Sustainable Consumption Institute

Abstract

It has been long recognized in the conceptual literature that industrial symbiosis requires a perspective that focuses on long-term evolution. This has not yet been matched by adopting an adequate process-oriented research methodology. This article provides the underpinnings for such a methodology, presents a developed methodology, event sequence analysis, and shows its added value through a set of research questions and an empirical example. It shows how the process perspective leads to asking new research questions as well as the uncovering of new insights about the emergence, evolution, and dissolution of symbiotic relationships and the institutional capacity required to build such relationships.

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