2022
Monopolist logic? Managing technology in the telecom sector during technological and regulatory change
Friedl, C., & Lakomaa, E. 2022. Monopolist logic? Managing technology in the telecom sector during technological and regulatory change. Business History, 1–27. (link)
ABSTRACT After 1980, the telecom industry rapidly changed. Several new technologies were introduced, and telecom sectors in many countries opened for competition. The new technologies were available to all operators, but not all technologies assumed the same risks. Drawing upon rich archival sources from the Swedish telecom operator Televerket (after 1993, Telia), we examine the investment in and management of one new technology – ISDN. By exploring the choices and rationales for initiating and ending a technology project, we find that they may be pursued for political reasons – what we call ‘investment as corporate political activity’, and that many years of losses are sometimes not enough to abandon these projects. We also identify a monopolist logic in which projects can be maintained for use as bargaining chips in negotiations over deregulation or options to expand in markets after deregulation.
Peer interaction and pioneering organizational form adoption: A tale of the first two for-profit stock exchanges
Cheung, Z., Gustafsson, R., & Nykvist, R. 2022. Peer interaction and pioneering organizational form adoption: A tale of the first two for-profit stock exchanges. Organization Studies, 43(8): 1223–1246. (link)
ABSTRACT Building on a historical case study on the first two stock exchanges to adopt the now globally dominant for-profit organizational form, the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1993 and the Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1995, we argue that interaction among socially proximate peers contributes to pioneering organizational form adoption within an industry, particularly when such forms are introduced by established organizations. Peer interaction can induce a search for technically efficient organizational forms through the sharing of collective experiences, the establishment of collective assumptions, and a joint search for solutions. Together, these factors contribute to the legitimization of novel organizational forms in the local setting before the adoption of the first instantiation of those forms. We propose a context-sensitive multilevel model of peer-interaction-induced pioneering organizational form adoption that considers shared macro environmental drivers, idiosyncratic local environmental drivers, and peer interaction as central social mediators between the two.
2021
Customer of last resort? The Swedish advertising industry and the government from World War II to the end of the Cold War
Lakomaa, E. 2021. Customer of last resort? The Swedish advertising industry and the government from World War II to the end of the Cold War. Business History, 63(3): 467–488. (link)
ABSTRACT In connection with World War II, the advertising industry in neutral Sweden began cooperating with the government. This proved beneficial for the industry since blockades and rationing caused the civilian advertising market to almost disappear. After the war, the cooperation continued, albeit primarily regarding military matters. Later, however, the government began procuring advertising and media services on largely commercial grounds. This paper covers the history of the relationship between the advertising industry and the government and provides an analysis of the influence of the public advertising market and cold war institutions on the industry. I find that the government, by acting as a customer of last resort, conserved the industry structure and made it possible for the Swedish advertising cartel to survive World War II, and for the large firms that dominated the industry during most of the century to survive the dissolution of the cartel in 1965.
Essays on the interaction between regulation and technology: Understanding agency and context through multiple levels of inquiry
Nykvist, R. (2021). Essays on the interaction between regulation and technology: Understanding agency and context through multiple levels of inquiry. Doctoral dissertation, Örebro University. (link)
2020
Economic and business history— past, present, and future
Lakomaa, E. 2020. Economic and business history— past, present, and future. In E. Lakomaa (Ed.), Past, present and future: Economic history in Eli F. Hechscher’s footsteps: 7–38. Vulkan. (link)
Analytically Structured History Approach Using a Relational Database – Essays on the Historical Embeddedness of Strategy Formulation
Cheung, Z. (2020). Analytically Structured History Approach Using a Relational Database—Essays on the Historical Embeddedness of Strategy Formulation. Doctoral dissertation, Aalto University School of Science. (link)
Institutional Logics and the Internationalization of a State-Owned Enterprise: Evaluation of International Venture Opportunities by Telecom Finland 1987–1988
Cheung, Z., Aalto, E., & Nevalainen, P. 2020. Institutional logics and the internationalization of a state-owned enterprise: Evaluation of international venture opportunities by Telecom Finland 1987–1998. Journal of World Business, 55(6): 101140. (link)
ABSTRACT We contribute to the research on internationalization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by studying the coevolution of state governance of SOEs and SOEs’ evaluation of international venture opportunities during a shift in dominant institutional logic from state to market logic. Using a novel digital historical method to study Telecom Finland, we argue that as state governance mechanisms change due to a logic shift, rationales underlying SOEs’ internationalization can significantly change and impact SOEs’ geographical and partner preferences. However, a logic shift also affords SOEs significant influence over the formation of new state governance policies under the new dominant logic.
Digitalization and the future of Management Learning: New technology as an enabler of historical, practice-oriented, and critical perspectives in management research and learning
Laurell, C., Sandström, C., Eriksson, K., & Nykvist, R. 2020. Digitalization and the future of Management Learning: New technology as an enabler of historical, practice-oriented, and critical perspectives in management research and learning. Management Learning, 51(1): 89–108. (link)
ABSTRACT How are historical, practice-oriented, and critical research perspectives in management affected by digitalization? In this article, we describe and discuss how two digital research approaches can be applied and how they may influence the future directions of management scholarship and education: Social Media Analytics and digital archives. Our empirical illustrations suggest that digitalization generates productivity improvements for scholars, making it possible to undertake research that was previously too laborious. It also enables researchers to pay closer attention to detail while still being able to abstract and generalize. We therefore argue that digitalization contributes to a historical turn in management, that practice-oriented research can be conducted with less effort and improved quality and that micro-level data in the form of digital archives and online contents make it easier to adopt critical perspectives.
2019
A revised perspective on innovation policy for renewal of mature economies – Historical evidence from finance and telecommunications in Sweden 1980–1990
Eriksson, K., Ernkvist, M., Laurell, C., Moodysson, J., Nykvist, R., et al. 2019. A revised perspective on innovation policy for renewal of mature economies–Historical evidence from finance and telecommunications in Sweden 1980–1990. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 147: 152–162. (link)
ABSTRACT 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.
Digital entrepreneurship and field conditions for institutional change– Investigating the enabling role of cities
Geissinger, A., Laurell, C., Sandström, C., Eriksson, K., & Nykvist, R. 2019. Digital entrepreneurship and field conditions for institutional change–Investigating the enabling role of cities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 146: 877–886. (link)
ABSTRACT Digital entrepreneurship may result in institutional turbulence and new initiatives are frequently blocked by vested interest groups who posit superior financial and relational resources. In this paper, we explore the role of cities in facilitating digital entrepreneurship and overcoming institutional resistance to innovation. Drawing upon two historical case studies of digital entrepreneurship in the city of Stockholm along with an extensive material on the sharing economy in Sweden, our results suggest that cities offer an environment that is critical for digital entrepreneurship. The economic and technological diversity of a city may provide the field conditions required for institutional change to take place and to avoid regulatory capture.
2014
Catalysts for Organizational Change: Demutualization of Helsinki Stock Exchange
Master’s thesis (link)
AUTHOR Lauri Turtiainen
ABSTRACT Since the inception of the industry, stock exchanges were typically organized as mutual associations or co-operatives. The predominance of the organizational form was a result of the prevailing institutional, economic and technological conditions during the establishment of most stock exchanges and despite subsequent environmental changes these organizational forms persisted. At the turn of the millennia, most stock exchanges assumed demutualized structures. There is a consensus in existing research that this transformation was mainly driven by globalization and advancements in information technologies. Knowing the antecedents however does not provide explanation how demutualization unfolds and what sensitizes an organization to this change. This thesis addresses these gaps in existing literature. Read more