Felix Carl Schultz

1 Introduction The circular economy (CE) promises a sustainable future, but for most firms, turning this ambition into a profitable strategy remains elusive (cf. Sarfraz et al. 2023). This article investigates the central puzzle: Why do some organizations construct profitable circular strategies while others stall or fail? This puzzle is particularly disconcerting because the CE is widely regarded as a systemic alternative to the linear “take–make–dispose” model (Geissdoerfer et al. 2017).

1 INTRODUCTION The notion of a business case for sustainability has been a central yet contentious topic in the corporate sustainability literature (e.g., Busch et al., 2024; Schaltegger et al., 2012, 2016, 2019).

1 Introduction The contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability (CS) literature commonly distinguishes between the business case and the moral case as two distinct concepts for firms to engage in sustainability efforts (e.g., Kaplan 2020; Rasche et al. 2023). Although the business case perspective refers to the economic rationale for companies to adopt sustainable practices (e.g., Carroll and Shabana 2010; Salzmann et al. 2005; Schaltegger et al.