Facing a dramatic depletion of finite resources, increased price volatility and changing customer expectations with respect to product sustainability, the Circular Economy (CE) presents an alternative paradigm to the current 'take-make-waste' economy with linear material flows and thus offers a major business opportunity for companies. This work qualitatively and quantitatively explores why and how companies can succeed in the shift towards a CE building on the exemplary case of the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification program. Based on results of an interview series and statistical analyses, implications for theory and practice are derived in order to establish a corporate environment that fosters CE innovations.