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<p>This study provides a comprehensive literature review on the adoption of Circular Economy principles by Circular Start-ups and incumbents, examining their collaboration within the context of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. While incumbents face challenges transitioning from linear to circular models, Circular Start-ups bring both competition and collaborative opportunities. From 327 articles (2008–2023) identified via Scopus and Web of Science, bibliometric analysis and VOSviewer visualization revealed publication trends, significant contributions, and key thematic clusters in circular economy literature. The findings offer insights into the intellectual structure of the domain and highlight substantial challenges, including resource constraints and limited mainstream adoption for circular start-ups, as well as sustainability–capabilities alignment and insufficient targeted investment in environmental R&amp;D for incumbents. Further, five themes were identified after scrutinising the clusters formed through co-occurrence analysis: Collaborative Processes in Circular-Oriented Innovation, Commodification of Waste: Sources to Resource, Dynamic Capabilities, Human Capital in Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability Reporting: A Lens for CE Adoption. Future research questions have also been identified for each cluster, enabling more targeted exploration of these thematic areas. The study further underscores the need for research into circular start-up–incumbent collaboration, investor perspectives, sustainability performance metrics, and the impact of regional policies on circular economy adoption.</p>

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Circular Economy Adoption in start-ups and Incumbents: A Review of Articles and Research Agenda

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月29日

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  • Nandhini Priya Natarajan,
  • Thillai Rajan Annamalai

摘要

This study provides a comprehensive literature review on the adoption of Circular Economy principles by Circular Start-ups and incumbents, examining their collaboration within the context of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. While incumbents face challenges transitioning from linear to circular models, Circular Start-ups bring both competition and collaborative opportunities. From 327 articles (2008–2023) identified via Scopus and Web of Science, bibliometric analysis and VOSviewer visualization revealed publication trends, significant contributions, and key thematic clusters in circular economy literature. The findings offer insights into the intellectual structure of the domain and highlight substantial challenges, including resource constraints and limited mainstream adoption for circular start-ups, as well as sustainability–capabilities alignment and insufficient targeted investment in environmental R&D for incumbents. Further, five themes were identified after scrutinising the clusters formed through co-occurrence analysis: Collaborative Processes in Circular-Oriented Innovation, Commodification of Waste: Sources to Resource, Dynamic Capabilities, Human Capital in Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability Reporting: A Lens for CE Adoption. Future research questions have also been identified for each cluster, enabling more targeted exploration of these thematic areas. The study further underscores the need for research into circular start-up–incumbent collaboration, investor perspectives, sustainability performance metrics, and the impact of regional policies on circular economy adoption.