Institutional change and renewal in mature economies

Stockholm, 18th-20th August 2019

The Ratio Institute hereby invites young scholars in economics, business administration, political science, sociology and economic history to submit paper proposals for a cross disciplinary symposium in Stockholm, Sweden. The aim of this colloquium is to bring together researchers in different fields working on the subject of institutional change and renewal in mature economies.

Developed countries are presently facing many structural challenges. High unemployment rates, sluggish economic growth, limited productivity improvements and demographic changes impose needs for political reform agendas and institutional change. Faced with growing competition from other countries, the need for mature economies to adapt and evolve is even more pressing.

Macro trends such as digitalization (Henfridsson & Bygstad, 2013; Tilson et al., 2010), platform economy (Kenney & Zysman, 2016), and transitions to sustainable production and consumption systems hold the potential to instill growth and renewal, while also transforming industries and factor markets in substantial ways. However, progress is often halted by both prevalent institutions as well as inhibiting factors and mechanisms of institutional change often generated by regulatory capture, i.e. that vested interest groups are able to block necessary change.

The symposium aims to address how institutional change and renewal can take place in a mature economy. We welcome empirical and theoretical contributions regarding the role of policy, sectoral studies and descriptions of firm level behavior.Broadly, we are interested in the following topics:

* Cases of successful renewal of mature industries

*The interplay between institutional entrepreneurship and regulatory change

* Micro-level strategic behavior of entrant and incumbent firms under conditions of technological and political change

* The effects of technology on the labor market

* Empirical research on how policy-making engages and can deal with interest groups

The papers submitted are expected to be work in progress: they should be complete papers, but still unpublished. Both the symposium and hotel accommodation for the participants will be free of charge. Ratio will also reimburse reasonable budget travel expenses for all participants.

In addition to paper sessions there will be two keynote lectures by Robin Gustafsson, Aalto University and Sameeksha Desai, Kauffmann Foundation.

Robin Gustafsson is Associate Professor of strategic management at Aalto University. His research concerns micro-level aspects of institutional work, and the interplay between technological and regulatory change, and research on the foundations of competitive advantage from digitalisation and platforms. Gustafsson has published his work in such journals as The Academy of Management Journal, Information Systems Research, and Organization Studies.

Sameeksha Desai is director of research in entrepreneursip at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Her work concerns entrepreneurship, political economy and private sector development. Desai’s work has been published in such journals as Research Policy and Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. She is also an associate professor in policy (on leave).

The number of accepted papers is limited to 16. Discussants will be appointed to each accepted paper, but all participants are expected to read all papers and have further comments. The conference format is focused and highly interactive. Previous RCYSS participants have often been impressed by the quality of feedback and the attention devoted to each paper.An application consists of the following:

* A one page abstract of the planned paper

* Half a page summary of your research interests

* CV

Organizing committee:

Robert Demir, associate professor of strategic management

Nils Karlson, professor of political science

Christian Sandström, associate professor of innovation management

Charlotta Stern, professor of sociology

Karl Wennberg, professor of entrepreneurship

Christina Öberg, professor of marketing