Why Some Utilities Become Innovation Hubs While Others Stay Traditional
Research on Swedish utilities reveals the organizational recipe for companies that successfully coordinate across multiple infrastructure systems—combining R&D investment, flexible management, and institutional backing. Understanding these conditions matters for energy, water, and transport sectors racing to integrate renewable systems and climate adaptation.
Originaltitel: Entangling abilities and supporting environments: A contingency analysis of enabling conditions for multi-system interaction
<p>This paper investigates the conditions under which organisations take on the role of system entangler, fostering interaction between multiple sociotechnical systems. While prior research has identified various organisations in this role, the reasons some adopt it while others assume other roles remain unclear. Drawing on a comparative study of 15 publicly owned regional utilities in Sweden, triangulating multiple empirical data sources, we develop a typology of actor roles based on two dimensions: the degree of innovation novelty (radical vs. incremental) and the scope of system engagement (single-system vs. multi-system). This results in four ideal-type actor roles: entangler, connecter, builder, and maintainer. Using organisational contingency theory, we explore how internal and external factors condition these roles. We show that organisations assuming the multi-system entangler role combine R&D capacity, strong dynamic capabilities and organisational integration to harness a task environment characterised by high dynamism and institutional support. Notably, entanglers are distinguished from the radical single-system builder role through greater organisational integration and stronger local institutional support. These findings suggest that system entanglement is not merely a product of innovation ambition but also of alignment between organisational structure and environmental context. The study contributes to understanding how organisations can drive systemic change and offers insights for managers and policymakers seeking to foster such capabilities in the context of sustainability transitions.</p>