 Growth strategies of incumbent utilities as contextually embedded: Examples from Denmark, Germany, Finland and SpainMari Ratinen and Peter D. Lund Technology in Society, 2014, vol. 38, issue C, 81-92 Abstract: In this article changes in the electricity industries of four different countries are analyzed in terms of the incumbent utilities' growth strategies. The economic activities are analyzed as socially embedded as we analyze how the social context influences these strategies. A typology for analyzing growth strategies based on the relative strength of social ties and focus on markets is presented. Qualitative case studies of the three largest incumbent utilities in Denmark, Germany, Finland and Spain were analyzed. Our findings show that incumbent utilities with relatively strong social relations can influence the energy policies, and their growth strategies tend to be more focused on domestic markets. In the opposite case, the growth strategies are more likely to be based on diversification and internationalization. We conclude that an incomplete unbundling of interests appears to slow down changes in the incumbent utilities' growth strategies. Thus, we propose that a complete unbundling of interests is needed. Keywords: Incumbent utilities; Electricity industry; Growth strategies; Social context (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:38:y:2014:i:c:p:81-92 DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2014.02.005 Access Statistics for this article Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.