Strategic collective system building to commercialize sustainability innovations

Abstract

The implementation of innovative sustainability technologies often requires far-reaching changes of the macro environment in which the innovating firms operate. Strategic management literature demonstrates that the chances of a successful diffusion and adoption of an innovative technology in society are increased if the firms wanting to commercialize this technology collaborate in networks or industry clusters to build a favourable environment for their technology. However, the strategic management literature does not offer advice on how to strategically create this supportive external environment. We fill this gap with complementary insights from the technological innovation systems literature. We introduce the concept of strategic collective system building; this concept describes processes and activities that networks of actors can strategically engage in to collectively build a favourable environment for their innovative sustainability technology. Furthermore, we develop a strategy framework for collective system building. To underpin our theoretical analysis empirically, we have conducted a case study in the Dutch smart grid field. The resulting strategy framework consists of four key areas: technology development and optimization, market creation, socio-cultural changes and coordination. Each of these key strategic areas is composed of a set of system-building activities.