Grounded in an evolutionary approach to environmental sustainability, this thesis adds an understanding of the dynamics of the greening of the economy, particularly highlighting the neglected demand side aspect of the greening of markets. Since the emergence of green food markets in the 1980s and 1990s, this study investigates the role of retail groups in the development of the green food market in Denmark and Brazil. Accordingly, it investigates the rate and the direction of the greening of this process in those markets as well as the convergence and the impact of retailers\' strategizing in the grocery sector. Using the dynamic capabilities framework, it examines why, how and when the strategizing, performance and competitiveness of grocery retail groups co-evolved with the development of the Danish and Brazilian green food markets. This thesis contributes innovatively to the literature on at least three more aspects. Firstly, it advances the existing literature in adding combined qualitative and quantitative longitudinal firm-level data, which is analysed over time through a proposed set of macro (market-level), meso (sectoral-level), and micro (firm-level) dimensions\' indicators of green market analysis. Secondly, it provides the perspectives of the interviewed retail groups and market support stakeholders operating in the Danish and Brazilian green food markets. Thirdly, it provides an estimate of the green food sales in the Brazilian retail sector. Even though this thesis concludes that major retail groups in Denmark and Brazil were not the pioneers in the green food market, their collaboration with specialized organic food producers and market support stakeholders were rather central in making the green food market a viable business case. These retail groups were key players in the evolution of the green food market as they have played a vital role in scaling up the Danish and Brazilian green food markets to higher turnover levels. Furthermore, these retailers sensed the market potential for the green foods in the 1980s and 1990s, and particularly in the 2000s and onwards, and through strategizing have been able to size and transform the green food market in Brazil and Denmark. These retailers\' strategizing and related capabilities building have been key to the innovative changes in their business models, which have become markedly greener in this period due to their role in the development of the Danish and Brazilian green food markets. Finally, as Denmark is at a higher level of green food turnover than Brazil, it suggests a more mature stage of its green economy. / Seguindo uma abordagem evolucionária para sustentabilidade ambiental, esta tese agrega uma compreensão das dinâmicas de esverdeamento da economia, particularmente destacando o aspecto negligenciado da demanda no esverdeamento dos mercados. Desde o surgimento dos mercados de alimentos verdes nas décadas de 1980 and 1990, este estudo investiga o papel dos principais grupos varejistas no desenvolvimento do mercado de alimentos verdes na Dinamarca e no Brasil. Dessa maneira, a taxa e a direção do processo de esverdeamento nesses mercados são investigados, bem como a convergência e o impacto da estratégia dos varejistas no setor supermercadista. Usando o quadro de análise das capacidades dinâmicas, esta tese investiga o por que, como e quando as estratégias, performance e competitividade dos grupos de varejo co-evoluíram com o desenvolvimento dos mercados de alimentos verdes dinamarquês e brasileiro. Ainda, este estudo contribui de forma inovadora em pelo menos mais três aspectos. Em primeiro lugar, avança-se a literatura existente complementando-a com dados longitudinais qualitativos e quantitativos ao nível da empresa, que são analisados ao longo do tempo através da proposição de um conjunto de indicadores das dimensões macro (nível de mercado), meso (nível setorial) e micro (nível da empresa) para análise do mercado verde. Em segundo lugar, prove-se as perspectivas dos varejistas e stakeholders de suporte do mercado entrevistados, que atuam nos mercados de alimentos verdes dinamarquês e brasileiro. Em terceiro lugar, estima-se o volume de vendas dos alimentos verdes do setor varejista brasileiro. Embora esta tese conclua que os principais grupos varejistas na Dinamarca e no Brasil não foram os pioneiros do mercado de alimentos verdes, estes em colabolação com produtores especializados em alimentos orgânicos e stakeholders de suporte do mercado foram centrais para tornar o mercado de alimentos verdes um caso de negócios viável. Tais grupos de varejo tiveram um papel decisivo no aumento da escala do volume de negócios dos mercados de alimentos verdes dinamarquês e brasileiro. Ademais, esses varejistas sentiram o potencial do mercado de produtos alimentares verdes já nas décadas de 1980 e 1990, e particularmente da década de 2000 em diante; e conseguiram através de estratégias específicas dimensionar e transformar o mercado de alimentos verdes na Dinamarca e no Brasil. A elaboração de estratégias e a construção de capacidades específicas desses varejistas foram fundamentais para as mudanças inovadoras em seus modelos de negócios, que se tornaram claramente mais verdes neste período devido ao papel deles no desenvolvimento dos mercados de alimentos verdes dinamarquês e brasileiro. Finalmente, como a Dinamarca está em um nível mais alto do que o Brasil no consumo de alimentos verdes, isto sugere um estágio mais maduro da economia verde dinamarquesa.

The aim of this study is to determine the role that innovation plays in economic development and how an economic environment can be created that is conducive to innovation. The urgent need for development in large parts of the world indicates the importance of the increase in innovative activities because innovation is indicated as the “engine of growth and development”. It was found that innovation takes place within an innovation system and should be studied from a system perspective. The system perspective implies that there are different participants and that these participants function individually but that they also interact (wittingly or unwittingly) with one another. The innovation system is defined as a system that includes the participants or actors and their activities and interactions, as well as the socio-economic environment within which these actors or participants function, which determine the innovative performance of the system. A system approach is therefore necessary to study the influence of innovation on development. The role that innovation plays in economic development has been established by means of the historical patterns of economic development and major innovations as well as an analysis of literature of empirical studies. The historical pattern indicates the importance of innovation for economic development, but literature revealed the complexity of the relationship due to the non-linear relationship among different actors or participants in an innovation system. The main determinants of innovation was identified and a conceptual, descriptive model for an innovation system was developed, indicating the different participants, their roles, the interaction among them, and the economic environment within which the participants function. The model was applied to the Mpumalanga province in South Africa as case study. Strengths and weaknesses were identified in the Mpumalanga innovation system and recommendations were made for the improvement of the Mpumalanga innovation system which in turn should lead to an improvement in the economic development of the province. / Economics / D.Comm. (Economics)

Qu’est-ce qui détermine la survie et le succès des organisations à travers les différents régimes institutionnels? La présente étude tente à répondre à la question en analysant l’évolution d'une institution médicale publique russe, c. à. d. l'Institution de l'Etat Fédéral « Le Complexe Intersectoriel de Recherche et Technologie « Microchirurgie de l'Œil » de Rosmedtechnologie. L’étude s’étend sur quatre périodes bien définies: 1960-1985 (la Russie Soviétique, la période de pré-perestroïka), 1986-1991 (la perestroïka de Gorbatchev), 1992-2000 (la transition), et 2001-2009 (la Russie actuelle, la période post-Fyodorov). L’analyse se centre sur une coévolution des institutions externes et de la structure organisationnelle de l'entreprise, le système de droits de propriété, les tendances d'innovation et les canaux de diffusion technologique. Les conclusions suggèrent que l'environnement institutionnel général exerce une influence sur la performance de l'entreprise en déterminant « les règles du jeu » pour les transactions économiques et en établissant un ensemble de possibilités de développement. C'est alors les processus internes à l'entreprise, ses compétences dynamiques et sa capacité à innover qui déterminent si l'organisation peut s'adapter aux changements externes, reconnaître les possibilités de développement et en profiter. Par ailleurs, la direction (le leadership), le type de technologie et le niveau de sa diffusion, l’initial soutien de l'Etat, de même que la demande jouent un rôle apparent pour soutenir la performance réussie. Une structure multi-niveaux des récompenses de performance en combinaison avec les méthodes de traitement innovatrices (c. à. d. l’usage d’un conveyor chirurgical et la production en brigades) ont amené à des volumes de procédures cliniques performées plus élevées, de même que la qualité, la complexité et la diversité de traitement plus élevées. D’autant plus, pendant les étapes plus anciennes du développement de l’entreprise, la présence des inventeurs prolifiques et la structure organisationnelle qui soutenait l’apprentissage, la production et l’accumulation des connaissances (le cycle « clinique – ingénierie – approbation – production – clinique ») étaient cruciaux pour la création d’une base d’innovation persistante. Pendant les périodes plus récentes, la combinaison d’accès aux ressources (matérielles, financières, capital humain), les collaborations externes, les méthodes innovatrices d’organisation de traitement, la diffusion extensive des technologies inter- et intra-firme ont aussi contribué à des hauts niveaux d’innovation. Au total, le travail soutient une approche interdisciplinaire à l’étude des organisations, c. à. d. une combinaison de l'analyse institutionnelle, l’économie évolutionnaire et l’économie dynamique d’organisations, le management stratégique, l’économie d'innovation, l’analyse des droits de propriété et le rôle de leadership. / What determines organizational survival and success across different institutional regimes? The present historical case study attempts to answer the question by analyzing the evolution of a Russian state medical institution, i.e. the S.N. Fyodorov “Inter-Sectoral Research and Technology Complex “Eye Microsurgery””. The study spans over four clearly defined regimes: 1960 – 1985 (Soviet Russia, pre-perestroika period), 1986 – 1991 (Gorbachev’s perestroika), 1992 – 2000 (the transition years), and 2001 – 2009 (current Russia, post-Fyodorov period). The analysis focuses on the co-evolution of the external institutions and the firm’s organizational structure, the system of property rights, innovation patterns and the channels of technological diffusion. The findings suggest that the general institutional environment exerts influence on the firm’s performance through determining the “rules of the game” for economic transactions and through establishing a set of development possibilities. It is then the firm’s internal processes, dynamic competences and the ability to innovate that determine whether the organization can adapt to external changes, recognize the development possibilities and take advantage of them. In addition, the roles of leadership, the type of technology and its diffusion scope, initial State support, as well as the extent of demand are apparent in sustaining successful performance. Multi-level high performance rewards structure in combination with novel industrialized treatment methods (e.g. the use of a surgical conveyer and team production) resulted in greater volumes of clinical procedures performed, as well as higher quality, complexity and diversity of treatment. In addition, at the earlier stages of the firm’s development, the presence of prolific innovators and the organizational structure that supported learning, knowledge production and accumulation (the “clinic – engineering – approbation – production – clinic” cycle) were crucial for creating a basis for persistent innovation. In later periods, the combination of resource availability (material, financial, human capital), external collaborations, novel ways of organizing treatment, extensive inter and intra-firm diffusion of technologies also contributed to high levels of innovation. Overall, the work provides support for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of organizations, i.e. combining institutional analysis, evolutionary and dynamic organizational economics, strategic management, the economics of innovation, the analysis of property rights and the role of leadership.

我們把經濟體視為一個複雜適應系統(complex adaptive system), 強調系統中異質性(heterogeneous)agent的學習適應行為與agent之間的互動性交互作用, 此時主流經濟學裡的分析架構, 如:代表性個人模型(represesentive agent model)、理性預期(rational expectation)、固定點均衡分析(fixed-point equilibrium analysis)等將不再適用, 取而代之的是演化經濟學(evolutionary economics)的研究典範, 這樣的研究架構下, 並沒有適當的數學分析工具可資運用, 因此我們改以agent-based建模(agent-based modelng)的社會模擬(social simulation)來建構一個人工的經濟體(artificial economy), 以此為主要研究方法, 這就是agent-based計算經濟學(agent-based computational economics)或稱人工經濟生命(artificial economic life)。 本文中以股票市場為主要的研究課題, 我們以遺傳規劃(genetic programming)的人工智慧(artificial intelligence)方法來模擬股市中有限理性(bounded rational)異質交易者的交易策略學習行為, 建構出一個人工股票市場(artificial stock market), 在這樣的架構下, 我們成功地產生出類似真實股票市場的股價時間序列特性, 我們同時也檢定了人工股票市場中價量的因果關係, 說明了在沒有外生因素之下, 人工股票市場的複雜系統可自發地產生出雙向的價量因果關係, 進一步地, 我們研究下層agent(交易者)行為與上層股價時間序列行為的關聯性, 我們也發現個體的行為並不能直接加總或推論出複雜適應系統的總體行為, 這就是突現性質(emergent property)的發生, 最後, 本文描述了agent-based計算經濟學研究架構的優勢與缺點, 再附帶介紹一個用以進行agent-based建模相關研究的軟體程式庫-SWARM。

The aim of this study is to determine the role that innovation plays in economic development and how an economic environment can be created that is conducive to innovation. The urgent need for development in large parts of the world indicates the importance of the increase in innovative activities because innovation is indicated as the “engine of growth and development”. It was found that innovation takes place within an innovation system and should be studied from a system perspective. The system perspective implies that there are different participants and that these participants function individually but that they also interact (wittingly or unwittingly) with one another. The innovation system is defined as a system that includes the participants or actors and their activities and interactions, as well as the socio-economic environment within which these actors or participants function, which determine the innovative performance of the system. A system approach is therefore necessary to study the influence of innovation on development. The role that innovation plays in economic development has been established by means of the historical patterns of economic development and major innovations as well as an analysis of literature of empirical studies. The historical pattern indicates the importance of innovation for economic development, but literature revealed the complexity of the relationship due to the non-linear relationship among different actors or participants in an innovation system. The main determinants of innovation was identified and a conceptual, descriptive model for an innovation system was developed, indicating the different participants, their roles, the interaction among them, and the economic environment within which the participants function. The model was applied to the Mpumalanga province in South Africa as case study. Strengths and weaknesses were identified in the Mpumalanga innovation system and recommendations were made for the improvement of the Mpumalanga innovation system which in turn should lead to an improvement in the economic development of the province. / Economics / D.Comm. (Economics)