Julia Planko

The implementation of innovative sustainability technologies often requires far-reaching changes in the macro environment in which the innovating firms operate. The chances of successful diffusion and adoption of an innovative technology in society increase if the firms wanting to commercialize this technology collaborate in networks or industry clusters, thus building a favorable environment for their technology.

In networks, entrepreneurs can strategically collaborate with other technology producers, complementary businesses, customers and government actors. By combining their forces, they can accelerate building a supportive innovation ecosystem or business ecosystem in which their innovation can flourish. Together, they optimize the technology, develop standards and interoperable products, create markets, raise user awareness, develop feasible business models, strive for positive governmental regulations and trigger societal changes, which enable a large-scale adoption of the new technology. This process is called ‘collective system building’.

In this thesis, the transition literature has been combined with insights from the strategic management literature, based on which the concept of strategic collective system building has been formed. To underpin the theoretical analysis empirically, a case study of the Dutch smart grid field has been conducted, and this has led to the development of a set of systemic strategy frameworks for system-building entrepreneurship. These frameworks do not only help gain a better theoretical understanding of collective action in emerging innovation ecosystems but can also be used as guidance to entrepreneurs in building a supportive innovation ecosystem for their radical sustainability technologies.

The term ‘collective system building’ describes the processes and activities that networks of actors can strategically engage in to collectively build a favorable environment for their innovative sustainability technology. First, a strategy framework for collective system building is presented, which focuses on the processes and important activities for system building. The strategy framework consists of four key areas: technology development and optimization, market creation, socio-cultural changes and coordination. Each of these key strategic areas contains a set of system-building activities. The framework can be used as a tool for strategy making by system-building networks.

Subsequently, it was investigated how such system-building networks can be managed effectively, and how system-building entrepreneurs coordinate their activities. A framework for network management at the network level has been proposed, with four categories: network composition, governance structure, managerial processes and relational factors. The framework shows what the key factors of effective network management are and how they can be implemented by system-building networks.

Last, the dilemma of collaboration versus competition in collective system-building was investigated. Companies that want to implement complex innovative technologies successfully need to collaborate with other actors, including their competitors, in the innovation ecosystem. Collaboration with competitors not only brings benefits, but also many risks. A systematic overview is provided of the benefits, risks and enablers of collaboration, and the strategies utilized by firms engaged in collective system building are explored. It is shown how system-building firms minimize inherent risks and increase the benefits of collaborating with competitors by adopting a ‘coping strategy’.

This research contributes to the transition literature, as well as to the strategic management literature. Moreover, its strategy frameworks can serve as practical tools for system-building entrepreneurs. Companies that want to launch innovative sustainability technologies can strategically collaborate in networks to pro-actively build an innovation ecosystem. This increases the companies’ chances of market success, and ultimately contributes to sustainable development.