A new sustainability paradigm is emerging to benefit the triple bottom line. While scholars propose various circular economy business models, the opportunity to seize benefits from the organizational life cycle theory remains under-researched. In this study, we analyze circular economy practices adopted by close to 1,200 firms in the innovative and conservative stages of a firm's evolution from four European Union member states: Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. Logistic regression results show that firms in the conservative stage are more likely to undertake circular economy practices related to the saving of water, energy, and materials than firms in the innovative stage which are expected to be implementing practices associated with an improved eco-design. Surprisingly, our findings also suggest that firms in the conservative stage perform more circular economy practices than firms in the innovative one. Various practices are applied by firms in different stages among member states that share similar economic conditions. Moreover, obstacles and support mechanisms are also considered in this study. The findings allow us to contribute by expanding how the circular economy field is conceived in the terms of firm-specific characteristics, their needs and limitations while providing insights and recommendations for researchers and policymakers to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

一种新的可持续性范式正在出现，以使三重底线受益。尽管学者们提出了各种循环经济商业模式，但仍未充分研究从组织生命周期理论中获取收益的机会。在本研究中，我们分析了来自四个欧盟成员国（立陶宛，葡萄牙，斯洛文尼亚和西班牙）的近1200家企业在创新和保守阶段所采用的循环经济实践。Logistic回归结果表明，与处于创新阶段的公司相比，处于保守阶段的公司更有可能采取与节水，节约能源和材料有关的循环经济做法，而处于创新阶段的公司有望实施与改进的生态设计相关的做法。出奇，我们的发现还表明，处于保守阶段的公司比处于创新阶段的公司执行更多的循环经济实践。在经济条件相似的成员国中，企业在不同阶段采用了不同的做法。此外，本研究还考虑了障碍和支持机制。这些发现使我们能够通过根据公司的特定特征，需求和局限性扩展循环经济领域的构想，为研究人员和政策制定者提供见解和建议，以加快向循环经济的过渡，从而做出贡献。本研究还考虑了障碍和支持机制。这些发现使我们能够通过根据公司的特定特征，需求和局限性扩展循环经济领域的构想，为研究人员和政策制定者提供见解和建议，以加快向循环经济的过渡，从而做出贡献。本研究还考虑了障碍和支持机制。这些发现使我们能够通过根据公司的特定特征，需求和局限性扩展循环经济领域的构想，为研究人员和政策制定者提供见解和建议，以加快向循环经济的过渡，从而做出贡献。