Marte C. W. Solheim

University of Stavanger (UiS) · UiS Business School

While there is a wealth of empirical research examining the potential relations and effects of foreign workers, immigration and cultural diversity on wages, employment, economic growth, and—in recent years—innovation, very little of this research has provided a convincing empirical demonstration of the mechanisms through which foreign workers would...

In this paper we investigate whether the novelty content of innovations introduced by Norwegian manufacturing firms reflect the composition of work-life experiences collected by employees. Distinguishing between ‘related’ (RV) and ‘unrelated’ (URV) variety and using employer-employee registers merged with Community Innovation Survey data to observe...

Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to explain how theories of inter-organizational learning can create new insights and nuances to how processes of intra-organizational learning come about in a single, complex and multi-sited organization. Design/methodology/approach- A constructivist thematic analysis of the "Handbook of Feminist Foreign Policy...

In this theoretical article, we argue that discourses of diversity are shifting. In segments of the population in Western countries, the discourses on diversity appear to be shifting from multiculturalism towards narrower monoculturalism, nationalism and prejudice. We here argue that the discursive space to voice such opinions have widened. The lib...

Fostering a creative and constructive dynamic between groups is a recipe for success. Fostering a creative and constructive dynamic between groups is a recipe for success.

The provision of equitable chances for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue higher education is a fundamental principle in Norway’s egalitarian educational system. Providing free higher education to domestic and international students, has long been praised. In accordance with this, the Norwegian government has long sought to int...

Although digital innovation is increasingly important for all types of firms, studies of the drivers of digital innovation rarely cover all sectors. Furthermore, organisational and individual factors are often overlooked. To address these gaps, we use data from a purpose-built cross-industry survey of 1,201 firms in Norway to examine how various ty...

The oil and gas industry is expected to develop and restructure into a sustainable energy industry. This in-depth case study investigates how business model innovation can contribute to industrial restructuring. Our findings imply that, while there is no ‘one size fits all’ business model, most oil and gas companies will need to innovate their cust...

Urbanization is recognized as one of the megatrends of our society, leading to substantial efforts to create effective and smart cities. The scale of this effort is unsuitable for a single player, instead necessitating joint efforts from multiple stakeholders. The global expansion of smart cities has subsequently led to increased research efforts t...

The article examines a key component of regional smart specialisation strategy, namely the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) and how it unfolds in three regions in Norway. The authors seek to understand the interpretation and operationalisation of the EDP by conducting a constructivist thematic analysis of regional strategy documents and asso...

This case can be considered within the wider context of increasing migration and urban population, as well as the trend among Nordic countries to shift away from the oil and gas industry towards an emphasis on creating sustainable solutions in everyday life. Using the latest statistics at the time of writing, 14% of the Norwegian population have i...

Agile organisations do not arise from a single characteristic but comprise a combination of various aspects. Thus, this study aims to examine the combined effects on organisational agility regarding firms’ utilisation of digital technology to create value during the COVID-19 pandemic, how firms perceive uncertainty related to their own organisation...

Traditionally, immigrants have been found to demonstrate higher entrepreneurial drive than non-immigrant populations, which has spurred an increase in international scholarly attention to this theme. Studies on immigrant entrepreneurship have tackled a variety of related topics, such as the uncovering of entrepreneurial intentions, opportunity reco...

Koronakrisen har medført store endringer for bedrifter over hele verden. Noen bedrifter har brukt innovasjon aktivt for å håndtere krisen. Nye utfordringer ble møtt med nye løsninger, mens andre i mindre grad responderte med innovasjon. Ved hjelp av to studier gjennomført siste året foretar vi i denne artikkelen et dypdykk i hvordan og i hvilken gr...

"It is hardly possible to overrate the value (...) of placing human beings in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar (...) Such communication has always been, and is particularly in the present age, one of the primary sources of progress (Mill, 1848). The quota...

This paper introduces an analytical framework for understanding how specialized and diversified regional innovation system (RIS) differ in the way an entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) is likely to unfold. To analytically explore the proposed framework, we deploy a sequential explanatory design approach, using quantitative data to analyze the...

Viktigheita av å levere varer og tenester gjennom digitale plattformer har i løpet av dei siste åra auka kraftig, ein tendens som vart forsterka gjennom covid-19. Tradisjonelle måtar å samhandle på forsvann, og mange verksemder gjekk igjennom ei sjokkdigitalisering som følgje av nedstenging og smittevernrestriksjonar. Det måtte raskt etablerast nye...

We study if dynamic capabilities alleviate enterprises' revenue losses after an external shock. Contextually, we study Norwegian enterprises before and after the price decline of crude oil in 2014, which strongly affected economic activities across industries in some regions, while others were practically unaffected. Empirically, we combine data of...

Knowledge‐intensive services firms prefer to locate in cities that provide access to rich information flows and abundant opportunities for learning‐by‐recruiting. Focusing specifically on such locations, this paper explores how innovation is associated with work experiences ‘collected’ by employees through their recent career paths and the implemen...

Covid-19 pandemien medførte et betydelig eksogent sjokk for norsk næringsliv, og brakte store konsekvenser for produktiviteten i norske virksomheter. Flere bedrifter måtte substansielt endre forretningsmodell og fokus (Anthony Jnr og Abbas Petersen, 2020), og så å si samtlige norske bedrifter (som vi har undersøkt) har i denne perioden sett seg nød...

I dette notatet ser vi nærmere på hvordan unge innovative vekstbedrifter og etablerte innovative bedrifter i Norge har håndtert det første året med covid-19-pandemien. Spesifikt adresserer vi følgende problemstillinger: (i) Hvilke hovedutfordringer og muligheter har oppstått som følge av pandemien og hvordan har norske innovative bedrifter håndtert...

I dette notatet ser vi nærmere på hvordan nye norske vekstbedrifter og bedrifter i sentrale norske næringer har håndtert de første månedene av covid-19-krisen. Mer spesifikt ser vi på følgende problemstillinger: (i) På kort sikt, hvilke hovedutfordringer har oppstått som følge av covid-19-pandemien og hvordan har bedrifter i sentrale norske næringe...

In this paper we investigate whether the novelty content of innovations introduced by Norwegian manufacturing firms reflect the composition of work-life experiences collected by employees. Distinguishing between 'related' (RV) and 'unrelated' (URV) variety and using employer-employee registers merged with Community Innovation Survey data to observe...

Knowledge-intensive services firms depend on the skills and networks of employees and tend to cluster in large-city regions. This raises the fundamental question of whether knowledge-intensive services firms ‘learn through urban labour pools’ in manners that have implications for innovation. To address it, a distinction is in this paper made betwee...

Knowledge-intensive services firms (KIS) depend on the skills and networks of employees, and tend to cluster in large-city regions. This raises the fundamental question of whether KIS ‘learn through urban labour pools’ in manners that have implications for innovation. To address it, a distinction is in this paper made between ‘related variety’ (RV)...

In this paper, we investigate whether the composition of experience-based knowledge accumulated by firms in urban and rural locations is reflected in the novelty content of their innovations. Looking at the manufacturing industry, and using Norwegian Linked Employer-Employee register data (LEED) merged with Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data, w...

Verdien av kjønnsmangfold blir hyppig løftet frem, og flere bedrifter har en tydelig uttalt ambisjon om å øke kjønnsmangfoldet til 30, 40 eller 50 prosent, og å tiltrekke personer med mangfoldsbakgrunn. Dette skjer frikoblet fra å ha kunnskap om hvordan de skal utløse det fulle potensialet i mangfoldet. Hvordan skal en kunne identifisere, koordiner...

Tidlegare studiar viser både positive og negative samanhengar mellom utanlandskfødd arbeidskraft og innovasjon. Desse studiane har ikkje teke høgde for kjønn. Derfor undersøker vi samanhengen mellom andelen utanlandskfødde menn og utanlandskfødde kvinner og produkt – og marknadsretta innovasjon. Vi ser òg på om samanhengane er ulike mellom føretak...

By linking theoretical perspectives on human resource diversity to the distinction between knowledge exploration and exploitation, this paper contributes to the growing research literature on diversity and innovation by following up on the original argument by March (1991) that different dimensions of organizational learning depend on different inp...

Early Career Research piece written for the new regions e-zine covering some of the work from my PhD thesis.

Marte C W Solheim investigates how diversity within the workplace effects the capacity for firms to innovate and the relationship between firm location and the risk of being locked into a “wolfpack” mindset. This piece discusses how different forms of diversity affect different types of innovation. It highlights how foreign workers can connect fi...

Numerous contributions study firms’ clustering in space and the nexus between productivity and agglomeration. This paper analyses how different sectors and firms within the Norwegian upstream oil and gas industry benefit from regional agglomeration. Since upstream oil and gas value chains develop and produce sophisticated and highly customized know...

Background This PhD thesis aims at combining different perspectives from the literature on organizational theory, innovation, and economic geography and addresses how firms1 communicate and connect within the contexts of innovation processes. The literature concerned with organizational theory has had a tendency to overlook the significance of exte...

Past contributions stress that international ties in the form of foreign workers and international collaboration enable firms to be present in international markets by providing access to diverse knowledge, and professional and social networks. These mechanisms have, however, not undergone the same empirical scrutiny for firms in intermediate and p...

Ein studie av møtet mellom høgkompetent utanlandsk arbeidskraft og den maritime klynga på Møre 45 studiepoeng Marte Cecilie Wilhelmsen Solheim Mai 2011 2 ABSTRACT The need to attract human capital to the county of Møre & Romsdal has become increasingly prominent amongst researchers and the media. Sunnmøre, a region within Møre & Romsdal, and Norway...