, we show how disruptive innovation uniquely shapes multilateral coopetition by inducing cooperative behaviour.

Coöperaties zijn al heel lang een bekend fenomeen in het landelijk gebied. Boeren en tuinders hadden en hebben goede redenen om een coöperatie op te richten en daarmee hun positie op de markt te versterken. De laatste jaren zijn er in het landelijk gebied veel nieuwe coöperaties opgericht, waarin agrarische ondernemers samenwerken met burgers of andere ondernemers. Denk aan gebiedscoöperaties, collectieven voor natuurbeheer en coöperaties ter promotie van streekproducten.

Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte spielen in der aktuellen Diskussion um Klimawandel und Lebensmittelproduktion eine immer größere Rolle. Agroforstsysteme können einen wichtigen Beitrag zu einer Lösung des Zielkonflikts von ökologischem und ökonomischem Nutzen leisten, spielen bisher in der landwirtschaftlichen Praxis in Deutschland jedoch trotz einer hohen gesellschaftlichen Akzeptanz, ähnlich wie andere nachhaltige Landnutzungssysteme, kaum eine Rolle. Bei der Frage nach den Gründen für diese geringe Verbreitung rücken neben ökonomischen zunehmend auch psychographische Entscheidermerkmale in den Fokus der aktuellen Forschung. Dabei sind Fragen zu Einschätzungen von Akzeptanzfaktoren und den konkreten Erwartungen der Landwirte an Form und Höhe ökonomischer Leistungen für die Anlage eines Agroforstsystems bislang offen. Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen werden auf Basis einer quantitativen Untersuchung von 209 deutschen Landwirten mittels uni- und bivariater Analyseverfahren Gruppenvergleiche zwischen Betriebsleitern, Betriebsnachfolgern und Mitarbeitern zu Akzeptanzfaktoren, Leistungsursprüngen und Erwartungen an Form und Höhe ökonomischer Leistungen durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Landwirte insgesamt der Einführung eines Agroforstsystems eher verhalten gegenüberstehen und mit diesen Systemen eine hohe Aufwandserwartung sowie mangelnde Unterstützung und Förderung durch öffentliche Stellen verbinden. Daneben ergeben sich insbesondere bei Nachhaltigkeitsaspekten, Erfahrung und sozialem Einfluss signifikante Unterschiede zwischen den Gruppen, die potenziell auf eine größere Bedeutung der Agroforstsysteme bei zukünftigen Betriebsleitergenerationen hindeuten. Zur Kompensation bevorzugen alle Gruppen eine direkte hoheitliche Förderung und haben Erwartungen an die Fördersummen, die die realen Kosten eines Agroforstsystems deutlich überschreiten, allerdings von der Zahlungsbereitschaft der Steuerzahler gedeckt wären. Aus den Ergebnissen werden verschiedene Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik, Verbände und Nichtregierungsorganisationen abgeleitet und mit dem Ziel einer weiteren Verbreitung von Agroforstsystemen diskutiert., Berichte über Landwirtschaft - Zeitschrift für Agrarpolitik und Landwirtschaft, Aktuelle Beiträge

The current challenges of implementing responsible innovation (RI) can in part be traced back to the (implicit) assumptions behind the ways of thinking that ground the different pre-existing theories and approaches that are shared under the RI-umbrella. Achieving the ideals of RI, therefore not only requires a shift on an operational and systemic level but also at the paradigm-level. In order to develop a deeper understanding of this paradigm shift, this paper analyses the paradigm-level assumptions that are (implicitly) being brought forward by the different conceptualizations of RI. To this purpose it deploys (1) a pragmatic stance on paradigms that allows discerning ontological and axiological elements shared by the RI community and (2) an accompanying critical hermeneutic research approach that enables the profiling of paradigmatic beliefs and assumptions of accounts of RI. The research surfaces the distance of four salient RI accounts from the currently dominant techno-economic innovation paradigm RI seeks to shift. With this, our contribution helps to raise the self-awareness of the RI community about their presuppositions and the paradigm level barriers and enablers to reaching the RI ideal. This insight is needed for a successful transition to responsible research and innovation practices.

Climate-smart agricultural technological innovations have the potential to reduce climate change impacts on agriculture. Due to several barriers, their current rate of adoption and diffusion is low. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have the potential to facilitate technology development and dissemination to smallholder farmers. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of the water efficient maize for Africa (WEMA) project in enhancing technology adoption by smallholder farmers in South Africa. This study explores how PPPs enhance technology adoption and highlights the challenges faced within PPPs using WEMA case. A critical analysis, involving iterative process helped to construct a comprehensive narrative. We found that disputed outcomes, stakeholder concerns, shortage of seeds, disinclination of local companies to market new seeds, upkeep of previous relationships, contractual arrangements and high level of expertise and skills required from farmers were the main factors that affected the efficacy and impact of WEMA on the targeted output and beneficiaries.

In this article, we explore and interpret organizational identity transformation associated with open innovation strategy of the largest telecommunication company in Italy, Telecom Italia (TIM). When TIM established eight joint laboratories within five major Italian universities to benefit from opening its business model, it transferred some of the R&D employees to the new laboratories to work with the university scientists. This organizational transformation created underexplored conditions for R&D employees engaged in the open innovation activities of the firm. Our interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) answers the question of “How do R&D employees experience organizational identity change in the process of open innovation?”. We based our analysis on interpreting lived experiences of 14 employees. Studying the phenomena of organizational identity change during the process of open innovation implementation suggests the following: (1) The process of open innovation through mobility of skilled R&D employees triggers organizational identity ambiguity and change, (2) Organizational identity ambiguity phase in the process of open innovation can be shortened by the support of parent company and managerial skills highlighting sensemaking mechanisms, (3) Constructing a shared organizational identity with university members involved in this process is an undeniable element of OI success for this strategy. We contribute to the literature by establishing linkages among organizational identity and open innovation and by building on recent works on the role of individuals within open innovation ecosystem. Our qualitative analysis draws on a conceptual framework for open innovation and organizational identity transformation.

Understanding the preferences of smallholder farmers for contracting can help in making contracts more sustainable. This paper presents the results of a choice experiment (CE) among smallholder farmers in Indonesia to assess their preferences for accepting contracts with modern retail. The CE was based on attributes of actual sales transactions in modern retail and traditional retail channels. A total of 301 vegetable smallholder farmers participated, consisting of 173 farmers participating in traditional markets and 128 in modern retail markets. A random parameter logit model estimates that, in general, smallholders do not prefer contracting with modern retail over spot market selling in traditional retail channels. Most contract attributes are perceived as negative by smallholders. A willingness-to-accept analysis shows that farmers are critical of most contract attributes, particularly those related to quality requirements. Producer organizations (POs) reduce transaction costs and increase smallholders' preference toward contracts. Contract designs that reduce transaction cost, mitigate risks for farmers, provide fair prices, and involve POs are more likely to attract smallholders to modern retail channels. [EconLit Citations: D23, O13, Q13].

PurposeThis editorial article introduces and analyzes a variety of new organizational forms that rapidly emerged in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe in the latest two decades. Among the others, these include: business model partnerships, business platforms, incubators and hubs, public–private partnerships, agribusiness companies' foundations and spin-offs, short supply chains, community-supported agriculture and other community self-organizing experiences. Building upon the recent literature and the five selected papers in this special issue, the authors discuss what is novel in these organizations and why, when and how they emerge and evolve over time.Design/methodology/approachThe authors identify three elements that, when considered together, explain and predict the emergence and evolution of these new organizational forms: institutions, strategies and learning processes.FindingsThe authors demonstrate that societal actors seeking to (re)design these new organizational forms need to consider these three elements to combine the pursuit of their interests of their own constituencies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs).Originality/valueTaking stock from the literature, the authors invite future research on new organizational forms to take explicitly the pursuit of the SDGs into consideration; to build upon a process ontology; and to deeply reflect on our positionality of scientists studying and sometimes engaging in these organizations.

This dissertation is embedded in one of the major themes of our time: a needed shift to an economy that is sustainable in the long run and functions within our planetary boundaries (Brundtland, 1987; IPCC, 2014, 2021). We are not making sufficient progress in becoming climate neutral (IPCC, 2021). Our current economic rationale seems incapable of unifying economic and environmental activities in a meaningful way. The transition to a circular economy (CE) is proposed as an important part of the solution to this paradox. A circular economy is restorative by intention and design (EMF, 2011) and has rapidly become a leading sustainability paradigm (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). In a circular economy, businesses are the key actors. Businesses that create circular business models (CBMs) in circular business model innovation (CBMI) processes create a value proposition and design business processes based on circular economy principles (Linder & Williander, 2017; Lüdeke‐Freund et al., 2019). However, implementing CE principles in new CBMs has proven challenging (Bocken, 2020; Vermunt et al., 2019).Businesses that attempt to implement CBMs often encounter a misfit between certain key characteristics of CBMs and the institutional setting that is based on a linear economy rationale. Seen through the lens of institutional analysis, a multidisciplinary framework focussing on how the “rules of the game” of socioeconomic systems are defined (North, 1990; Ostrom, 1995; Williamson, 2000), we have seen that the current institutional setting reinforces the current economic rationale (i.e., take, make, use, waste) (Fischer & Pascucci, 2017). It favours incumbent linear logics and business models, while hampering future circular ones. This dissertation considers the dynamic of institutions in the circular economy transition and revolves around the following overall research question: To what extent do circular business models fit within the current institutional setting and how does circular business model innovation forge new institutions to drive the circular economy transition? The answer to this research question is formulated based on four chapters that each answer a specific sub question.Chapter two provides insight in circular economy taking shape in new organisational forms of inter-firm collaborations and how this stimulates the emergence of new institutions that enhance sustainability. The chapter proposes an institutional perspective into the circular economy transition that is currently is lacking yet can improve our understanding of the complexity of moving towards a circular economy when constrained by an institutional system that is aligned with the status quo of a linear economy. The formulated research question of this chapter is how requirements for transitioning to CE create new organizational forms in inter-firm collaborations, and ultimately how they stimulate the emergence of new institutions. Two transition pathways are distinguished. The first pathway is called the ‘status quo’ (SQ) pathway and is characterised by engaging in circular activities such as optimising up-cycling technologies and infrastructure that further build on existing current linear institutional system.The second pathway is the ‘Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) pathway and is characterised by a more fundamental shift of business activities from selling products towards providing services. CBMs following the SQ pathway are more likely to fit within the current institutional setting whereas CBMs following the PaaS pathway encounter a higher number of challenges that are specifically related to contracting, financial mechanisms and chain coordination.Chapter three elaborates on the role of contracts for circular economy, and more specifically on the relation between contract design and CBMI for creating Product Service System (PSS[1]) models and revolves around the question ‘how contractual mechanisms can enable innovation processes in the design of a PSS model between service providers and clients in relation to servitisation, longevity and modularity’.The definition of the scope of circular services seems to be pivotal for defining a contract template aimed at servitisation. Exactly specifying the services provided under the contractual agreement embody the servitisation element of the PSS value proposition. Deciding on the tenure of the contract impacts managing and extending the lifespan and delaying the obsolescence of products, hence provides incentives for longevity. An adjustment of the tenure has been needed to optimize the product lifespan in multiple use cycles, thus aligning economic and technical product lifespan, adapting termination to new optimal lifespan predictions, balancing technical performance and sustainability performance, and finally avoiding linear depreciation of products (assets) over time. Defining risks and securities between the service provider and users creates clarity for contract parties on rights and responsibilities in using and managing the devices – that are used for providing the services – on a modular level, - i.e. modularity. Managing products at a modular level enables a more detailed system in which the lifespan of independent modules allows product life extension, since only the weakest link (i.e. a broken modules) needs to be replaced and not the product itself.This chapter stresses contractual dimensions being explicitly related to the process of configuration of a PSS model architecture. Agreements on ownership, usage right, risk allocation and managing circular value propositions are key in PSS contracts, albeit tensions surface between ownership and contractual aspects when attempting to manage circular business practices. Moreover, conditions of uncertainty are related to new technological, organizational and contractual practices in the innovation process, as well as to the higher (institutional) level of the fit between the CBM in the broader transition from a linear status quo towards a new unknown state (i.e. a circular economy). Finally it finds evidence for the increased importance of relationships – and relational contracting – in case of PSS models.Chapter four concerns finance and accounting concepts that pose opportunities and challenges for the circular economy transition. The chapter aims to bring relevant finance and accounting issues into circular economy and sustainability scholarship and revolves around the question ‘how we can understand the differences in accounting and financial valuation between linear and circular business cases and how we can create a level playing field to assess all companies by standards aligned with the goals of a sustainable circular economy’. An analysis of three cases shows the main finance and accounting hurdles to the circular economy transition and provides directions for overcoming current barriers to unlock finance and accounting as levers for the circular economy transition.Specific hurdles concern the relative newness CBMs to accountants and financiers. CBMs aim to generate value over a longer time horizon and often involves increased control of- and responsibility for products and materials. This can impact financial ratios to be outside the ‘commonly accepted brackets’ and to be perceived as more risky than linear BMs. Moreover, valuation of products and materials is currently not assuming ongoing cycling as proposed in CBMs. Instead, current tax measures incentivise the rapidly depreciation of products. In the circular economy transition we suggest rethinking depreciation schemes and propose to ‘appreciate’ the value of (residual and harvested) products and materials that can be used in ongoing cycles. For the institutional field of accounting, this could mean recalibrating core concepts such as depreciation and value.Moreover, the chapter urges taking a closer look at the risks of linear BMs, and the risks of not transitioning to a circular economy. In the long run, circular economy helps to mitigate risks associated with the scarcity of materials and climate change (Durán-Romero et al., 2020), that will pose an increasing threat to the continuity of businesses. CBMs are currently new and unknown but can become risk mitigants in a system that is characterized by resource scarcity and other limiting environmental conditions. Finally, risks incurred by continuing linear business should be considered. Such a shift would level the playing field by moving from neglecting circular companies (by not valuing positive impact) and rewarding linear companies (by subsidizing) and/ or not punishing them for polluting towards a levelled field where all companies adhere to a new ruleset that does rewards positive- and punishes negative impact.Chapter five considers the process of institutional field formation of the circular economy. This chapter zooms out from specific institutions as presented in chapter three (legal and contracting institutions) and chapter four (frameworks and rules regulating finance- and accounting) to analyse the occurrence of circular institutions and answers the question how we can understand the role of institutional intermediaries in the emergence of circular economy as an institutional field. In the void of general regulatory frameworks, organizations participating in projects aiming at implementing CE principles in CBMs identify, define and shape enabling institutions, forming ‘islands of rules.’ The chapter presented two findings that can help us better understand the institutional field formation process in CE.The chapter shows how circular value proposition elements and regulatory principles can be ostensibly at odds with one another but are reconciled with the purpose of enabling CBMs. Different interpretations of circular elements (think about different potential starting points for the circular value proposition, e.g. starting new materials to build a circular product or from harvesting existing products) and different understandings due to professional backgrounds (e.g. business developer versus lawyer or accountant) have to be made explicit before they can be aligned. Making these ambiguities in interpretations and terminology explicit plays an important role in aligning and defining the building blocks of CBMs. Vice versa this enables relating these building blocks of CBMs to institutional formation processes. Moreover, institutional intermediaries function as translators and brokers between circular businesses on the one hand and regulators and regulatory frameworks on the other hand in creating a field where CBM activities are possible, which can be seen as a contribution to the formation of a regulatory landscape for CE.Being able to understand the relation between business models and CBMI on the one hand and this necessary systemic shift and institutional dynamics on the other hand was an important driver for this dissertation. If the aim is to change the system, then scholars and practitioners must also engage in changing the ‘rules of the game.’ Looking at economic activities and specifically CBMI from this perspective was not done before, therefore we proposed an institutional analysis lens towards the role of CBMI in the circular transition.Albeit the field of institutional analysis is scattered we defined institutions as ‘the rules of the game’ as defined by the socioeconomic system (North, 1990; Ostrom, 1995; Williamson, 2000). Institutions are seen as humanly devised constraints that shape interactions (North, 1990) and are key to structure incentives in human exchange (Coase, 1988; Williamson, 2000). In this literature institutions are mainly seen as constraints. The first part of the research question relates to this perspective, asking to what extent circular business models fit within the current institutional setting. The answer – in brief – is that the current institutional setting is indeed constraining CBMI. More specifically CBMs that are more radical – i.e. PaaS models and models than increase chain collaboration and interdependencies – encounter more difficulties than CBMs that are less radical.Besides looking at institutions as constraints, they can also be very effective in providing a clear framework and boundaries that we all adhere to. Strong institutions provide clarity and safety and lower transaction costs in economic exchanges. The second part of the research question therefore looks at how new rules, that are created in CBMI processes, can become institutionalised. A clear trajectory can be observed. CBMs start with self-enforcing constraints that are embedded in the value proposition. These constraints are formulated in legal contracts between supply chain partners and clients. With the increase of CBMs and contractual agreements, the institutional setting – characterised by e.g. policies and law – will change as well. This is the process of forging institutions for the circular economy.&nbsp

Increasingly, organizations have been employing self-managing teams to circumvent bureaucratic controls and stimulate innovation. However, this goal is not easily achieved; in many situations, informal controls replace formal controls. This study develops a multi-level perspective of control. We explicitly analyze control mechanisms at different levels of the organization and how they affect innovative team output. We theorize and empirically investigate a potential downside of horizontal social control mechanisms at the team level (i.e., peer pressure) affecting self-managing teams’ innovative outcomes. We also discuss managerial control mechanisms at the organizational level (i.e., interactive and diagnostic management control systems) that may help to mitigate such negative effects. We theorize how they may influence the innovative output of self-managing teams, both directly and interactively. We chose a multi-level, multi-source setting for our study and ran three parallel surveys with employees in a Fortune 500 firm. 248 team members, 126 internal team leaders, and 97 organizational leaders enabled us to create a unique database of 97 self-managing software development teams. Our findings confirm that peer pressure is common among established agile teams and that it negatively influences the innovative output of the agile teams. Moreover, our findings show that the magnitude of the effect of peer pressure is contingent on control mechanisms at higher levels within the organization. This enables us to provide new theoretical insights regarding the paradoxical effect of managerial control systems when it comes to flat organizations and autonomous teams. Additionally, we provide practical guidelines for managers who increasingly adopt agile practices but at the same time face issues with regard to innovation.