Sensemaking During a Strategic Change Process Towards Circularity: A Case Study of a Danish Print House

Abstract

This case study, based on qualitative data collection, explores the transition from a linear to a circular business strategy. Scholars have expressed how these transitions commonly are troublesome for companies, since they imply major changes to their current business. The study at hand investigates the phenomenon of sensemaking during a strategic change process towards circularity in KLS PurePrint, a small-sized print company in Denmark. The case study outlines the key characteristics of circular economy and the technological transitions needed for this type of business strategies to be implemented. It further shows how managers can make sense of these transformation processes by creating an ongoing strategic change towards circularity by cumulatively adapting their strategy. The case study emphasizes the importance of creating interacts between the implemented strategy and the employees, as this results in the creation of commitment and thereby allows a common narrative to be established. This narrative can further beused for strategic adaptions to guide the change process towards circularity. In general, this case study suggests managers to embrace the ongoing phenomenon of sustainability in ordertoadapt their strategies to it. Further, it suggests that managers shall prioritize the interconnection with the actors along their value chain in order to complete the circular approach. Thereby, this case study recommends the management of KLS PurePrint to continuously update their strategy and to emphasize downstream communication in order to manage the complexity around the cradle-to-cradle process.