Abstract
This study explored incumbents’ roles in the transition towards the bioeconomy by examining what goes on inside firms, what strategies they practiced, and how these affected the way incumbents engaged in the transition, as well as their ability to innovate. The study focused on the Norwegian meat-processing sector, investigating how dynamic capabilities affected incumbent firms in the transition process, and the management strategies adopted in response to external pressures (local and global) and to innovation opportunities. The analytical approach builds on two theoretical pillars: Multi-level perspective and dynamic capabilities. The findings showed that the incumbent exercised different modes of behavior—first-into-niche and follow-into-niche—in response to innovation pathways during the transition, mobilizing various dynamic capabilities—learning, financing, and organizational restructuring. The study sheds light on the underlying business dynamics of incumbent firms within a given regime and on intra-regime dynamics concerning innovation opportunities, and notes the proactive roles of incumbents in the sustainability transition.
Highlights
Incumbent firms can play an important role for the sustainability transition
Despite the increasing focus and research on transitions relying on management literature for instance [3,4,5], little is known about how and why some incumbent firms manage to embark on the transition to a more sustainable economy, with others “missing the wave” and exactly how actors behave and why they do so has remained largely understudied [2,6,7,8,9]
The study attempts to fill in such gaps by addressing the following research question: How do incumbents’ dynamic capabilities affect the selection and adoption of innovative paths? I seek a better understanding of incumbents’ roles in the transition towards the bioeconomy: What goes on inside firms, what strategies do they practice, and how does this affect the way they engage in the transition and ability to innovate
Summary
Incumbent firms can play an important role for the sustainability transition. The study of incumbent firms during transitions has received some scholarly attention. I seek a better understanding of incumbents’ roles in the transition towards the bioeconomy: What goes on inside firms, what strategies do they practice, and how does this affect the way they engage in the transition and ability to innovate This empirical case study—the Norwegian meat-processing sector—explores the linkages between one incumbent’s dynamic capabilities and how it commits to the transition process (industry/sector transformation). The bioeconomy vision is endorsed in the European Union’s policy agenda as a knowledge-based bio-economy [43], where knowledge is closely linked with technological innovations to promote the sustainable, eco-efficient transformation of renewable biological resources into health, food, energy, and other high value-added industrial products.
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