A revised perspective on innovation policy for renewal of mature economies – Historical evidence from finance and telecommunications in Sweden 1980–1990
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 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.

Författare

Klas Eriksson

Stockholms universitet

Mirko Ernkvist

Handelshögskolan i Stockholm

Christofer Laurell

Internationella Handelshögskolan i Jönköping

Handelshögskolan i Stockholm

Jerker Moodysson

Internationella Handelshögskolan i Jönköping

Rasmus Nykvist

Örebro universitet

Christian Sandström

The Ratio Institute

Chalmers, Teknikens ekonomi och organisation, Science, Technology and Society

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

0040-1625 (ISSN)

Vol. 147 152-162

Ämneskategorier

Ekonomisk historia

Ekonomisk geografi

Företagsekonomi

DOI

10.1016/j.techfore.2019.07.001

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2021-05-06