The creation of a global firm: L.M. Ericsson and character virtues put into context

PublikationBokkapitel
Dygder, Entreprenörskap, Företagandets villkor, Rasmus Nykvist

Nykvist, R. (2015). “The creation of a global firm: L.M. Ericsson and character virtues put into context”. In Karlson, N., Norek M. & K. Wennberg (Eds.), Virtues in Entrepreneurship (pp. 184–211). Stockholm: Ratio.


Liknande innehåll

Introducing the inverted Icarus paradox in business history – Evidence from David and Goliath in the Swedish telecommunications industry 1981–1990
Artikel (med peer review)Publikation
Eriksson, K., Lakomaa, E., Nykvist, R., & Sandström, C.
Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Business History.

Sammanfattning

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.

An Analytically Structured History Approach Using a Relational Database
Artikel (med peer review)Publikation
Cheung, Z., Lakomaa, E., Aalto, E. J., & Nykvist, R.
Publiceringsår

2022

Publicerat i

Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2022, No. 1, p. 16116). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

Sammanfattning

We present an analytically structured history approach using a relational database to bridge the methodological divide between history and management and organizational research. Extensive digitized archival sets with rich metadata and analytical structures form the core of the database. The approach provides multiple methodological strengths. First, source transparency is established by linking all steps of the coding and analysis to the sources in the database. Second, the approach enables real-time research collaboration and constant comparison of the coding and analysis of sources. Third, the always available and searchable database enables the researcher to easily move back and forth from sources to narrative construction and theorizing. Due to this efficiency gain, research can be based on extensive archival datasets enabling rigorous conceptual development. The approach responds to the call for methodological openness and disclosure when conducting historical analyses. Additionally, the approach enables the development of contextually grounded explanations and theories that respond to the criticism that management and organizational research is ahistorical. Thus, the approach fulfills the requirement for the dual integrity of historical veracity and conceptual rigor.

Less from More: China Built Wind Power, but Gained Little Electricity
BokkapitelPublikation
Grafström, J.
Publiceringsår

2022

Publicerat i

Questioning the Entrepreneurial State, 219.

Sammanfattning

This chapter investigates Chinese wind power development and concludes that innovation cannot be pushed by the efforts of many, and that when the state clarifies directions and objectives, these can be achieved but with severe and unexpected side effects. Two topics are explored: wind curtailment and low technological development, both examples of unproductive entrepreneurship induced by government policies. The goal of wind power capacity expansion leads to construction (i.e., generation capacity) but little electricity. Examples of failures include low grid connectivity with, some years averaging 15% of generation capacity broken or unconnected to the grid. A key lesson for Europe is that forced innovation often amounts to little and that the old saying holds up: “no plan survives contact with reality.”

The book can be downloaded here.

Visa fler