Early Movers Research Articles

Electric Vehicle Import/Export Flows in Maritime Ports: Are Local Stakeholders Monitoring their Arrival?

Within the global climate change risk mitigation frame, automotive OEMs are progressively replacing ICE-powered cars with electric vehicles in their model ranges. This strategic move is deeply impacting every level of their supply chains, including maritime ports. To shed some light, in the absence of relevant academic literature, on how closely local stakeholders are monitoring this evolution, multiple port authorities’ and logistic service providers’ institutional websites, as well as auto industry-related web sources, have been browsed (Q4 2023), looking for comments on the arrival of electric vehicles in North American and European auto ports. Study shows that contexts differ from one region to another, even from one port/one stakeholder group to another, leading to various attitudes ranging from spontaneous early movers to hyper-cautious followers.

When does it pay to be green? The strategic benefits of adoption speed

AbstractDoes the speed of adopting environmental practices impact financial benefits? The strategy literature discusses the contingencies under which firms can gain an early‐mover advantage or a late‐mover advantage. This research examines the effect of adoption speed on two types of environmental practices: environmental innovation practices (EIP) and environmental management practices (EMP). The results show that early adoption of EIP increases competitive advantage when firms face intense competition. In comparison, we show that early adoption of EMP increases competitive advantage when firms face extremely low competition or have moderate to high levels of slack resources. The study contributes to the literature by revealing the nuances, contingencies, and boundary conditions of when it pays to be green. Prior research shows mixed results when studying firms' decisions to implement environmental practices, which implies that it may not pay to be green. This study shows that firms can get an early mover advantage from environmental practices, but it depends on the type of environmental practices, the firm's internal slack resources, and the firm's external competitive environment.

Incumbent responses to anticipated discontinuous regulatory change: The case of Scope 3 CO2 reporting in the European steel industry

Regulatory change can be highly discontinuous for organizations. Yet, despite the vast discontinuous change and institutionalism literatures, our understanding of incumbent behavior in response to anticipated discontinuous regulatory change is limited. To address this issue, we conducted a qualitative analysis in the European steel industry, which is facing prospective discontinuous regulatory change on Scope 3 reporting. Our findings offer new insights into this understudied field by elaborating on incumbents' expectations for the future, their ensuing motivations, and their taken or planned actions. We find evidence for heterogenous adaptation behavior that manifests in three motivational patterns: Incentives for early movers, reasons for hesitation, and disincentives preventing implementation. These patterns are a result of incumbents’ varying expectations of future circumstances, opportunities, and risks, and they lead to different actions incumbents plan or take in response to the anticipated change. Our study contributes to the theoretical understanding of regulatory change as a distinct form of discontinuous change, sheds light on incumbent behavior at an early stage of a discontinuous change prior to its actual occurrence, and highlights that adaptation to a discontinuous regulatory change can have both positive and negative effects on incumbents. Our process model enables practitioners to make more informed decisions in the context of discontinuous regulatory change and policymakers may use our findings to improve the regulatory design process and subsequent compliance. Finally, our study opens up numerous pathways for future research.

Addressing endogeneity in the relationship between early entry and performance: The case of foreign market expansion

Addressing endogeneity issues has been identified as a key priority for ensuring continued progress in the field of strategic management. We contribute to this research agenda by developing a generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation approach that accounts for endogeneity in dynamic models. To illustrate how endogeneity bias impedes reliable interpretation, we examine the relationship between early mover strategies and performance using data on multinational enterprises entering transition economies. Our empirical results demonstrate that early mover advantages are significantly greater after controlling for endogeneity. Additionally, we find evidence that the level of institutional development weakens the advantages of pursuing an early mover strategy in transition economies. After accounting for endogeneity, the negative moderating effect of institutional development is far more pronounced. The magnitude of these two biases underscore the necessity for scholars to adequately address endogeneity and how GMM estimation can facilitate in better understanding the performance implications of strategic choices.

Progressing from first-of-a-kind to Nth-of-a-kind: Applying learning rates to carbon capture deployment in Sweden

The deployment of CO2 capture technologies presents opportunities to store fossil fuel emissions from industries and power generation (CCS) and to enable carbon utilization (CCU). However, the costs for early CCS projects are high, and this is a challenge in terms of their economic viability, requiring a strong climate policy with high carbon prices for implementation. This work details a techno-economic assessment of the cost of carbon capture based on a hybrid method and individual project approach, using first-of-a-kind contingency factors and learning rates to study the evolution of carbon capture costs as installed capacity increases over time. The work is based on a case study of 147 Swedish industrial and combined heat and power plants (total of 176 stacks). The results are presented as marginal abatement cost curves, with consideration of early mover CCS projects and learning rates. Deployment scenarios are also presented that take into account an expected increase in the CO2 price. The findings indicate that when accounting for first-of-a-kind contingencies (100 % and 200 % increases in Nth-of-a-kind costs), 90 and 17 projects, respectively, of the total 176 emission sources studied have specific CO2 costs of <300 €/t. However, high learning rates (12 %) can reduce the capture costs from first-of-a-kind to Nth-of-a-kind levels within some 30 project installations (100 % contingency). With lower learning rates (3 %), the first-of-a-kind costs are reduced by 10 %–20 %. With the expected increase in CO2 prices, a peak in carbon capture deployment is observed around Year 2035, at a carbon price of 200 €/t.

Competitive Strategies and Market Positions of Global Automotive Giants: Toyota, Tesla, and BMW

This article analyzes the competitive strategies and market positions of three global automotive giants—Toyota, Tesla, and BMW. Using Porter’s Five Forces Model, it delves into the strategies these companies employ in brand development, product innovation, and global market expansion. BMW maintains its competitiveness in the luxury car market through strong brand equity and premium positioning. Toyota achieves economies of scale and a robust global presence through operational efficiency and broad market appeal. Tesla leverages its innovative capabilities and early mover advantage in the electric vehicle (EV) market to solidify its market position. Additionally, the article explores how each company addresses buyer bargaining power, supplier bargaining power, threat of substitutes, and threat of new entrants.

Towing Analysis and Validation of a Fully Assembled Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Based on an Experimental Study

The offshore wind sector is moving into deep waters and using floating platforms to harness the higher wind speeds in exposed locations. There are various floating platform types currently in development, but semi-submersibles are considered the most prominent early movers. Such floaters need to be towed to and from wind farm locations for installation, special cases of repair and decommissioning. As with any other offshore activity, metocean limits exist for towing operations which can impact the development of a wind farm. It is important to calculate the motion and loads of the platform before commencing the towing operations and to check whether they exceed the defined limits to enable safe execution. In this paper, two approaches using two different numerical tools to predict the motion of a fully assembled floating wind platform under tow are presented and compared. A potential flow-based method derived from a low forward speed approach and a hybrid approach combining potential flow and Morison equation methods are investigated, and the numerical predictions are compared and validated against experimental results. Both methods demonstrate accurate predictions, depending on the wave condition and towing speed, albeit differing in execution time and the simplicity of the simulation setup. The first method was found to provide good predictions of the motion in low-speed (0.514–1.543 m/s) towing conditions. The second method provides better results for all the towing speeds and wave heights. As the wave height and towing speed increase, deviations from experiments were observed, signifying non-linear phenomena that are difficult to analyse using the mentioned potential-flow-based methods.

Unravelling the Impact of Executive Confidence on Firm Profitability

The focus of this research is on the Upper Echelon Theory, asserting that CEO&amp;’s cognitive attributes exert a major effect on organizational outcomes. The present study adds to the behavioural finance and strategic management literature by investigating the association between Chief Executive Officer&amp;’s (CEO) confidence and firm profitability in the Indian context. A sample of S&amp;P BSE 100 Indian firms for five financial years has been used to examine the aforementioned relationship, using panel regression analysis. The findings reveal that CEO overconfidence favourably impacts the company&amp;’s profitability as overconfident CEOs enjoy the early mover advantage in the market through quick and innovative decisions and gain competitive strength by overinvesting in good but risky projects. These findings contribute novel insights to the existing literature by exploring the most prevalent managerial behavioural bias and its impact on corporate profitability in the Indian context. The analysis may assist the policymakers responsible for framing recruitment and compensation policies and developing an optimum monitoring system to capitalize on the cognitive traits of top executives in India.

Multi-criteria assessment of inland and offshore carbon dioxide transport options

Transport is a key element of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, transport, and storage (CCTS) supply chains. Early movers, particularly inland emitters (e.g., in continental Europe), do not yet have access to a fully developed CO2 network infrastructure connecting them with the offshore storage hubs (e.g., in the European northern seas, as these belong to the first wave of storage infrastructure that will be developed in Europe). Therefore, specific source-to-sink CCTS supply chains combining and integrating different transport options must be developed and deployed first. In this work we analyse such transport options, which include (i) tank containers that can be transported by trucks, trains, barges, or ships, (ii) dedicated tanks permanently integrated into trucks, trains, barges, or ships, and (iii) pipelines. We develop general and portable methods, criteria, and correlations to determine the cost of transport through any given connection between two nodes in a CO2 network infrastructure, using any of the modes of transport above, as a function of distance and capacity. In particular, the correlations are based on real data collected through interviews with service providers and stakeholders. Based on the associated techno-economic assessment and the consideration of additional performance indicators of a more holistic nature, we carry out a multi-criteria assessment of the different transport options. Such multi-criteria approach allows for a holistic and transparent comparative assessment of the different alternatives for a whole CCTS supply chain, as illustrated with reference to a very specific connection.

A robust investment decision to deploy bioenergy carbon capture and storage—exploring the case of Stockholm Exergi

The upscaling of novel carbon dioxide removal, such as bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS), to gigatonne scales is an urgent priority if global warming is to be limited to well below 2 °C. But political, economic, social, technological, environmental and regulatory uncertainty permeates BECCS projects and deters investors. To address this, we explore options to improve the robustness of BECCS deployment strategies in the face of multi-dimensional uncertainties. We apply Dynamic Adaptive Planning (DAP) through expert interviews and Robust Decision Making (RDM) through exploratory modelling, two decision making under deep uncertainty methods, to the case of Stockholm Exergi, an early mover aiming to deploy BECCS at a combined heat and power plant in the capital of Sweden. The main contributions of the research are to 1) illustrate how a quantification of robustness against uncertainty can support an investment decision to deploy BECCS 2) comprehensively cover uncertain vulnerabilities and opportunities of deploying BECCS, and 3) identify critical scenarios and adaptations to manage these uncertainties. The main conclusions are: investing in BECCS is relatively robust if assessing performance across many scenarios and if comparing the worst-cases of either investing, or not doing so. Not investing could miss out on up to € 3.8 billion in terms of net present value. The critical uncertainties of BECCS can be managed by strengthening biomass sustainability strategies and by gaining support for negative emission trading regulation on carbon markets, e.g., voluntary or Paris Agreement Article 6. Even in vulnerable scenarios of average electricity prices above 82 €/MWh, if trading regulation is implemented before 2030 and if negative emission prices exceed 151 €/CO2, investing in BECCS performs better than not doing so in 96% of cases. We suggest that facility-level parameters and cost-reductions are of little importance for BECCS investments and upscaling. It is regulatory certainty of operating revenues, e.g., through negative emission markets, that needs to be provided by policymakers.

Industry Concentration, Firm Size and Entry-Timing in Merger Waves

As early mover advantage and late mover advantage have been discussed for decades, the conditions for the best use of them are yet unclear. Using the U.S. merger data during 2000–2019, this study examines the entry-timing and the post-merger performance of 1,376 bidders in the merger waves recognised. We find that early movers have advantages with higher post-merger performance in a merger wave, while the effect of late mover advantage is not significant. Moreover, early mover advantage can only be implemented in competitive industries. Our analysis further provides the entry-timing strategies for large firms and small/mid enterprises, respectively. Our results indicate that late mover advantage can only be adopted in large companies, while small/mid firms should be followers, not early or late movers, in high concentration industries. Overall, our study sheds new light on the entry-timing in a merger wave with the consideration of different market concentration environment and different firm size.

Reclaiming data for improved city governance: Barcelona’s New Data Deal

Cities today are key sites for the operation of global digital marketplaces. It is on the curbsides and at the intersections of cities where technology companies and digital platforms gain access to valuable urban data to be used in the delivery of data-driven services. In this context, urban data ownership and control have become a central policy arena for smart city governance. This article argues that, given the increased policy activism by city governments, there is an urgent need to better understand the key goals and instruments deployed by cities to resist corporate control of urban data. It first reviews the treatment of the topic by different strands in the literature on smart city governance and then uses the ‘New Data Deal’ programme launched by the city of Barcelona to draw empirical data from one of the author’s involvement leading the programme, interviews with actors involved in the programme as well as from key policy and evaluation documents. By studying the design and implementation of Barcelona’s ‘New Data Deal’, an early mover and leading reference in the academic and policy debates, the article presents the key successes, limitations and tensions faced by a city government trying to regain access and control over urban data, including a reflection on the role that city governments can play in shaping a global agenda around improved data governance.

Quantifying leadership in climate negotiations: A social power game.

We consider complex multistage multiagent negotiation processes such as those occurring at climate conferences and ask ourselves how can an agent maximize its social power, intended as influence over the outcome of the negotiation. This question can be framed as a strategic game played over an opinion dynamics model, in which the action of an agent consists in stubbornly defending its own opinion. We show that for consensus-seeking opinion dynamics models in which the interaction weights are uniform, the optimal action obeys to an early mover advantage principle, i.e. the agents behaving stubbornly in the early phases of the negotiations achieve the highest social power. When looking at data collected from the climate change negotiations going on at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we find evidence of the use of the early mover strategy. Furthermore, we show that the social powers computed through our model correlate very well with the perceived leadership roles assessed through independent survey data, especially when non-uniform weights incorporating economical and demographic factors are considered.

The Role of Business Model Innovation in the IT Services Sector: a Comprehensive Mapping Review

Purpose: The study analyzes the evolution of Business Model Innovation (BMI) in the IT sector, which is mentioned in many available scientific publications. The major output of this paper is concrete customer requirements that invite business model innovations to managed IT services and challenges to establish corresponding business model innovations.&#x0D; Design/Method/Approach: The study identified more than 200 journal articles and conference articles with BMI and IT service providers, and it conducted a mapping review of current research to identify relevant academic theories, implementation strategies, and BMI in the managed IT service sector while highlighting gaps in empirical research.&#x0D; Findings: Most applied are BMI and the framework of dynamic capabilities in business models of IT services. Early movers, who develop a comprehensive platform strategy, can achieve an invulnerable moat and establish a leading market position.&#x0D; Practical Implications: The insights of this study could be applied by large companies, small- and medium-sized companies and start-ups, researchers, etc. They can use the insights to innovate their current business models and improve tailored client solutions. &#x0D; Originality/Value: The study concludes that business model innovations and IT service providers develop areas for future success.&#x0D; Research Limitations/Future Research: The design of the study is based on a systematic literature review and limited to the areas of BMI research in the IT service sector. For further research projects, individual articles can be chosen to perform in-depth analysis. Our trend analysis shows the focus on main technologies. However, this can be compared with the technologies mentioned in the Gartner Hype Cycle. Further research could be conducted to overcome limitations and cover the uncertain content of this research.&#x0D; Paper Type: Conceptual&#x0D; JEL Classification: M21, O14, O33

Treaty influencers: a computational analysis of the development of international investment law

ABSTRACT This article uses computational methods to analyse the development of the international investment law regime, seeking to understand how, when, and by whom change in treaty language occurs. The study uses a novel computational method to explore the influence of different states on the language of international investment treaties and the spread of language patterns. The analysis reveals a hegemony of Western European, rather than North American influence, and further highlights a clear early mover advantage for obtaining language spread. The article discusses the implications of these findings for the investment treaty system, particularly the limited impact of hard negotiating power compared to early entrance and convincing legal language.

Re-evaluating roles and relationships between city authorities and informal public transport operators in sub-saharan africa: A comparative analysis of five cities

Informal Public Transport (IPT) is the primary form of transport throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, responding dynamically to passenger needs, including those of the poorest travellers. Despite this form of collective transport's positive contribution to growing cities, there remain important negative aspects to be addressed, including strong competition for passengers, severe air pollution and poor safety records. The TRANSITIONS project (funded by UKAID) sought to better understand how IPT can be supported to deliver improved service quality, and investigated the relationship between public authorities and IPT operators in the five cities of Accra, Kumasi, Freetown, Cape Town and Maputo. Based on research activities that included stakeholder interviews and workshops, this paper compares the regulatory frameworks of the cities and their evolution. It finds that Cape Town has been an ‘early mover’ in terms of its attempts to professionalise and support the sector, but that self-regulation continues to play a significant role. Accra, Kumasi and Maputo have the main IPT licensing frameworks in place, but limited enforcement capacity and elements of corruption undermine this. Freetown is currently developing a regulatory structure for IPT, which is likely to be informed by major public transport schemes that are frequently seen as the catalyst for IPT professionalisation initiatives.

Safety first: analysing the problematisation of drones

ABSTRACT The rise of commercial drone operations in Australia has led to increasing regulatory attention on this emerging aviation sector. For two decades, the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority has been an early mover in regulating the safety of drone operations while enabling the growth of the industry. Yet, the more recent influx of commercial drones across different sectors is putting the current legal framework and its ability to mediate conflicting interests to the test. Utilising Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ framework for policy analysis, this article examines the origins, limitations, and effects of Australia’s drone laws. The article identifies that drones are framed chiefly as a safety risk, albeit an inherently manageable one, and details the regulatory consequences of this narrow conception. Crucially, it demonstrates how the centrality of the notion of safety closes off a more holistic assessment of risks and harms, sidelining equally critical concerns about the impact of rising numbers of drones on the sky as a public commons and natural habitat. Overall, the article reinforces the significance of how regulations delineate the scope of the problems they address, with profound implications for the analysis of regulation and policy beyond the remit of drones.

Amazonian visions of Visión Amazonía: Indigenous Peoples' perspectives on a forest conservation and climate programme in the Colombian Amazon

AbstractAlthough Indigenous Peoples' rights to own, control and manage their lands and territories are well established under international law, Indigenous Peoples affected by forest conservation and climate protection programmes continue to denounce interventions that fail to uphold their rights. This article focuses on the internationally funded Visión Amazonía REDD Early Movers programme in the Colombian Amazon. Drawing on observations and critiques by Indigenous rightsholders in the Middle Caquetá River and human rights insights from a legal complaint raised by one Indigenous community against the programme, we demonstrate the programme's inadequate protection of collective rights, especially relating to the fundamental right to free, prior and informed consent and the resulting inequitable benefit sharing. We focus on conflicting views between Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors over the definition of direct effects on Indigenous Peoples (which triggers the requirement for prior consultation and consent), the basis for inclusion of Indigenous Peoples as programme beneficiaries, and the role accorded to Indigenous science in such programmes. Notions of permission and consent in the customary law and economic practices of the concerned Indigenous Peoples are central to the conviviality and reproduction of human and non-human societies within their territories. To ensure more accountable and sustainable international environmental finance and conservation interventions, and to ensure respect for Indigenous Peoples' self-determination and territorial and cultural rights, we recommend that these initiatives adopt human rights-based, pluri-legal and intercultural approaches centring on the right to free, prior and informed consent as a structuring principle. Additionally, we call for more robust measures in forest and climate protection programmes, to recognize and respect customary law, collective property, traditional livelihoods and Indigenous science.

Ecological development practices of marine ranching enterprises in China: Case studies of early movers

AbstractMarine ranching can help solve the dilemma facing food systems by providing more food for humans under the constraints of resources and the environment. Many marine ranching enterprises have committed to ecological development to help advance the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Little is known, however, about the drivers, initiatives, and performance implications of this behavior. To fill this gap, we conducted case studies of five early movers among marine ranching enterprises in China. These firms took both fishery output and environmental protection into consideration and achieved significant results. We identified six main drivers: “synergistic benefits,” “sustainable business value,” “government incentive and supervision,” “sense of social responsibility,” “environmental pressure,” and “market enforcement.” The main initiatives, meanwhile, were “habitat restoration,” “ecological production,” “science and technology innovation,” “ecological operation,” and “ecological management.” We showed that businesses' ecological development practices can generate synergistic benefits, including economic, environmental, and social benefits. Moreover, based on our key path analysis of early movers' ecological development practices, we developed an ecological development model to illustrate their successful experiences. This model can help guide other businesses toward fulfilling their ecological development commitments.

Stay ahead: CEO education and entry timing within industry merger waves

PurposeThis study aims to explore the effect of chief executive officer education on firms’ action timing and acquisition performance in industry merger waves. In addition, this study investigated the moderating influence of CEO duality and firm cash flow on the relationship between education and entry timing.Design/methodology/approachFollowing the methodology for determining merger waves in previous studies, the authors identified 16 industry merger waves of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2019. Multiple linear regression was employed to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that higher CEO education was associated with early participation in merger waves. CEO duality negatively moderated the education-entry timing relation. The effect of CEO education on entry timing was more pronounced when firms had higher cash flow. Moreover, more educated CEOs materially enhanced acquisition performance in merger waves.Originality/valueEntry timing in industry merger waves has important implications, as early movers establish competitive advantages and achieve higher acquisition performance. However, the managerial characteristics determining entry timing have not received adequate attention. Meanwhile, studies examining the effect of CEO education on acquisitions are limited. This study explored the effect of CEO education on firms’ entry timing and acquisition performance in merger waves, thereby contributing to the literature on merger waves and managerial characteristics. This study’s findings regarding the moderators of the education-entry timing relation enrich the literature on corporate governance and agency theory.