Following the tradition of using opposing concepts as a basis for organisational analysis, this article advances a theory-based understanding of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions. Building on seminal transition studies, we propose innovating/defending and collaborating/competing as two useful spectra to describe organisational behaviours in transitions. Presenting the automotive industry as an explanatory case, we show results from a systematic literature review that reveal motives for diverging behaviours. Combining the spectra into a 2 x 2 matrix, we then introduce four conceptualisations to explain the observed motives and behaviours. The conceptualisations are associated with different streams of organisation theory: dynamic capabilities and the resource-based view, resource-dependence theory, neo-institutional theory and theories on organisational learning and path dependence. Referring to organisational ambidexterity, value configurations and political arenas, we conclude that transitions research can reach a more multifaceted understanding by challenging the prevailing notion of the firm as a coherent actor.

If you visit Linköping, you have good chances to see electrified cars, or you may even take a ride on an electric city bus. However, you will have some difficulty spotting one of the very few electric trucks operating in the city. The transition to a road-based goods transportation system with electrified trucks is much slower than the transition to electrified passenger transport in Sweden. Part of the explanation for this are the profound system changes required to realize a competitive electrified goods transportation system, a system that involves different firms with significantly different resources and varying relationships to existing system structures. This thesis aims to contribute to transition studies by mapping out how firm-system interactions unfold during an ongoing sustainability transition. Therefore, attention is placed on how dynamic transition processes are affected by firms with stakes in the emerging socio-technical system for electrified goods transportation. The thesis also emphasizes the firms' limitations in shaping the environment in which the electrified trucks will operate. The data on which the thesis is based was collected within the context of two research projects, both funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and affiliated with the Swedish Electromobility Center. The data collection included observations at 42 industry events and 34 semi-structured interviews with different actors involved in the development of electrified goods transportation in Sweden. In addition, a literature review was conducted based on articles in the research community of transition studies, highlighting how established firms in the automotive sector handle major transitions of socio-technical systems.   

In general, the thesis contributes to the ongoing discussion in transition studies about the role of firms in transitions. In particular, there is a vivid discussion about two issues in this research community: how established firms can contribute to ongoing transition processes and how to understand the interactions between firms and systems during ongoing transitions. This thesis synthesizes the results of five articles to address these questions in three main ways. First, the thesis contributes to the discussion on incumbent firms with an "extreme" empirical case of system reconfiguration, characterized by the interactions between two socio-technical systems where incumbent firms play the role of users and producers in both systems. The thesis describes how different incumbent firms have different system functions and different resources and how these functions and resources are reshaped as the new system emerges. Second, the dissertation contributes with a conceptualization of two types of interactions between firms and systems, covering how the firm can influence the emerging system and how feedback from the emerging system travels back to the firm. The thesis nuances the academic discussions on firm-system interactions by considering the possibilities of established firms to strategically invest in a favorable dynamic of co-evolution between their own resources and the emerging socio-technical system. Third, the thesis develops analytical tools to investigate how incumbent firms can influence changes in their environment by contributing to the design of favorable future markets and to understand how incumbent firms influence problem-solution couplings during transitions.   

Om du besöker Linköping har du goda chanser att se elektrifierade personbilar eller åka en eldriven stadsbuss. Däremot kan du ha svårt att upptäcka en av de mycket få elektriska lastbilar som körs i staden. Övergången till ett vägbaserat godstransportsystem med elektrifierade lastbilar går betydligt långsammare än övergången till elektrifierade persontransporter i Sverige. En del av förklaringen till detta är de djupgående systemomställningar som krävs för att förverkliga ett konkurrenskraftigt elektrifierat godstransportsystem, ett system som inbegriper olika företag med väsentligt olika resurser, och varierande relationer till befintliga systemstrukturer. Denna avhandling syftar till att kartlägga hur dynamiska omställningsprocesser påverkas av företag med intressen i det framväxande sociotekniska systemet för elektrifierade godstransporter. I avhandlingen betonas också de begränsningar som företagen har när det gäller att forma den omgivning som de elektrifierade lastbilarna ska verka i. Den data som avhandlingen bygger på samlades in inom ramen för två forskningsprojekt som båda finansierades av Energimyndigheten och var kopplade till forskningscentret Swedish Electromobility Center. Datainsamlingen omfattade observationer vid 42 branschevenemang och 34 semistrukturerade intervjuer med olika aktörer som är involverade i utvecklingen av elektrifierade godstransporter i Sverige. Dessutom gjordes en litteraturöversikt av artiklar inom forskningsfältet omställningsstudier (transiton studies) som belyser hur etablerade företag inom fordonssektorn hanterar större omställningar av sociotekniska system.  

Avhandlingen bidrar till den pågående diskussionen inom omställningsstudier om företagens roller i omställningar. I synnerhet finns det en livlig diskussion kring två frågor i detta forskningsfält: hur etablerade företag kan bidra till pågående omställningsprocesser och hur man kan förstå samspelet mellan företag och system under pågående omställningar. Genom en syntes av fem artiklar belyser den här avhandling dessa frågor på tre huvudsakliga sätt. För det första bidrar avhandlingen till diskussionen om etablerade företag med ett "extremt" empiriskt fall av systemrekonfigurering, som kännetecknas av interaktionen mellan två sociotekniska system där etablerade företag har rollen som användare och producenter i båda systemen. Avhandlingen beskriver hur olika etablerade företag har olika systemfunktioner och olika resurser, och hur dessa funktioner och resurser omformas när det nya systemet växer fram. För det andra bidrar avhandlingen med konceptualiseringar kring två typer av interaktioner mellan företag och system, dels hur företaget kan påverka systemet och dels återkopplingar till företaget från det framväxande systemet. Avhandlingen nyanserar akademiska diskussioner om interaktioner mellan företag och system genom att ta hänsyn till etablerade företags möjligheter att strategiskt satsa på en gynnsam dynamik i samutvecklingen mellan deras egna resurser och det framväxande sociotekniska systemet. För det tredje utvecklar avhandlingen analytiska verktyg för att undersöka hur etablerade företag kan få inflytande över förändringar i sin omgivning genom att bidra till utformningen av gynnsamma framtida marknader, samt att förstå hur etablerade företag påverkar hur problem och lösningar kopplas samman under omställningar.   

Examining how actively constructed processes of demand articulation can enable upscaled technology diffusion, this paper introduces a distinction between pre-commercial and commercial demonstrations. The paper argues that these two forms of demonstration play different roles in the adoption of innovative technologies. Whereas pre-commercial demonstrations are initiated to facilitate entry into niche markets, commercial demonstrations are devised to ease entry to mass markets. The paper presents a comparative case analysis of commercial demonstration projects featuring electrified heavy trucks in urban applications. The analysis focuses on the relation between the technologies and the selection environments they operate in, showing how stakeholders actively shape selection environments in commercial demonstrations. The analysis further shows how network relationships and lessons learned empower stakeholders to articulate forceful demands on institutional changes that promote an upscaled technology diffusion.

Trends of urbanisation and changed consumer behaviours such as internet-shopping result in increased urban goods flows (Cardenas et al., 2017; Russo and Comi, 2012) and with mounting pressure to reduce congestion and road transport emissions, policy makers need to prepare for major transformations in urban transportation. Due to their low noise, zero exhaust emissions and high energy efficiency in city traffic, electric trucks can enable such transformations. These vehicles generate radically new possibilities, such as a partial shift of urban goods distribution to the night-time. 

The diffusion of electric trucks challenges current structures and practices in the heavy vehicle industry. Established vehicle manufacturers face increasing pressure to interact with grid operators and charging equipment manufacturers to integrate their products with the electric grid. In turn, to implement systems for vehicle charging, grid operators and charging equipment manufacturers need to interact with city planners and local authorities. Further, to facilitate vehicle charging and night-time delivery, haulers, logistics companies and transport buyers have to reconsider schedules and practices. Since electric trucks are associated with higher purchase cost, investment decisions will differ, and limitations of on-board battery capacity will put restrictions on logistics planning, necessitating stakeholders to transform their business models. 

In the heavy vehicle industry, there are traditionally significant technological synergies between trucks and buses. Such synergies are possible also in the case of electric vehicles. On the bus market, the implementation of electric vehicles has initiated a ground-breaking transformation. However, as the city bus segment is characterised by direct policy intervention, the user contexts and buying practices differ substantially. With public transport authorities stipulating electric propulsion, the city bus segment has functioned as a protected niche, which has nurtured experiential learning. Thus, it is possible for vehicle manufacturers to benefit from the lessons learned from electric bus operation in their development and supply of electric trucks. Still, diffusion in the truck segment is more complex, with a more fragmented user context and limited possibilities to obtain protection from public procurement. That calls for a demand-based perspective which considers the user context as an essential determinant of technology evolution (Adner and Levinthal, 2001). 

With limited direct protection, market introduction of electric trucks implies greater pressure from the selection environment. Connecting basic knowledge generation and technological breakthrough with processes of commercial adoption (Hellsmark et al., 2016), demonstrations can facilitate controlled exposure to such pressures. Through participation in demonstration projects, stakeholders can raise questions on how to embed the new technology into wider ethical, legal, societal and business contexts (Boon et al., 2008; Schot et al., 2016; te Kulve and Konrad, 2017). Demonstration projects thus refer to actively constructed processes of demand articulation, where stakeholders interact to adapt and shape product requirements, user needs and demands. Being instrumental for the diffusion of new technologies, controlled exposure has received attention in literature on strategic niche management, and more recently in contributions on niche empowerment (Kern et al., 2015; Mylan et al., 2019; Smith and Raven, 2012). This paper contributes to this literature by distinguishing pre-commercial demonstrations from post-commercial demonstrations. Whereas the former facilitates entry to a protected market segment, the latter makes it possible for new technologies to enter larger market segments that operate with limited protection. A prerequisite for such entry is that the demand articulation processes can initiate changes of the selection environment (cf. Schot and Geels, 2008; Sushandoyo and Magnusson, 2014). The paper addresses the following research question: 

How can actively constructed processes of demand articulation in commercial demonstration projects initiate changes in the selection environment? ​ 

The paper builds on a multiple case study of demonstration projects featuring electrified urban distribution trucks. Based on 26 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, it provides a comparative analysis of projects in Gothenburg, Hamburg and Stockholm. The case analysis shows how commercial demonstration projects place emphasis on societal and business aspects. The involved stakeholders showed great concern for implications on future business models, and valuations of wider societal and environmental benefits. This includes reduced emissions and noise levels, transport and energy efficiency, and improved work environments for professional drivers. Commercial demonstrations can gather stakeholders in specific user contexts to articulate demands on technical and institutional change. For example, the studied projects resulted in valuable inputs regarding both regulatory changes (e.g. night-time access into the city centres for silent distribution trucks) and implications for charging infrastructure, showing how an actively coordinated and subsidized build-up of charging infrastructure can facilitate interactive learning processes. Demand articulation in post-commercial demonstration projects thus creates pressure for external changes, pointing at the need for a “stretch and transform” empowerment (cf. Smith and Raven, 2012). This shows how controlled exposure can foster a better understanding of the linkages between the specific selection environments and the broader transformations required to facilitate an upscaled diffusion of electric heavy vehicles.