Thomas Magnusson

Halmstad University

As the national and supranational levels of government embrace the concept of missions to solve wicked problems, the importance of understanding how missions move from one level of governance to another becomes essential. In this paper, we present a comparative case analysis of evolving regional biogas systems to consider how global missions on cli...

If sustainability transitions research is to be relevant for upscaled diffusion of radical innovations and wide systemic socio-technical changes, then markets remain critical to account for. Founding frameworks in transition studies regard markets and market formation as important. Yet, the conceptualization of markets has so far not been elaborate...

Policy mixes are needed to overcome the different barriers hindering sustainability transitions. This creates the need for policy coherence. Policy coherence studies in sustainability transitions literature are dominated by European cases, limiting their generalizability. This article analyzes policy mixes related to biogas systems and their relate...

Following the tradition of using opposing concepts as a basis for organisational analysis, this article advances a theory‐based understanding of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions. Building on seminal transition studies, we propose innovating/defending and collaborating/competing as two useful spectra to describe organisational behaviour...

This paper analyzes how incumbent firms act to shape markets for new technology alternatives. It introduces a framework that highlights important linkages between the dynamic market-shaping capabilities of individual firms and market-shaping processes on a system level. The framework is used to analyze the endeavors of two large heavy vehicle manuf...

The transition to a circular economy relies on systems that facilitate waste recovery and recirculation of resources. These systems are based on certain enabling technologies. The aim of this paper is to explain how socio-economic structures influence the diffusion of such technologies. It applies a framework built on societal embedding and varieti...

Examining how actively constructed processes of demand articulation can enable upscaled technology diffusion, this paper introduces a distinction between pre-commercial and commercial demonstrations. The paper argues that these two forms of demonstration play different roles in the adoption of innovative technologies. Whereas pre-commercial demonst...

This article presents results from a project involving local practitioners in the construction of scenarios for a regional energy and transport system. The purpose is to demonstrate how sustainability transitions research can interact with local practice by means of socio-technical scenarios. Combining quantitative data with qualitative storylines,...

By merging findings from transition studies with recent literature on market-shaping, this paper outlines a conceptual framework that describes the shaping of sustainable markets. The framework comprises three critical processes: enabling exchange practices, proving the system and constructing the narrative. Individually, these processes generate d...

Decisions on organizational boundaries are critical aspects of manufacturing firms’ business strategies. This article brings together concepts and findings from industrial ecology and business strategy in order to understand how manufacturing firms engage in initiatives to facilitate recycling of process wastes. Based on a distinction between waste...

This paper seeks to answer the question of how learning processes support niche aggregation. It brings together literature on strategic niche management and theoretical concepts derived from literature on project management and learning in project-based firms to analyze the ongoing standardization efforts for fast-charged electric bus systems in Eu...

According to sustainability transitions theories, innovation policies should create protective spaces ('niches') for promising new technologies. Moreover they should support a cumulative process of market formation and growth. Based on results from comparative case studies of two competing technological innovation systems for heavy transport (bioga...

Using sociotechnical transitions literature, this paper analyses the early market introduction of electric city-buses in Europe. It identifies the role of bus manufacturers and their corresponding choices of alternative powertrain and charging technologies. The study results contrast the traditional dichotomy of incumbents versus niche actors and q...

Using sociotechnical transitions literature, this paper analyses the early market introduction of electric city-buses in Europe. It identifies the role of bus manufacturers and their corresponding choices of alternative powertrain and charging technologies. The study results contrast the traditional dichotomy of incumbents versus niche actors and q...

Emission standard requirements for toxic air pollution (NOx/PMs) from heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) have been sharply reduced over the past few decades. This paper seeks to explain how such significant reduction has taken place in the European HDV sector. Based on the sectoral systems of innovation framework, this paper sheds light on the commercial v...

Should product architectures be considered inputs to - or outputs from - new product development (NPD)? Whereas the mirroring hypothesis suggests the former, NPD stage models suggests the latter. Elaborating on these conflicting propositions, this paper analyses the relationships between product architectures and development processes in NPD projec...

Strategic niche management has been outlined as a policy approach to assist development and diffusion of cleaner new technologies. Based on a case study describing the efforts of a leading actor in the heavy vehicle industry to develop and commercially introduce hybrid-electric vehicles, this paper discusses strategic niche management from the pers...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of challenges related to interfaces in industrial innovation processes, together with suggestions on how these interface challenges can be managed. The paper investigates similarities and differences between the interfaces and identified challenges in terms of required manag...

This chapter deals with how policy and strategic actions interact in the development of a technological field. As a company experiments with and evaluates various technological solutions, and continuously matches these with problems posed by specific market niches, the firms do this not as an isolated strategic activity, but in continuous interacti...

Abstract The creative destruction of existing industries as a consequence of discontinuous technological change is a central theme in the literature on industrial innovation and technological development. Established competence-based and market-based explanations of this phenomenon argue that incumbents are only seriously challenged by ‘competence-...

Based on a study of policy-induced changes in the Swedish pulp and paper industry, this paper follows a process of socio-technical regime destabilisation. Results from the study show that in industries where established firms have significant power, processes of endogenous renewal are more likely to destabilise established regimes than processes ba...

Product development projects are exposed to a number of challenges, and the significance of different challenges differs among projects. To prepare for these challenges, project managers may benefit from assessing them at an early stage of the project. This paper presents a method that can be used to assess product development challenges in terms o...

This paper examines patterns of governance aimed at sustainable technological innovation in the transport sector. It makes an overall assessment of governance emerging in the fields of biofuel and hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) technologies, and makes a classification of its characteristics. It examines the role of different actors and levels of gov...

Reducing transport emissions, in particular vehicular emissions, is a key element for mitigating the risks of climate change. In much of the academic and public discourse the focus has been on alternative vehicle technologies and fuels (e.g. electric cars, fuel cells and hydrogen), whereas vehicles based on internal combustion engines have been per...

Hybrid powertrains have become a key technology for environmentally friendly passenger cars. Almost all of the major carmakers have incorporated this technology in their products, and some of them have enjoyed significant sales in recent years. Several heavy vehicle makers (such as Scania, Volvo Trucks, Daimler) and MAN, have also developed hybrid...

Facing the threat of rising fuel prices, a looming shortage of fossil fuels and increasingly stringent regulation to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, vehicle manufacturers are intensifying their R&D, in particular powertrain technologies. These efforts involve both incremental improvements of the internal combustion engine, and a search for ent...

Mainstream innovation literature often contrasts two types of innovative processes: 'creative destruction', where new entrants and new technologies displace previously dominant firms, and 'incremental innovation', where established firms gradually improve existing technologies. This chapter deals with the knowledge integration challenges embedded i...

Emanating from the knowledge-based theory of the firm, this chapter elaborates on different processes for engineering knowledge integration in new product development (NPD). A theoretically derived analytical model, following the prerequisites given by deadlines and product architectures, outlines different processes for knowledge integration and l...

The development and diffusion of technological innovations need governing in order to contribute to societal goals related to sustainability. Yet, there are few systematic studies mapping out what types of governance are deployed and how they influence the development and diffusion of sustainable technological innovations. This paper develops a fra...

Starting from a distinction between internalisation and outsourcing of manufacturing, this paper studies how the degree of vertical integration affects R&D-manufacturing coordination. The case study findings illustrates that there are several quasi-stages of outsourcing that affect R&D-manufacturing coordination and manufacturing competence within...

Incremental improvement of a deeply embedded technology system has been a hallmark of the automotive industry for a very long time. Efforts to develop alternatives have repeatedly failed. This paper analyses how Toyota started to challenge this pattern in the late 1990s, by the architectural innovation embodied in Prius, the first mass-produced hyb...

Sustainable mobility requires innovation in public transportation. This paper provides an in-depth perspective on how a heavy vehicle maker with an entrenched tradition of incremental innovations is grappling to develop a radically new city bus with a series hybrid power-train. The study illustrates the managerial challenges involved in this in...

Incremental improvement of a deeply embedded technology system has been a hallmark of the automotive industry for a very long time. Efforts to develop alternatives have repeatedly failed. This paper analyses how Toyota started to challenge this pattern in the late 1990s, by the architectural innovation embodied in Prius, the first mass-produced hyb...

Adopting a contingency framework, this paper explores consequences of manufacturing outsourcing and product/process newness for R&D–manufacturing coordination. Based on case-study findings, the following coordination challenges are outlined: accessing manufacturing competence and understanding suppliers’ processes (outsourcing of manufacturing and...

Rising fuel prices and tightening regulations to curb greenhouse gases and other emissions have changed the parameters of competition in the global automotive industry, introducing new uncertainties, increased variation and technological turbulence. Many studies focus on the potential performance of ‘alternative technologies’, from fuel cells t...

Purpose The purpose of this article is to illustrate how the characteristics of complex product systems pose specific managerial challenges onto the transfer of new technology from technology development to product development. Design/methodology/approach The research relies on comparative case studies involving three cases of internal technology...

Interfaces between technology development, product development, and production must be managed in order to avoid misfits between technology and product concepts and ensure the fit of the product design and the production process. In this paper, critical challenges related to these interfaces are studied based on in-depth case studies of ten product...

This paper presents findings from a case study of a product development project in which environmental performance requirements were introduced. Focus is set on how the project was organised in order to ensure that the environmental performance requirements were considered. A specific ''Green'' sub-project was included in the project organisation....

This article presents a case study of small, distributed electrical power generators, representing a potential substitute for large power plants, and raises questions regarding the ability of established manufacturers to manage this kind of technological transition. The analysis demonstrates that the step from experimental R&D to commercial product...

By adopting challenging targets on environmental performance, pro-active industrial firms may push themselves towards discontinuous product innovation. Such innovation can be understood as being either architectural, i.e. arranging components in new ways, or modular, i.e. introducing new technologies in specific components or subsystems. We argue t...

Based on a study of the emerging microturbine industry, this paper argues that recent trends towards preventive and product-oriented industrial environmental management are problematic from the technology suppliers' perspective. This is especially evident in the suppliers' initial efforts to define markets and applications during early stages of co...

Manufacturing industry is facing increasingly stringent demands on environmental compliance and the auto industry is particularly exposed to pressure from public and authorities in this area. The purpose of this article is to provide an empirical analysis on how the application of new technologies in order to comply with environmental demands may c...

Eco-design research suggests that environmental considerations should be integrated with product development with no or only minor changes to existing development processes. These processes are expected to be systematic, predictable and thoroughly planned. This paper explores if this assumption is still valid when requirements on environmental perf...

Recently, due to the ever-increasing concern regarding the environment, the automotive industry has experienced a significant technological competition in the power-train. Focusing on how Corporate Social Responsibility issues can affect product innovation in a mature industry, this paper studies different technology strategies in sustainable vehic...