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Governments provide policy incentives to increase adoption rates of electric vehicles and achieve sustainability goals. This paper investigates the impact of UK financial purchase incentives on new registrations of electric fleets whilst moderating for change in gross domestic product (GDP). We use a unique dataset of new registrations of electric fleets in the UK for a 20-year period (1999–2019). Our results show that financial purchase incentives positively impact new registrations of electric fleets, and this effect is positively moderated by GDP change. Marginal analysis reveals three categories of adopters that purchase electric fleets at different levels of policy and GDP change: insensitive adopters, standard adopters, and sensitive adopters. Overall, financial incentives may be more effective in fostering the adoption of electric fleets when set to levels that are conditioned on the level of GDP change. In particular, financial purchase incentives are most effective when GDP change and incentives are above their average level.

The 2020 renewable energy targets have stimulated the debate on the efficacy of policy schemes. Discussion on the efficacy of these schemes has largely been on the growth in the share of renewable energy, and less on the alignment of policies to the needs of investors. However, research in this field has emphasized that ‘who is investing’ is as relevant as ‘how much is invested’. This study aims to identify and better understand ‘who is investing’, by researching more than 1,000 investments by 646 firms that produce electricity with Dutch onshore wind energy. These firms received renewable energy subsidies under Dutch policy schemes between 1996 and 2013. The regression results highlight the type of investors that invest more in wind energy. The results show that firms with a higher wind energy capacity are firms that have more investment experience; are latecomers to the wind industry; have an industrial background in the electricity or wind industry; are medium- or large-sized and are limited liability companies. Data on investments, combined with a document analysis, show that changes in policy schemes affect the perceived risks and expected returns of investors, and that these changes influence the amounts invested and the type of investors in wind energy.

In order to facilitate the transition to electricity industries with low CO2 emissions, it is important to understand which firms invest in renewable energy technologies. This study concentrates on the heterogeneous characteristics of investors in wind power that are embedded in the investors’ dynamic capabilities. Data on 617 investors in the Swedish onshore wind industry are analyzed. Investors with higher investment and management experience and a mixed generation portfolio whose business is electricity production have more assets in wind. Investors’ age in the wind industry has a negative relation with assets in wind, illustrating that latecomers are investing more. Individual incumbents of the electricity industry hold a relatively large amount of assets in the Swedish wind industry, but the group of incumbents as a whole possesses only 15 percent of wind assets. The results suggest that tailor-made policies could stimulate a greater variety of firms to invest in wind power.

The promotion of renewable energy production requires the cooperation of previously unrelated actors. In the Netherlands, a government subsidy pushes biomethane producers into a relationship with operators of the gas network. However, this cooperation proved to be very difficult. This research analyzes the problematic interaction between producers and network operators in the case of biomethane injection in the Dutch natural gas grid. We draw on the concept of ‘institutional logics’ to improve our understanding of this interaction and to identify divergent practices and belief systems. This research contributes to the multilevel perspective on socio-technical transitions, in particular to insights into the interaction between the biomethane niche and gas regime. Based on interviews and secondary data sources we find diverging logics for biomethane producers and network operators. The differences regarding the goals pursued, decision-making style, and the scale of operations hamper productive cooperation. We also observe that ‘boundary spanning’ individuals step in to increase mutual understanding and to forge productive working relationships. However, the existing logics leave very little room for maneuvering, given the embeddedness and stability of logics in thinking, acting, and physical infrastructure. Mismatching institutional logics form a serious hurdle for successful biomethane injection, and thus hinder the transition towards more renewable energy production.

The literature on alliances has identified a variety of inter-firm antecedents of performance, including information and knowledge sharing between partners, shared partner understanding, and a focus on collective objectives. Recent studies have focused on alliance management capabilities (AMC) - firms' abilities to capture, share, store and apply alliance management knowledge - as an important antecedent of performance. This paper reviews 90 studies on AMC and makes two important contributions to the literature. First, the review provides an overview of and classification scheme for the different types of AMC to better organise the diverse empirical findings that have been presented in the literature. The novel classification distinguishes between general and partner-specific AMC and between AMC stored within the firm and within the alliance. Second, consistent with the dynamic capabilities perspective, this paper offers a more detailed understanding of why AMC improve performance, by highlighting the intermediate impact of AMC on alliance attributes. In particular, the review demonstrates how the different categories of AMC influence alliances in terms of information and knowledge-sharing between partners, shared partner understanding and the pursuit of collective goals. The review also demonstrates that these attributes improve performance. The authors note promising avenues for future empirical research that involve combining the classification scheme with research on the impact of AMC on alliance attributes and performance.

In order to facilitate the transition to electricity sectors with low CO2 emissions, it is important to understand which firms invest in new renewable energy technologies, and which firms are responsive to energy policies. This study concentrates on the heterogeneous characteristics of investors in wind power that are embedded in the investors’ dynamic capabilities. The paper explores which type of investors display a positive reaction to the undifferentiated policy, and thus build up more assets in wind power. Empirical data is collected on investments in the Swedish wind energy industry in the Swedish tradable certificate system. The findings demonstrate that the cumulative wind power assets are indeed influenced by investors’ characteristics. Investors with a greater resource endowment, higher investment experience and a mixed generation portfolio hold higher share of assets in wind. The results also indicate that the investors’ age in the wind industry has a negative relation with the cumulative assets in wind, offering evidence on the important role of new entrants in this industry. This study offers insights for policy makers on which investors are responsive to the certificate system and invest in wind. It also implies that a more diversified set of policies could stimulate a greater variety of firms to invest in wind power.

The current use of fossil fuels for the purpose of energy and materials production creates a number of pressing sustainability problems, such as climate change. Therefore, the fossil fuel system is in need of a fundamental transformation. However, despite this need, the targets set by policy makers, and the availability of renewable energy technologies, the fossil fuels system keeps expanding. This raises the question of why it is so difficult to move away from fossil fuels. To answer this question, this thesis focuses on both institutions and incumbents in the energy transition. The fossil fuel system is aligned with an extensive set of rules or institutions that both enable and constrain our behavior and provide meaning to our society. An important characteristic of institutions is that they provide stability and resist change. Incumbents have heavily invested in the fossil fuel system and therefore have extensive vested interests. Incumbents stand to lose a large share of their potential profits when energy production shifts towards renewable energy technologies. Therefore, it is likely that incumbents will attempt to protect their fossil fuel interests. The field of sustainability transitions has acknowledged the central role of institutions and the importance of incumbents in transition processes. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship between incumbents and institutions. This thesis focuses on how incumbents influence institutions as well as on how institutions influence incumbents. The theoretical framework consists of the institutional work and institutional logics stream within institutional theory. This thesis contains four case studies in the context of the Dutch fossil fuel system. The Netherlands was chosen for its stagnant energy transition and its many large incumbents related to fossil fuel activities. Our data collection includes interviews, newspaper articles, policy documents, annual reports, and organization websites. Analysis was conducted through categorization and constant comparison of the data in iteration with the theoretical framework. Multiple data sources were used to assure triangulation of the data. In terms of institutional work, this thesis concludes that incumbents influence institutions by cooperating with government, providing an alternative plan, framing private interests as public interests, commissioning research, and by speaking through the media. Incumbents are very capable at influencing institutions to their own benefit, and are more effective than new entrants’ institutional work. In terms of institutional logics, this thesis concludes that incumbent network operators’ behavior is guided by a hierarchy logic featuring operation according to the Gas Law, responsibility for safety and reliability, and preference for large-scale arrangements. Innovative practices tend to be at odds with this logic, as is the case with biomethane production. The implications of this thesis´ findings are that incumbents exert a considerable influence on the unfolding of sustainability transitions. Namely, institutions and institutional change are a crucial part of sustainability transitions and incumbents’ institutional work activities contribute to institutional change that is aligned with the incumbents’ interests. Dutch government should therefore develop its own energy transition vision, independent from incumbents and with ample attention for ideas from new entrants.

To protect their vested interests, incumbent firms have a history of opposing change, even when change is societally beneficial. Empirical research on this topic is limited. In this dissertation we study the role of incumbent firms in the socio-technical transition to a more sustainable society. The development and commercialization of new, cleaner technologies are important for such a transition. But these technologies render obsolete many existing assets and competences that are specific to the established technology, which decreases the competitive advantage of incumbents. Incumbents that thrive on the established technology therefore have incentive to prevent the introduction of such new, cleaner technologies. The role of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions is studied by looking at how they facilitate transition through innovation, and how they influence transition through political influence strategies. The focus is on the automotive industry. Firstly, we studied the relation between competitive forces, that stimulate incumbents to innovate, and the continuation of waves of Clean Vehicle Technology (CVT) development. The findings suggest that competitive forces positively relate to continued CVT development. Because of competitive pressures, we expect the current wave of electric vehicle (EV) development not to collapse like previous waves of CVT development, but to be prolonged on the longer term. Secondly, we quantitatively studied what types of incumbents pioneer radical innovation, by linking their incentive and opportunity to innovate to EV sales over the period 1990-2011. It turns out that during the period that EVs were commercialized (i.e. 2007-2011), large car manufacturers with both a strong incentive and a strong opportunity to innovate sold significantly more EVs. Hence, car manufacturers that profited relatively little from the established technology and that had developed an EV asset position, were the ones to abandon the established technology first by engaging in radical innovation. Thirdly, we studied the innovation and political influence strategies incumbents used in response to public CVT policy. The case study focused on incumbent car manufacturers’ response to the Californian zero emission vehicle mandate over the period 2000–2013. We developed a new theoretical framework on corporate response strategies to public policy with which we integrate the innovation and political activities literature. Combining patent, sales and content analysis, the research shows that car manufacturers initially showed few innovation activities, but over time strongly increased their efforts. Their political influence strategies changed from opposing the mandate to trying to shape and/or support it. However, coalitions continued to oppose the mandate, as they were assigned to do the manufacturers’ “dirty work”. We showed that car manufacturers combine their innovation and political influence strategies in synergistic ways. The case study thus illustrates that the role of incumbent car manufacturers over time changed from hampering socio-technical transition to a more sustainable society, to facilitating it. To deal with industry opposition to policy interventions, our research suggests that policy makers focus their interaction with industry on individual firms instead of coalitions, craft policies that stimulate competition between firms to break apart their closed industry front, and complement technology-forcing policies with demand-pull initiatives.