| 1. |
- Aspeteg, Joakim, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Intermediation services and adopter expectations and demands during the implementation of renewable electricity innovation – Match or mismatch?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526. ; 214, s. 837-847
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To limit the irreversible consequences of global warming, it is crucial that new actors adopt renewable electricity technologies. This type of innovation is, however, complex to implement, which is the reason adopters often contract with intermediaries for support services, e.g., project developers or installers. Previous studies have underlined that it is difficult for intermediaries to provide services that fully satisfy different types of adopters. Contributing to the previous research on customer satisfaction of services and innovation intermediaries, this article identifies adopters’ expectations when adopting photovoltaic technology and analyzes whether such expectations match with the services provided by intermediaries. A cross-case analysis of photovoltaic projects was performed. Results underline that motives and driving forces for adopting the technology influences how adopters select intermediaries as well as what they expect from the services provided by intermediaries. The study finally contributes with some recommendations for intermediary organizations that want to improve and adapt their services to match their clients’ expectations and demands.
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| 2. |
- Bankel, Amanda, 1992, et al.
(författare)
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Solar business models from a firm perspective – an empirical study of the Swedish market
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215. ; 166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A worldwide transition towards sustainable energy systems requires the diffusion of renewable electricity technologies. To achieve this, recent research has put emphasis on the role of business models as catalysts for sustainability transitions, particularly in the case of solar photovoltaics. Authors have identified a variety of solar business models that can be characterized based on roles, activities, and applications. In contrast, on the market, solar firms use business models to communicate their offer to clients, focusing on customers’ needs, how they organize their resources and activities to meet these needs and, in return, create value for themselves. The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between the way the energy policy literature describes solar business models, and the way solar firms use them to communicate with their clients. The business models of 241 solar firms in Sweden were mapped and analyzed using a framework developed by Richardson (2008) as well as the roles, activities, and applications highlighted in solar business model literature. This led us to identify six types of solar business models. We found that there are some gaps and overlaps between theoretical and empirical solar business models which, in turn, have implications for theory and policy.
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| 3. |
- Bergek, Anna, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Entrepreneurial investors in renewable electricity production : motives and investment processes
- 2012
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Ingår i: Entrepreneurial investors in renewable electricity production.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The transformation of energy systems towards a low-carbon economy requires large investments in renewable electricity production capacity, in terms of new power plants as well as conversion from fossil fuels to renewable fuels such as biomass. In order for those investments to increase, a larger number of actors have to see renewable electricity production as an opportunity worth pursuing. Understanding the motives and decision processes involved in opportunity recognition and exploitation in this field is, thus, key to predicting and encouraging further investments.Recent studies have shown that investments in renewable electricity production are made by a diverse (in terms of knowledge and experience) set of actors (Bergek et al., 2012). Many of these have little or no previous experience of electricity production, which implies that recognizing and pursuing the opportunity of renewable electricity production implied a radical break with their existing routines for the purpose of creating new (for them) combinations of resources (cf. Schumpeter, 1934b). In this conference paper, we study these actors from an entrepreneurship perspective in order to understand why they came to recognize the same basic opportunity (to invest in renewable electricity production) in spite of their apparent lack of knowledge and previous experience, and how they were able to acquire the resources needed to exploit the opportunity.Traditionally, economic value has been seen as the main entrepreneurial motive: entrepreneurs exploit opportunities in order to generate profit (cf. Baumol, 1990; Casson, 1982; Gilad and Levine, 1986; Kirzner, 1973; Schumpeter, 1934b; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000b; Silver and Auster, 1969). Recently, the idea has been put forward that exploitation of opportunities may be driven by sustainability values or concerns, such as a wish to induce social or environmental change (e.g. Hockerts and Wüstenhagen, 2010; Schaltegger and Wagner, 2007; Zahra et al., 2009). Based on the results of 22 interviews conducted with entrepreneurs of different sizes, backgrounds and main activities, we show that economic motives were predominant. However, in spite of the fact that all entrepreneurs saw a potential economic value in the opportunity, only few of them developed the opportunity using a profit-maximization strategy. For a majority of entrepreneurs, even a small profit was acceptable or seen as a bonus. Motives such as environment and social improvements were not decisive for pursuing the opportunity. Most of the entrepreneurs were driven by personal or internal motives, i.e. fulfilling personal or internal needs, rather than by market-needs, i.e. market-driven opportunities or market-gaps.Authors have emphasized the importance of some determinants of opportunity recognition, e.g. prior knowledge (cf. Baron, 2006), networks (cf. Ucbasaran et al., 2001) and interests (cf. Ardichvili et al., 2003; Guth and Ginsberg, 1990). Our study of the entrepreneurial process shows that entrepreneurs are indeed influenced by their personal network but that other factors such as access to an initial resource, e.g. land, can also affect their recognition process. Moreover, we found that some triggers were decisive for their opportunity exploitation decisions: the decision to start a company, the recognition of a market-need, an interest in the technology, a problem or the access to a natural resource. This led us to the identification of different types of entrepreneurs: investment-driven entrepreneurs, diffusion-driven entrepreneurs, technology-driven entrepreneurs, solution-driven entrepreneurs and efficiency-driven entrepreneurs. Finally, previous literature especially emphasizes the importance of identifying resource needs, managing existing resources and acquiring new resources in order to exploit opportunities (Alvarez and Busenitz, 2001; Brush et al., 2001; Katz and Gartner, 1988; Ucbasaran et al., 2001). Entrepreneurs typically do not control all the resources they need to exploit an opportunity and they, therefore, have to acquire them from external sources (Shook et al., 2003; Ucbasaran et al., 2001). This can be a challenging process, since emerging ventures lack reputation and track record (Brush et al., 2001). In our study, in the process of opportunity development, each type of entrepreneur had access to one or several initial resources but had to acquire additional key resources. We found that the resource acquisition of those additional resources is less challenging when intermediary actors and existing personal networks are in place and when entrepreneurs control instrumental resources that can be used to obtain other resources.
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| 4. |
- Bergek, Anna, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping diffusion intermediaries: conceptualization and empirical application to the case of renewable energy technology in Sweden
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The innovation literature has acknowledged that intermediary actors of different types can play an important role for innovation by facilitating knowledge development and diffusion, technology transfer and market formation. So far, most studies have focused on the development of new technologies, especially in the context of open innovation, whereas the characteristics and roles of intermediaries in the diffusion of innovations is largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to define and operationalize the concept of ‘diffusion intermediaries’ and to map such intermediaries involved in the field of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in Sweden. Using data from the official firm registry, four main types of formal diffusion intermediaries (dedicated, unspecialized, vertically integrated and diversified) and three main categories of intermediation activities (consulting, import/sales and project development) are identified. The analysis shows that the majority of the diffusion intermediaries are not exclusively involved in intermediation activities and that a substantial share is involved only in import and sales. This raises some questions with regard to the definition of the intermediary concept. More precisely, the active involvement in the adoption process is suggested to be a key criterion to distinguish between diffusion intermediaries and distribution intermediaries. The analysis also shows that diffusion intermediation has a technology-specific component. More studies are, however, needed to further distinguish between different types of diffusion intermediaries in a wider set of empirical settings and to understand the role they play for adoption.
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| 5. |
- Bergek, Anna, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Motives to adopt renewable electricity technologies: Evidence from Sweden
- 2017
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215. ; 106, s. 547-559
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The diffusion of renewable electricity technologies (RETs) has to speed up for countries to reach their, often ambitious, targets for renewable energy generation. This requires a large number of actors – including individuals, companies and other organizations – to adopt RETs. Policies will most likely be needed to induce adoption, but there is limited knowledge about what motivates RET adoption. The purpose of this paper is to complement and expand the available empirical evidence regarding motives to adopt RETs through a survey to over 600 RET adopters in Sweden. The main finding of the study is that there are many different motives to adopt RETs and that RET adopters are a heterogeneous group with regard to motives. Although environmental concerns, interest in the technology, access to an RE resource and prospects to generate economic revenues are important motives in general, adopters differ with regard to how large importance they attach to the same motive and each adopter can also have several different motives to adopt. There are also differences in motives between adopter categories (especially independent power producers vs. individuals and diversified companies) and between RETs (especially wind power vs. solar power). This implies that a variety of policy instruments might be needed to induce further adoption of a variety of RETs by a variety of adopter categories.
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| 6. |
- Bergek, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Motives to adopt renewable energy technologies : evidence from Sweden
- 2017
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 106, s. 547-559
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The diffusion of renewable energy technologies (RETs) has to speed up for countries to reach their, often ambitious, targets for renewable energy generation. This requires a large number of actors to adopt RETs. Policies will most likely be needed to induce adoption, but there is limited knowledge about what motivates RET adoption. The purpose of this paper is to complement and expand the available evidence regarding motives to adopt RETs through a survey to over 600 non-traditional RET adopters in Sweden. The main finding of the study is that although environmental concerns, technology interest, access to a base resource and prospects to make money are important motives in general, RET adopters is a heterogeneous group with regard to motives: there are many different motives to adopt RETs, adopters differ in how large importance they attach to the same motive and each adopter can have several different motives to adopt. There are also differences in motives between RETs (especially wind power vs. solar power) and between adopter categories (especially IPPs vs. individuals and diversified companies). This implies that a variety of policy instruments might be needed to induce further adoption of a variety of RETs by a variety of adopter categories.
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| 7. |
- Bergek, Anna, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Nya investerare i förnybar elproduktion:motiv, investeringskriterier ochpolicykonsekvenser (NyEl) : Slutrapport
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Projektet Nya investerare i förnybar elproduktion: motiv, investeringskriterier och policykonsekvenser harstudierat icke-traditionella investerare i förnybar elproduktion med syfte att ge ettvetenskapligt underlag för utformning och implementering av energipolitiska styrmedel riktademot dessa investerare samt vidareutveckla befintliga beslutsstödsmodeller för investering iförnybar elproduktion. Studien har visat (a) att majoriteten av investeringarna i förnybarelproduktion i Sverige har gjorts av icke-traditionella investerare, (b) att dessa icke-traditionellainvesterare inte är en homogen grupp utan består av många olika slags aktörer, med olikamotiv, kunskapsbaser, resurser och nätverk som använder olika strategier för att genomförasina investeringar och som reagerar på olika sätt på ekonomiska styrmedel samt (c) attskillnaderna med avseende på strategier och reaktioner är kopplade till investeringsmotivetsnarare än till organisationsform eller huvudsaklig verksamhet.
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| 8. |
- Bergek, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Who invests in renewable electricity production? : Empirical evidence and suggestions for further research
- 2013
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 56, s. 568-581
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transforming energy systems to fulfill the needs of a low-carbon economy requires large investments in renewable electricity production (RES-E). Recent literature underlines the need to take a closer look at the composition of the RES-E investor group in order to understand the motives and investment processes of different types of investors. However, existing energy policies generally consider RES-E investments made on a regional or national level, and target investors who evaluate their RES-E investments according to least-cost high-profit criteria. We present empirical evidence to show that RES-E investments are made by a heterogeneous group of investors, that a variety of investors exist and that their formation varies among the different types of renewable sources. This has direct implications for our understanding of the investment process in RES-E and for the study of motives and driving forces of RES-E investors. We introduce a multi-dimensional framework for analyzing differences between categories of investors, which not only considers to the standard economic dimension which is predominant in the contemporary energy literature, but also considers the entrepreneurship, innovation-adoption and institutional dimensions. The framework emphasizes the influence of four main investor-related factors on the investment process which should be studied in future research: motives, background, resources and personal characteristics.
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| 9. |
- Besma, Glaa, et al.
(författare)
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Identifying gaps and overlaps of intermediary support during the adoption of renewable energy technology in Sweden - A conceptual framework
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 261
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper provides new understanding on how intermediary actors support the adoption of renewable electricity technology. While intermediaries complement each other in different phases of the process, there are also gaps and overlaps in the support that they provide. Results indicate that there is a great need of improving the communication among intermediaries and of a higher level of coordination among the tasks performed. Fostering the widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies is one of the most important drivers to limit the irreversible consequences of global warming that the world is facing today. However, the process of adopting such innovations is often complex and challenging. Previous studies have recognized the crucial role of intermediaries in facilitating the adoption process. Yet, little is known about how different intermediaries support the various adoption process phases, which intermediary type does what, and whether there are support gaps or overlaps among them. The authors of this paper contribute to previous research on innovation adoption and innovation intermediaries based upon research on the adoption context of renewable energy technologies in Sweden. They gathered secondary data and semi-structured interviews with nineteen intermediaries who support the adoption process of renewable energy technologies. The finding of this paper has implications on policy design, with regard, to how intermediaries can better perform in a technology diffusion context and to how intermediaries can be coordinated to provide better services during the different phases of the adoption process.
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| 10. |
- Gustafsson, Sara, Biträdande professor, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Municipalities as intermediaries for the design and local implementation of climate visions
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Planning Studies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0965-4313 .- 1469-5944. ; 28:6, s. 1161-1182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The transition to a sustainable society requires the development of visions paving the way for socio-technical changes. In recent years, the literature on sustainable transitions and urban planning has highlighted the intermediation role of municipalities to implement international and national goals and visions at a local level. Yet, empirical research studying municipalities from the lens of the intermediation theory are sparse. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of what strategies municipalities use when intermediating between and within different scales of governance (i.e. local, national and international), and what factors influence the choice of strategies. Through semi-structured interviews and document studies, three Swedish municipalities are studied. Results show that these municipalities translate the visions through local experiments, task delegation and coalitions. Additionally, the analysis indicates that the local circumstances, rather than the relations between the local level and the higher levels of governance or the guidance of national policies, influence the choice of intermediation strategy. Particularly, whether the management approach is centralized or decentralized, result- or process-oriented, participative or exclusive, is determinant. Results also indicate that municipalities perform both top-down and bottom-up intermediation, i.e. closing the loop from the local to the national and/or international levels.
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