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PublicationArticle (with peer review)

Digital entrepreneurship and field conditions for institutional change

Abstract

Digital entrepreneurship may result in institutional turbulence and new initiatives are frequently blocked by vested interest groups who posit superior financial and relational resources. In this paper, we explore the role of cities in facilitating digital entrepreneurship and overcoming institutional resistance to innovation. Drawing upon two historical case studies of digital entrepreneurship in the city of Stockholm along with an extensive material on the sharing economy in Sweden, our results suggest that cities offer an environment that is critical for digital entrepreneurship. The economic and technological diversity of a city may provide the field conditions required for institutional change to take place and to avoid regulatory capture.

Geissinger, A., Laurell, C., Sandström, C., Eriksson, K., & Nykvist, R. (in press). Digital entrepreneurship and field conditions for institutional change – Investigating the enabling role of cities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.06.019

Details

Author
Geissinger, A., Laurell, C., Sandström, C., Eriksson, K., & Nykvist, R.
Publication year
2018
Published in

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Related

  • Ph.D.

    Klas A. M. Eriksson

    klas.eriksson@hhs.se
  • Associate Researcher

    Andrea Geissinger

    andrea.geissinger@ratio.se

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Article (with peer review)

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Eriksson, K.; Lakomaa, E.; Nykvist, R.; Sandström, C.

Publication year

2024

Published in

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Abstract

Previous research in business and management history has identified the Icarus paradox, which describes how organisations may fall due to overconfidence and hubris. We build upon previous research on paradoxes in business history and introduce the notion of an inverted Icarus paradox. Using rich archival sources coded in a relational database, we show how an entrant firm, Comvik, outmanoeuvred an established government monopoly in the non-market domain from 1980 to 1990, despite inferior resources and a weak market position. The government monopoly Televerket faced an inverted Icarus paradox; it could not leverage its strengths and political connections as they were stuck in a David versus Goliath narrative where public opinion was more sympathetic to the entrant firm Comvik.

Book chapter

Learning from Overrated Mission-Oriented Innovation Policies: Seven Takeaways

Henrekson, M., Sandström, C., & Stenkula, M.

Publication year

2024

Published in

Springer Nature.

Abstract

This chapter integrates findings from several different case studies on mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIPs) and makes use of the existing literature to briefly describe three other missions: The War on Cancer, homeownership in the United States, and the Swedish Million Program. Together with the analyses in the other chapters of this volume, seven takeaways regarding mission-oriented innovation policies are developed and described: (1) wicked problems cannot be solved through missions, (2) politicians and government agencies are not exempt from self-interest, (3) MOIPs are subject to rent seeking and mission capture, (4) policymakers lack information to design MOIPs efficiently, (5) MOIPs distort competition, (6) government support programs distort incentives and result in moral hazard, and (7) MOIPs ignore opportunity costs. These seven takeaways are illustrated using the cases described in this chapter and elsewhere in this volume.

Article (with peer review)

Introducing the inverted Icarus paradox in business history – Evidence from David and Goliath in the Swedish telecommunications industry 1981–1990

Eriksson, K., Lakomaa, E., Nykvist, R., & Sandström, C.
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Publication year

2024

Published in

Business History.

Abstract

Previous research in business and management history has identified the Icarus paradox, which describes how organisations may fall due to overconfidence and hubris. We build upon previous research on paradoxes in business history and introduce the notion of an inverted Icarus paradox. Using rich archival sources coded in a relational database, we show how an entrant firm, Comvik, outmanoeuvred an established government monopoly in the non-market domain from 1980 to 1990, despite inferior resources and a weak market position. The government monopoly Televerket faced an inverted Icarus paradox; it could not leverage its strengths and political connections as they were stuck in a David versus Goliath narrative where public opinion was more sympathetic to the entrant firm Comvik.

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