From Material Tensions to Organizational Paradoxes: How Manufacturers Cope With the Limits of Circular Product Design

ABSTRACT Circular product design (CPD) is central to advancing the circular economy by enabling the narrowing , slowing , and closing of resource flows. Yet, its implementation remains persistently challenging for firms. Prior research has largely framed these challenges as discrete barriers, overlooking the structural contradictions embedded in CPD strategies. Drawing on paradox theory and a multiple case study of 18 manufacturing firms in the German‐speaking context, we examine how firms experience materially grounded product‐level tensions, such as those between durability and recyclability. We show how these tensions reverberate through organizations as learning, belonging, and organizing paradoxes. Firms respond through combinations of coping strategies across product, organizational, and ecosystem levels, shaped by sectoral context, supply chain position, and circularity motivators. We contribute by demonstrating how material realities translate into organizational paradoxes and by reframing CPD as an ongoing process of navigating persistent tensions rather than resolving discrete barriers.