Andrea Geissinger, Christofer Laurell, Christina Öberg, Christian Sandström, Nathalie Sick and Yuliani Suseno
Using the case of Foodora, this paper aims to assess the impact of technological innovation of an emerging actor in the sharing economy through stakeholders’ perceptions in the…
Abstract
Purpose
Using the case of Foodora, this paper aims to assess the impact of technological innovation of an emerging actor in the sharing economy through stakeholders’ perceptions in the market and non-market domains.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a methodological approach called social media analytics (SMA) to explore the case of Foodora, 3,250 user-generated contents in social media are systematically gathered, coded and analysed.
Findings
The findings indicate that, while Foodora appears to be a viable provider in the marketplace, there is mounting public concern about the working conditions of its employees. In the market domain, Foodora manages its status as an online delivery platform and provider well, but at the same time, it struggles with its position in the non-market sphere, suggesting that the firm is vulnerable to regulatory change. These insights highlight the importance of simultaneously exploring and balancing market and non-market perceptions when assessing the impact of disruptive innovation.
Originality/value
This study offers originality by providing an integrative approach to consider both the market and non-market domains. It is also novel in its use of SMA as a tool for knowledge acquisition and management to evaluate the impact of emerging technologies in the sharing economy.
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Nathalie Sick, Birte Golembiewski and Jens Leker
There are several approaches trying to explain the diffusion of renewable energy technologies (RET). The most commonly used instruments are learning and experience curves…
Abstract
Purpose
There are several approaches trying to explain the diffusion of renewable energy technologies (RET). The most commonly used instruments are learning and experience curves, followed by further economic, policy- and barrier-related analyses. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding, additional influence factors on RET diffusion have to be studied. This paper aims to contribute to research on RET diffusion by adding the raw material price perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a regression model to test the influence of raw material prices on RET diffusion, using investments in RET capacities as indicators of diffusion, and crude oil and natural gas prices as well as public R&D subsidies as main independent variables. The model is then applied to emerging RET (wind and solar power) for electricity generation in 18 OECD-countries.
Findings
In the case of wind power, the model shows an adequate fit and a highly significant impact of oil as well as gas prices on investments in RET capacity. In the case of solar power, the impact of raw material prices proves to be highly significant as well, but the weak model fit demands further adjustments of the parameters.
Originality/value
Theoretical implications include the expansion of existing RET diffusion models to a raw material price component. From a practical point of view, the authors provide a starting basis for the systematic integration of raw material price developments into companies' planning and forecasting processes.
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This paper aims to extend the small body of literature on energy industry transitions on firm level. A growing number of articles shed light on paradigm shifts in the energy…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to extend the small body of literature on energy industry transitions on firm level. A growing number of articles shed light on paradigm shifts in the energy industry and the influence of renewable energies on industry structures. In the majority of cases, the authors analyze changes on a global or national level.
Design/methodology/approach
Energy companies’ forecasting capabilities are particularly important to enable them to react in time to upcoming changes in industry structures. In this context, we analyze annual reports of German energy companies to evaluate their economic and technological forecasting competencies.
Findings
Big energy providers offer high economic forecasting quality, but seem to be less able to derive valid forecasts in terms of renewable energies from the currently unstable political frameworks. On the contrary, renewable energy companies do not seem to suffer from these difficulties and provide good foresting accuracy in terms of renewable energy development, but show less accurate economic forecasting quality.
Practical implications
Big energy providers need to find the means of responding to the challenges and integrate changing political guidelines and support into their forecasting system. Renewable energy companies, in contrast, should focus on company-level profitability and the respective economic forecasting competencies.
Originality/value
This paper makes a significant contribution to the literature on the subject of energy industry transitions by providing insights from publicly available data on firm level. The findings are highly relevant for managers of the energy industry and policy makers in this field.
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Researchers began investigating the diffusion of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in the late 1990s, and, up to today, a variety of authors have presented different approaches…
Abstract
Purpose
Researchers began investigating the diffusion of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in the late 1990s, and, up to today, a variety of authors have presented different approaches to understand the special characteristics of RET diffusion. However, one factor has been thus far disregarded in the research: the influence of raw material prices on RET diffusion. The dependence of a multitude of technologies on raw material prices became especially apparent in recent years due to rather sudden and volatile price movements in raw material markets. Thus, the aim of this work is to contribute to the research by providing evidence for a direct linkage between raw material price developments and RET diffusion.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical framework used in this article derives from the concept of induced diffusion. This empirical study is based on publicly available data of 18 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over 20 years and uses multivariate regression analysis to identify the corresponding diffusion models for selected established and emerging RETs.
Findings
Results reveal that crude oil prices play a crucial role in the diffusion of emerging RETs. In addition, a joint reflection of induced diffusion and path dependencies as the theoretical foundation of RET diffusion models might be reasonable.
Originality/value
This paper makes a significant contribution to the literature on induced diffusion in the field of renewable energies by providing insights from publicly available data from 18 OECD-countries. The findings are highly relevant for managers of the energy industry and policymakers in this field.
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Anne Labit and Nathalie Dubost
In France and Germany, intergenerational housing is put forward as an option by public authorities. This kind of housing scheme seems like a good solution for seniors and young…
Abstract
Purpose
In France and Germany, intergenerational housing is put forward as an option by public authorities. This kind of housing scheme seems like a good solution for seniors and young people, from both an economic and a social point of view. But beyond this common philosophy, there are differences in the way intergenerational housing is being implemented in the two countries. France mainly favours the student-senior home-sharing model whereas the intergenerational collaborative housing (co-housing) model based on solidarity between seniors and families is gaining ground in Germany. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for these differences and present results from field surveys conducted in both countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative methodology of the field surveys consisted essentially of semi-structured interviews with the young people and seniors living in these types of housing, in order to understand how they experienced intergenerational solidarity.
Findings
The authors’ surveys revealed that certain conditions are essential for this intergenerational solidarity to be fully effective, notably voluntary participation and commitment to the project, and possibly external support to ensure that it is designed and implemented in the best possible way.
Originality/value
This paper provides useful recommendations for decision makers who wish to support this type of housing concept based on intergenerational solidarity.
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Parallel to the increase in the number of women taking up medical careers, the reform of the 3rd cycle of medical studies in France has brought about some changes in professional…
Abstract
Parallel to the increase in the number of women taking up medical careers, the reform of the 3rd cycle of medical studies in France has brought about some changes in professional norms. The traditional model of general practitioner (GP) practice usually refers to a totally dedicated male doctor, with the domestic support of a female carer. For many women doctors this model of reference clashes head on with the traditional division of the roles between women and men. The current forms of the “social contract between the sexes” are questioned and women GPs introduce specific (time) strategies for managing medical practice and family life.
Maïalen Gélizé and Nathalie Darras
The development of organizational collectives is a lever for innovation to meet the major challenges of technological, social and environmental change. The aim of this research is…
Abstract
Purpose
The development of organizational collectives is a lever for innovation to meet the major challenges of technological, social and environmental change. The aim of this research is to characterize the process by which organizational collectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a case study of six private healthcare establishments mobilized around an organizational project. A seven-month research-intervention was carried out with six healthcare establishments mobilized around an organizational human resources (HR) project. The transformative aim was to encourage the emergence of an organizational collective by playing a functionalist role in the project methodology while also reflecting on the organizational practices observed. Using an abductive and constructivist approach, the study material revolved around the mental representations of the practitioners involved in this collective, gathered through semi-structured interviews, participant observations and documentary research.
Findings
This research characterizes a process of emergence of a collective of organizations that includes an activation phase consisting of triggering factors contributing to the construction of shared mental representations and a phase of specific structuring of the collective action of the organization collective in the making. These two phases lay the foundations for the organizational collective responsible for managing not only the initial project but also other projects and operations, thus ensuring its longevity.
Research limitations/implications
It is based on a single exploratory case study with a limited sample of members of an organizational collective. In addition, it is specific to the healthcare sector, the HR field and the hierarchical level of the members we worked with. With a view to verifying, consolidating and generalizing knowledge, it would be pertinent to test these results in other empirical contexts.
Practical implications
The direct managerial interest of our study will therefore lie in the recommendations addressed to players wishing to become involved in a collective of organizations. The organizational collective is founded on a durability that goes beyond the temporary framework of the project. It would be interesting to know how to contribute to the durability of this collective from the outset, in particular through the “routinization” of organizational practices generated within the framework of this regulation by management systems. This collective of organizations also generates a value system which, if we refer to the results of our research, goes beyond the objectives of solving the project’s problem. It would also be timely to pursue research into the value creation of a collective of organizations.
Social implications
For a number of years, healthcare policies have been encouraging the development of collective organizations through greater coordination, supply chains, care networks, etc. (Valette, 2019). Nonetheless, we have to acknowledge the scarcity of management science research on the subject in this sector, despite the fact that public policy incentives to reorganize the healthcare system are constantly highlighting them. In concrete terms, since the 2016 Modernization Act, numerous organizational collectives in response to major public health challenges have been deployed, such as professional communities in healthcare territories, “Art 51” pathways, etc. (Observatoire National de la Qualité de vie au travail, 2021).
Originality/value
Despite extensive research into the characteristics and modes of operation of organizational collectives, little is known about their emergence process (Viollet and Dreveton, 2023). Moreover, there is little management science research on organizational collectives in the healthcare sector, even though public policy incentives are constantly encouraging them. Our aim is to fill this gap by answering the question: How does an organizational collective emerge?
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This chapter focuses on the changing relationship between multi-level marketing (MLM) and religion. MLM originated in the 1950s in the United States out of a desire to make…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the changing relationship between multi-level marketing (MLM) and religion. MLM originated in the 1950s in the United States out of a desire to make capitalism more humane. It was initially based on Protestant networks linked to prosperity theology, which among other things enabled it to grow internationally. Yet, comparing how MLM adapted to conditions in three different countries (South Korea, Haiti, and France) shows that its ability to break away from this controversial theology was crucial to its international development. It was then able to approach other religious movements, and even to secularize its values.
Jacques‐Olivier Pesme, Marie‐Claude Belis‐Bergouignan and Nathalie Corade
Working from the example of two of the main players in the Aquitaine wine sector; the co‐operatives and the wine merchants, the aim of this paper is to analyse the nature of…
Abstract
Purpose
Working from the example of two of the main players in the Aquitaine wine sector; the co‐operatives and the wine merchants, the aim of this paper is to analyse the nature of strategic operations from the point of view of the concentration process taking place in the Bordeaux‐Aquitaine region.
Design/methodology/approach
After providing a theoretical framework about the industrial cluster and its strategic operations in the area of consolidation, the paper provides descriptive and quantitative data, collected from in‐depth interviews; surveys conducted by the authors; and secondary sources.
Findings
This paper provides both qualitative and quantitative evidence to prove that a number of collaborative approaches have been adopted in the region. It highlights the fact that these players are now more willing to respond to the conditions of a new competitive environment, and consequently to consider new strategic approaches.
Originality/value
The present paper, contrary to these received ideas, demonstrates that the Aquitaine wine value chain is undergoing deep restructuring process. With the spotlight focused on producing a size effect on the sector through concentration, the paper examines in greater detail what this process really is. It is not limited to size objectives as it commits the players to thorough production and market changes. This led to concentration operations being analysed in terms of strategic changes, notably with regard to the margin for manoeuvre that the players are meant to design and develop.