The current linear economy focuses on a ‘take-make-use-dispose’ paradigm, prioritizing ‘volume-over-value’. Significant planning and experimentation are needed to understand how to develop new business models that are not only ‘circular’, but also desirable for people, technically feasible and financially viable. More insight is needed into the practices of business experimentation to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. We investigate the following: What types of experimentation practices do companies adopt in the transition to a circular business model? Our analysis is based on action research with over 40 organizations. Based on this, we provide an overview of business experimentation practices inside a diverse range of organizations and possible tools, approaches and lessons learned. Recommendations focus on the practices, process, environmental impact assessment, partnering and management of complexity in future tools and methods. We also propose a framework for circular business experimentation and future research directions.

Experimentation is an important capability in the transition to a sustainable business. The aim of business experimentation is to learn and improve business model innovation activities with limited risks and resources through continuous and collective learning with stakeholders. Through action research we worked with eight case companies on a pathway to becoming a sustainable business. We focused on 'circular economy' as a driver for sustainability. The process and role of business model experimentation were analysed. A circular business experimentation framework was developed and applied. We found that 1) experimentation creates internal and external engagement to start business sustainability transitions 2) experiments can help test assumptions in every building block of the business model 3) collaboration with external partners can ease experimentation, and 4) experimentation processes are iterative and require regular learning and sustainability checks. Further research is necessary to analyse how sustainability targets can be integrated into the experimentation process.