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2019 (English)In: Technological forecasting & social change, ISSN 0040-1625, E-ISSN 1873-5509, Vol. 147, p. 152-162Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
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.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2019
Keywords
Technological forecasting, Archival documents, Data concerns, Financial sectors, Innovation policies, Interest groups, Policy makers, Strategic activities, Time-periods, Competition
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-45526 (URN)10.1016/j.techfore.2019.07.001 (DOI)000489193700013 ()2-s2.0-85069892849 (Scopus ID)HOA;;1341823 (Local ID)HOA;;1341823 (Archive number)HOA;;1341823 (OAI)
Funder
Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg FoundationThe Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation
2019-08-122019-08-122021-02-26Bibliographically approved