Socio-technical regimes and heterogeneous capabilities: the Swedish pulp and paper industry's response to energy policies

Based on a study of policy-induced changes in the Swedish pulp and paper industry, this paper follows a process of socio-technical regime destabilisation. Results from the study show that in industries where established firms have significant power, processes of endogenous renewal are more likely to destabilise established regimes than processes based on niche solutions. Further, the study shows how policy measures aimed to destabilise the current regime may result in different responses, owing to the different capabilities of individual firms. The analysis suggests that heterogeneous capabilities within established industries provide possibilities for policy makers to initiate change.

[1]  M. Porter,et al.  Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship , 1995 .

[2]  Kenneth Möllersten.  Opportunities for CO2 Reductions and CO2-Lean Energy Systems in Pulp and Paper Mills , 2002 .

[3]  J. Schot,et al.  Regime shifts to sustainability through processes of niche formation : the approach of strategic niche management , 1998 .

[4]  Ulrich Beck,et al.  The reinvention of politics : rethinking modernity in the global social order , 1999 .

[5]  J. Voss,et al.  Reflexive governance for sustainable development , 2006 .

[6]  Mikael Ottosson,et al.  An energy efficient Swedish pulp and paper industry – exploring barriers to and driving forces for cost-effective energy efficiency investments , 2008 .

[7]  S. Winter,et al.  An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change.by Richard R. Nelson; Sidney G. Winter , 1987 .

[8]  Björn A. Sandén,et al.  Explaining regime destabilisation in the pulp and paper industry , 2012 .

[9]  Arthur P.J. Mol,et al.  Sociology, environment, and modernity: ecological modernization as a theory of social change. , 1992 .

[10]  Adrian Smith,et al.  Transforming technological regimes for sustainable development: A role for alternative technology niches? , 2003 .

[11]  J. Barney,et al.  Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage , 2009 .

[12]  Lennart J. Lundqvist,et al.  Capacity-building or social construction? Explaining Sweden’s shift towards ecological modernisation , 2000 .

[13]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[14]  T. Misa,et al.  Modernity and Technology , 2002 .

[15]  Adrian Smith,et al.  Moving Outside or Inside? Objectification and Reflexivity in the Governance of Socio-Technical Systems , 2007 .

[16]  Anders Melander,et al.  The Ephemera of Success: Strategy, Structure and Performance in the Forestry Industries , 2006 .

[17]  Adrian Smith,et al.  Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges , 2010 .

[18]  Adrian Smith,et al.  The governance of sustainable socio-technical transitions , 2005 .

[19]  Giorgos Kallis,et al.  Environmental innovation and societal transitions: Introduction and overview , 2011 .

[20]  Lars J Nilsson,et al.  Energy management in Swedish pulp and paper industry - the daily grind that matters , 2011 .

[21]  F. Geels.  From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: Insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory , 2004 .

[22]  S. Laestadius.  Biotechnology and the Potential for a Radical Shift of Technology in Forest Industry , 2000 .

[23]  D. Teece.  Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance , 2007 .

[24]  Dries. L. T. Hegger,et al.  Niche Management and its Contribution to Regime Change: The Case of Innovation in Sanitation , 2007, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[25]  Jonas Anshelm.  Mellan frälsning och domedag : : om kärnkraftens politiska idéhistoria i Sverige 1945-1999 , 2000 .

[26]  John Grin,et al.  Contextualizing Reflexive Governance: the Politics of Dutch Transitions to Sustainability , 2007 .

[27]  Maarten A. Hajer,et al.  The Politics of Environmental Discourse , 1997 .

[28]  R. Kemp,et al.  Transitioning policy: co-production of a new strategic framework for energy innovation policy in the Netherlands , 2009 .

[29]  Adrian Smith,et al.  Translating Sustainabilities between Green Niches and Socio-Technical Regimes , 2007, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[30]  Andrew Stirling,et al.  Pluralising progress: From integrative transitions to transformative diversity , 2011 .

[31]  Heather Lovell,et al.  The governance of innovation in socio-technical systems: The difficulties of strategic niche management in practice , 2007 .

[32]  H. Montgomery.  Comparative Perspective , 2020, Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences.

[33]  Lars J Nilsson,et al.  New energy strategies in the Swedish pulp and paper industry - The role of national and EU climate and energy policies , 2011 .

[34]  J. Bergh.  Optimal Diversity: Increasing Returns versus Recombinant Innovation , 2008 .

[35]  Neuman.  Social Research Methods , 2007 .

[36]  Sharan B. Merriam,et al.  Qualitative research and case study applications in education , 1998 .

[37]  Arthur P. J. Mol.  The Environmental Transformation of the Modern Order , 1998 .

[38]  G. Dosi.  Technical Change and Industrial Transformation , 1984 .

[39]  Frank W. Geels,et al.  Strategic niche management and sustainable innovation journeys: theory, findings, research agenda, and policy , 2008, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[40]  Juha-Antti Lamberg,et al.  The evolution of competitive strategies in global forestry industries : comparative perspectives , 2006 .

[41]  Anders Melander.  Industrial Wisdom and Strategic Change : The Swedish Pulp and Paper Industry 1945-1990 , 1997 .

[42]  F. Geels.  Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study , 2002 .