Developing technological expertise through ecosystem orchestration for industrial circularity

Research on circularity often assumes that the more technological expertise industrial firms build, the more circular they become. This study challenges this assumption by showing that technological expertise alone is insufficient; how firms orchestrate collaboration to build such expertise also matters. We examine collaborations between large industrial firms and specialist SMEs, using the ecosystem-as-structure perspective to understand how technological expertise and orchestration come together. Based on a qualitative multiple-case study of seven Indian industrial firms with global operations and their 12 SME partners, drawing on 46 interviews and a validation seminar, we identify three types of technological expertise: material traceability, resource foresight, and decision integration. Each is associated with a distinct orchestration mechanism: ecosystem protocol alignment, cross-boundary validation, and milestone-anchored co-specialization, respectively. We further identify three structural conditions that shape which pairing is viable: activity interdependence, position complementarity, and link transfer specificity. The study contributes to circular economy research by showing that circular value depends on the fit between technological expertise and orchestration, and that different configurations produce distinct forms of circular value rather than simply higher or lower levels of circularity. It extends the ecosystem-as-structure perspective by explaining how structural conditions shape this fit. For practitioners, the findings show how large firms can better align technological expertise development with partner orchestration, while SMEs can use these collaborations to progress from technical service providers towards more strategic co-creation roles.