A revised perspective on innovation policy for renewal of mature economies – Historical evidence from finance and telecommunications in Sweden 1980–1990
Journal article, 2019

What is the role of innovation policy for accomplishing renewal of mature industries in Western economies? Drawing upon an unusually rich dataset spanning 9752 digitized archival documents, we categorize and code decisions taken by policymakers on several levels while also mapping and quantifying the strategic activities of both entrant firms and incumbent monopolists over a decade. Our data concerns two empirical cases from Sweden during the time period 1980–1990: the financial sector and the telecommunications sector. In both industries, a combination of technological and institutional upheaval came into motion during this time period which in turn fueled the revitalization of the Swedish economy in the subsequent decades. Our findings show that Swedish policymakers in both cases consistently acted in order to promote the emergence of more competition and de novo entrant firms at the expense of established monopolies. The paper quantifies and documents this process while also highlighting several enabling conditions. In conclusion, the results indicate that successful innovation policy in mature economies is largely a matter of strategically dealing with resourceful vested interest groups, alignment of expectations, and removing resistance to industrial renewal.

Author

Klas Eriksson

Stockholm University

Mirko Ernkvist

Stockholm School of Economics

Christofer Laurell

Jönköping International Business School

Stockholm School of Economics

Jerker Moodysson

Jönköping International Business School

Rasmus Nykvist

Örebro University

Christian Sandström

The Ratio Institute

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Science, Technology and Society

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

0040-1625 (ISSN)

Vol. 147 152-162

Subject Categories

Economic History

Economic Geography

Business Administration

DOI

10.1016/j.techfore.2019.07.001

More information

Latest update

5/6/2021 9