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Guiding principle 10
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A transparent division of labour among the relevant actors is
indispensable.
To successfully build a circular initiative, key actors should
feel responsible for the execution of the necessary activities
related to their roles in the system. It is therefore crucial that the
function of each actor and system-building activities be agreed
upon upfront in general terms and more specifically later in the
process. This sounds self-evident, but my experience is that this
important last guiding principle is often overlooked. Most actors
willing to join forces will admit that an alignment of actors is
necessary for successful implementation of circular initiatives.
Making transparent arrangements about a division of labour
is less common, but it appears to be indispensable. Generally
speaking, the function of each actor in the system transformation
is rather obvious. For example, the government is responsible for
the creation of proper preconditions; businesses for the provision
of circular products and services; research and educational
institutions and consultancies for the development and transfer
of knowledge; and all actors for necessary sociocultural changes.
However, how every function plays out in a particular case and
which particular system-building activities should be performed
by each actor are usually not specified or agreed upon
I have used the term ‘network governance’ for this model of
jointly building a circular initiative, as explained in chapter 2. I
believe that this new form of governance empowers all relevant
actors to make a transformational change. The essence is that all
actors depend on each other for successful implementation of the
initiative. When some system-building activities are not taken up,
the change process will stagnate. Each party has a singular role
to play, but collectively they enact change. One particular actor
cannot transform the system, but together with other actors,