It is said that eco innovation is the future of Europe’s competitiveness and by that Swedish companies face an exciting opportunity within the field of clean tech. This industry is expected to continue growing worldwide but Swedish companies still have a low export rate even though they have great potential due to their advanced technology. The purpose of this paper is to study the development of firms marketing strategies regarding product-market scope and differentiation and the impact of external conditions. The study will concentrate on the development of Swedish clean-tech firm’s marketing strategies in the U.S. How the perception of competition is impacting entrant firms’ market strategies has been scrutinized with help from a model developed by the authors based on perception of barriers and incumbent’s market strategies. The findings derived from three case companies claim that there is a relationship between the perception of barriers and incumbent’s market strategies on entrant firms’ market strategy. This implies that relying on advanced technology is not enough to become successful in new markets and that a successful market strategy is dependent on more than the product itself. The entrant firm must consider its situation and its options with help from their knowledge about barriers and incumbent’s market strategies.   Key words: Strategy, clean tech, barriers, product/market scope / Svenska miljöteknikföretags marknadsexpansion

<p>It is said that eco innovation is the future of Europe’s competitiveness and by that Swedish companies face an exciting opportunity within the field of clean tech. This industry is expected to continue growing worldwide but Swedish companies still have a low export rate even though they have great potential due to their advanced technology. The purpose of this paper is to study the development of firms marketing strategies regarding product-market scope and differentiation and the impact of external conditions. The study will concentrate on the development of Swedish clean-tech firm’s marketing strategies in the U.S.</p><p>How the perception of competition is impacting entrant firms’ market strategies has been scrutinized with help from a model developed by the authors based on perception of barriers and incumbent’s market strategies.</p><p>The findings derived from three case companies claim that there is a relationship between the perception of barriers and incumbent’s market strategies on entrant firms’ market strategy. This implies that relying on advanced technology is not enough to become successful in new markets and that a successful market strategy is dependent on more than the product itself. The entrant firm must consider its situation and its options with help from their knowledge about barriers and incumbent’s market strategies.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Key words:</strong> Strategy, clean tech, barriers, product/market scope</p> / Svenska miljöteknikföretags marknadsexpansion

This thesis investigates the performance of business model innovation (BMI) by incumbent power utility and clean-tech start-up firms influenced by the German Energiewende. It emphasises the factors that impact BMI from a managers’ perspective, examines success factors for managers to overcome BMI challenges, and addresses contingencies to perform BMI in a more structured way. The research is driven by the German Energiewende. It has been chosen as Germany is considered one of the world’s leading markets for renewable energies and a transformation of the power sector is currently underway. Therefore, established power utility firms face severe changes, which have the characteristics of a potential disruption to their business model (BM). At the same time, new players are challenging these incumbents with new BMs. The research is underpinned by the extant literature on BMs and BMI. The research approach is based on two case studies; the incumbent power utility and the clean-tech start-up sector. The qualitative study comprises of 24 semi-structured interviews conducted with top tier managers, from 18 firms, responsible for BMI within these firms. Key findings: This study extends our knowledge of BMI in both a start-up and an incumbent environment that is influenced by various contingent events. It portrays barriers to BMI and depicts critical success factors for BMI that point out solutions on how to overcome these barriers. It provides a structured BMI framework for established firms and illustrates future BM archetypes in this sector. It clearly documents the German Energiewende is regarded as a disruptive threat from the perspective of incumbent power utility managers. The theoretical contribution of this thesis is a process framework including all identified drivers and challenges for BMI in both established and start-up firms. Contributions to practice include critical success factors for BMI, recommendations to overcome barriers to BMI and future BM archetypes within the newly evolving Energiewende industry based on sustainable technologies.

The need to manage an unpredictability and to defuse uncertainties in the market is of great interest for SMEs, especially since many actors are forced to interact almost instantly upon inception. The strategic management of SMEs, within a networking context and through their internationalization process, is the primary focus of this research paper. Building on discoveries from the clean tech industry and facilitators surrounding those actors, the knowledge of firm´s network embeddedness and the importance of a network proficiency for business development is discussed as a point of supply to strategic actions in a highly competitive environment. A conceptual model is constructed, building on existing theories regarding internationalization to further expand current theories regarding networks, entrepreneurial effectuation, International Entrepreneurship (IE), International Business (IB), in order to create an applicability for an industry that is notably influenced by the political sphere. The analysis, stemming from an explorative multiple case study, illustrates the empirical data through the conceptual model. Key findings include that the environment can be said to be partly non-conducive for SMEs international venturings, due to the disruptive nature of the technologies and at times opposing cognitive mindsets. The conclusion points to a general need for an ability to augment a liable position through a mastery within networking realms along with a purposeful cognition, something these authors have labeled a Networking intelligence (NI) in its entirety. NI would, for this reason, be equivalent to obtaining a mastery within three networking dimensions with the additional feed-in mechanism of purposeful cognition. NI would as such constitute an advantage, ultimately leading to firms gaining a greater impact in regards to a commercial development through an internationalization processes. NI would in this regard act as a facilitator for growth, promoting more effective, efficient, and possibly more balanced actions on the international scene. NI would also enable SMEs to mirror the capabilities of an embedded MNC, with its heterogeneous resources.

This thesis investigates the performance of business model innovation (BMI) by incumbent power utility and clean-tech start-up firms influenced by the German Energiewende. It emphasises the factors that impact BMI from a managers’ perspective, examines success factors for managers to overcome BMI challenges, and addresses contingencies to perform BMI in a more structured way. The research is driven by the German Energiewende. It has been chosen as Germany is considered one of the world’s leading markets for renewable energies and a transformation of the power sector is currently underway. Therefore, established power utility firms face severe changes, which have the characteristics of a potential disruption to their business model (BM). At the same time, new players are challenging these incumbents with new BMs. The research is underpinned by the extant literature on BMs and BMI. The research approach is based on two case studies; the incumbent power utility and the clean-tech start-up sector. The qualitative study comprises of 24 semi-structured interviews conducted with top tier managers, from 18 firms, responsible for BMI within these firms. Key findings: This study extends our knowledge of BMI in both a start-up and an incumbent environment that is influenced by various contingent events. It portrays barriers to BMI and depicts critical success factors for BMI that point out solutions on how to overcome these barriers. It provides a structured BMI framework for established firms and illustrates future BM archetypes in this sector. It clearly documents the German Energiewende is regarded as a disruptive threat from the perspective of incumbent power utility managers. The theoretical contribution of this thesis is a process framework including all identified drivers and challenges for BMI in both established and start-up firms. Contributions to practice include critical success factors for BMI, recommendations to overcome barriers to BMI and future BM archetypes within the newly evolving Energiewende industry based on sustainable technologies.