Marknader uppfattas alltmer som formbara system som består av aktörer som skapar och formar marknaden. Detta synsätt utvidgar det traditionella perspektivet på marknader till att omfatta både direkt marknadsrelaterade aktörer som företag, leverantörer och kunder samt icke-marknadsaktörer som tillsynsmyndigheter, lobbyister, journalister, aktivister och allmänheten. Detta alternativa synsätt har lett till framväxten av forskning om marknadsskapande strategier, som avser ett fokusföretags avsiktliga ansträngningar att förändra marknaders egenskaper, t.ex. prisnivåer, eller regleringar, till sin fördel. De flesta beskrivningar av marknadsformande strategier antyder att de påverkar både marknads- och icke-marknadsmiljön på ett synergistiskt sätt, och liknar därmed begreppet integrerad strategi. Med tanke på marknadernas systemiska karaktär kan ett företag som formar en marknad dock behöva kombinera avsedda åtgärder som syftar till att förverkliga det centrala företagets marknadsformande vision och framväxande åtgärder som svar på framväxande systemdynamik. Detta innebär att en marknadsformande strategi kan bestå av olika strategier med olika men synergistiska mål som förenas av det övergripande målet att förverkliga det centrala företagets marknadsformande mål. Med andra ord kan en marknadsformande strategi vara en strategi av strategier - en metastrategi. Tidigare forskning har dessutom visat att marknadsformande strategier har en betydande potential att förbättra företagens ekonomiska resultat och den totala marknadens resultat genom att öka marknadsstorleken, marknadstillväxten och värdeskapandet. Trots denna potential har begreppet marknadsformande strategier förblivit konceptuellt och empiriskt underutvecklat.  

Denna avhandling syftar till att förbättra vår förståelse av marknadsskapande strategier genom att analysera strategiernas ingående dimensioner samt genom att presentera nya empiriska insikter om hur sådana strategier används. I två artiklar sammanfattas den befintliga litteraturen om marknadsskapande för att analysera och konceptualisera den underliggande processen samt en typologi för olika marknadsskapande strategier. De andra två artiklarna ger nya empiriska belägg för användningen av marknadsskapande strategier genom att undersöka hur roller och förmågor påverkar marknadsskapande hos olika företag.   

Med utgångspunkt i resultaten i de bifogade artiklarna undersöker denna avhandling marknadskapande strategier ur ett marknadsperspektiv, ett icke-marknadsperspektiv, ett integrerat perspektiv och ett metastrategiskt perspektiv för att minska begreppets teoretiska och begreppsmässiga tvetydighet och öka vår begreppsmässiga och empiriska kunskap om hur marknadsskapande strategier konstrueras och används.   

I denna avhandling föreslås att marknadsskapande är en metastrategi med olika integrerade strategier som är inriktade på att forma både marknads- och icke-marknadsmiljön, samtidigt som systemdynamiken mildras och det övergripande målet att forma en marknad eftersträvas. Detta metastrategiska perspektiv ger ett mer nyanserat och strukturerat tillvägagångssätt för att förstå marknadsskapande strategier, minska tvetydigheten och betona sambanden mellan olika kontexter och strategier. Genom detta strukturerade tillvägagångssätt betonas sambanden mellan olika kontexter och strategier, vilket gör dynamiken och synergieffekterna mellan de två mer begripliga och framhäver behovet av systemiska strategier.   Därmed bidrar denna avhandling till litteraturen om marknadsskapande genom att ge en mer detaljerad förståelse för karaktären och dimensionerna av marknadsskapande strategier och hur sådana strategier används av företag i praktiken. Genom detta arbete föreslås flera teoretiska och praktiska implikationer samt politiska implikationer som visar på en potentiell mörk sida av marknadsskapande strategier.  

Despite the promise and necessity of sustainable service ecosystems (SSE) to generate transformative value, many SSEs have failed to emerge or have struggled to survive. By investigating the design process of an SSE and the underlying factors that inhibit collaboration between its actors, this study answers calls to use the concept of actor engagement to further understand the dynamics of designing service ecosystems (Vink et al. 2021), as well as calls to further research sustainable services (Huang et al. 2021; Ostrom et al. 2021) and SSEs (Field et al. 2021). 

The main contribution lays in the expansion of the actor engagement concept by identifying five engagement constraints (i.e., institutional, economic, legal, political, and technological) that influence the level of engagement. In line with the systemic view of actor engagement (Brodie et al. 2019), the identified engagement constraints complement current actor engagement conceptualizations by providing systemic factors that influence the engagement behavior of actors. 

Secondly, we leverage service ecosystem design literature, and we identify two non-design related tensions in SSE design (coopetition, and personal commitment), and three design related tensions (related to the value proposition, business model, and governance of the SSE). Indeed, service ecosystem designers may encounter unexpected problems when sustainability becomes a central feature — our findings provide a first overview of tensions that occur in the design process of an SSE and that inhibit them from emerging and realizing sustainable/transformative outcomes.

Thirdly, we find indications that the interplay between engagement and tensions can be perceived as a recursive process, as an actor’s engagement can result in tensions, which in turn can influence their level of engagement. Thus, we provide further insights into the interdependencies and dynamics in SSE design processes (Patrício et al. 2018; Sangiorgi et al. 2017; Vink et al. 2021) and a theoretical understanding for disengagement processes(Chandler and Lusch 2015; Lehtinen et al. 2019)

Despite the emphasis on actors in the market-shaping literature, the market-shaping roles and heterogeneity of market actors have mostly been aggregated into overarching practices, processes, or activities. While market-shaping research has provided rich insights into the different activities, and actors, that play a role in shaping markets, it remains unclear how the differences in market actors market-shaping engagement translate back into specific roles. By following the Swedish market for liquefied gas over a period of three years, this longitudinal case study draws on extensive data to further elucidate market-shaping processes through the lens of roles. Employing an abductive theorizing approach, we empirically investigate the different roles performed by market actors in market-shaping processes. We discover that roles depend on the different levels in market-shaping engagement towards a focal market vision that ultimately relates to the disposition, behavior and influence displayed by the specific actors. Within this process we identify and delineate six market-shaping roles: the Market Driver, Market Supporter, Market Missionary, Market Rival, Market Catalyzer, and Market Detractor.

To date, market-shaping strategies have been mainly investigated from the lens of a focal market actor. Consequently, most insights have been about the activities and outcomes of the examined market-shaping strategy. However, research has indicated that situations in which multiple market actors have attempted to shape a market can result in the overshaping of a market. When a market is overshaped, it can be detrimental to the firm performance of all market participants. However, research into the notion of overshaping is limited. By employing a historical case study of the video game market in the 1980s, we investigate a market in which many firms attempted to shape the market to their benefit. We examine the effect of overshaping on a market and identify dynamics that resulted in the extreme case of overshaping. We contribute to the market-shaping literature by further cementing the concept of overshaping and prompt firms and policymakers to engage in market-shaping collaboratively. 

This paper analyzes how incumbent firms act to shape markets for new technology alternatives. It introduces a framework that highlights important linkages between the dynamic market-shaping capabilities of individual firms and market-shaping processes on a system level. The framework is used to analyze the endeavors of two large heavy vehicle manufacturers to introduce two technology platforms-electrified trucks and trucks fueled by liquefied gas-as alternatives to traditional diesel-fueled trucks. The analysis shows how incumbent firms deploy market-shaping capabilities to claim legitimate positions in envisioned future markets. The paper concludes by pointing to the dynamism of market interactions in sustainability transitions, showing how firms induce system-level reconfigurations and how such reconfigurations induce changes at the level of the firm.

This study explores the potential existence of reoccurring patterns in market-shaping processes by employing a qualitative meta-analysis to analyze 79 case studies on market-shaping. Through the evidence-based synthesis of qualitative data, we extract 20 generalized market-shaping activities that inform and form the foundation of a three-phased market-shaping process. This conceptual framework divides the market-shaping process into the phases of infusion, formation and retention. By applying our conceptual framework to the qualitative dataset, we explore the presence of market-shaping phases and provide further insights into the interdependences and dynamics between multiple, simultaneously occurring, market-shaping processes. By providing a structured market-shaping process, we attempt to reduce the overall complexity of the market-shaping phenomenon and facilitate the operationalization of the phenomenon for further market-shaping research. Additionally, our conceptualization provides practitioners with a framework to analyze the market-shaping efforts of other market actors and support the design of their own market-shaping strategies.

We identify four market-shaping strategies and their related activities that enable a focal market actor to work towards specific market outcomes. The conceptual framework provides firms with a tool for choosing specific market-shaping strategies depending on their market-shaping intention (offensive/defensive) and perception of a market's stability (stable/unstable). Accordingly, and in line with market-shaping literature, the four market-shaping strategies enable a firm to widen, reduce, maintain, or disrupt a market. Whereas previous market-strategy conceptualizations emphasized firm-level outcomes, the four identified market-shaping strategies focus on market outcomes and encompass a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of a firm's strategic actions on a market. Thereby, this study offers new perspectives on the implementation of market strategies in the context of markets as complex adaptive systems. By exemplifying the four market-shaping strategies using four industry cases, we illustrate how market-shaping strategies can appear in practice and demonstrate how firms can strategically leverage and steer market processes to their advantage.