Industrial Policy and Structural Change Sustainability. Theories and Practices in the Contemporary International Context

The collection of six papers presented in this thesis focuses on selective industrial policy, here conceptualized as public interventions governing the process of structural change affecting contemporary production systems towards desired societal goals. In particular, the papers have explored, both from a theoretical and an empirical angle, how contemporary real-world industrial policy practices can ensure that such structural transformations are economically and socially sustainable. Specifically, the research contends that, within the current debate on industrial policy, new conceptual framework and analytical tools oriented towards a structural change sustainability should emerge and be discussed to support policymakers in governing socio-economic transformation towards desired societal goals, while mitigating the rise of government failures. This collection of papers is structured as follows: The first paper (“Industry 4.0 policy from a sociotechnical perspective: the case of German competence centers”) explores how the German policy initiative “Mittelstand 4.0: digital production and work processes” has enabled across SMEs a complex sociotechnical transition characterized by dynamic interactions between human actors, institutions and technologies. Empirical insights on Industry 4.0 policy design and implementation are presented. The second paper (“Structural Change and Industrialization in Ethiopia: Lessons from the Agro-Industrial Parks Initiative”) analyses the process of the design and implementation of the Ethiopian Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks Initiative, targeting a structural transformation of the agricultural sector. The article highlights how a change in the political regime occurred in 2018 opened a window of opportunity for new stakeholders to enter the phase of policy implementation and thus partially correct the policy trajectory, departing from its dirigiste, top-down approach and shifting towards a multi-stakeholder and participatory initiative. The third paper (“Local public spending, electoral consensus, and sustainable structural change”) explores the idea that, to govern structural change in a sustainable way, policy initiatives should reconcile juxtaposed interests, to avoid the exacerbation of tensions and system’s collapse. Specifically, the paper contends that local public spending represents a channel through which reconciling such juxtaposing interests. The results yield implications for policymakers to garner the electoral consensus they need for governing structural change in a sustainable way. The fourth paper (“Do informal institutions matter for the economic resilience of European regions? A study of the post-2008 shock”) has explored the relationship between informal institutions and “resilience” across EU regions in the years following the 2008 Great Recession. Policy implications have been drawn from the results and discussed. The fifth paper (“Conceptualizing and measuring “industry resilience”: composite indicators for post-shock industrial policy decision-making”) deals with the question: can resilience be a relevant concept also for industrial policy? Theoretically, we frame postshock industry resilience as a conceptual framework shedding light on how different sectors react to unforeseen shocks and thus enabling policymakers to craft industrial initiative to encourage structural change sustainability. Methodologically, we develop a composite indicator allowing to visualize and compare sectoral performances dynamically and we apply it to the US post-2008 shock. The sixth paper (“Does Industry Resilience matter for post-shock Industrial Policy? A focus on tourism related industries”) fine tunes the composite indicators-based methodology and applies it to the Italian case, showing to what extent sectors have reacted heterogeneously to the 2008 shock.La raccolta di sei articoli presentati in questa tesi si occupa di politiche industriali selettive, concettualizzate come interventi pubblici di governo dei processi di cambiamento strutturale dei sistemi produttivi verso obiettivi sociali desiderati. In particolare, i contributi hanno esplorato, sia da un punto di vista teorico che empirico, come le pratiche di politica industriale contemporanee possano garantire che tali trasformazioni strutturali siano economicamente e socialmente sostenibili. In particolare, la ricerca sostiene che, nell'ambito dell'attuale dibattito sulla politica industriale, dovrebbero emergere ed essere discussi nuovi strumenti concettuali e analitici orientati alla sostenibilità dei cambiamenti strutturali, per supportare i decisori politici nel governare le trasformazioni socio-economiche verso gli obiettivi sociali desiderati, mitigando al contempo l'aumento dei fallimenti di governo. Questa raccolta di articoli è strutturata come segue: Il primo articolo (“Industry 4.0 policy from a sociotechnical perspective: the case of German competence centers”) esplora come l'iniziativa politica tedesca "Mittelstand 4.0" abbia consentito alle PMI una complessa transizione sociotecnica caratterizzata da interazioni dinamiche tra persone, istituzioni e tecnologie. Vengono presentati spunti empirici sulla progettazione e sull'attuazione delle politiche per Industria 4.0. Il secondo articolo (“Structural Change and Industrialization in Ethiopia: Lessons from the Agro-Industrial Parks Initiative”) analizza il processo messa a punto di una rete di parchi agroindustriali in Etiopia, finalizzati alla trasformazione strutturale del settore agricolo. L'articolo evidenzia come il cambio di regime politico avvenuto nel 2018 abbia consentito l'ingresso di nuovi stakeholder nella fase di implementazione della politica e quindi per correggere parzialmente la traiettoria dell’intervento, allontanandosi dall’ approccio dirigista e top-down diventando invece una iniziativa partecipativa e multi-stakeholder. Il terzo articolo (“Local public spending, electoral consensus, and sustainable structural change”) esplora l'idea che, per governare il cambiamento strutturale in modo sostenibile, le iniziative politiche dovrebbero conciliare interessi contrapposti, per evitare l'esasperazione delle tensioni e il collasso del sistema. In particolare, il contributo sostiene che la spesa pubblica locale rappresenti un canale attraverso cui conciliare tali interessi contrapposti. I risultati producono implicazioni per i decisori politici che si debbono preoccupare di ottenere il consenso elettorale necessario per governare il cambiamento strutturale in modo sostenibile. Il quarto articolo ("Do informal institutions matter for the economic resilience of European regions? A study of the post-2008 shock") esplora la relazione tra istituzioni informali e "resilienza" nelle regioni dell'UE negli anni successivi alla Grande Recessione del 2008. Il quinto articolo ("Conceptualizing and measuring "industry resilience": composite indicators for post-shock industrial policy decision-making") sviluppa il concetto di resilienza industriale post-shock. Concetto che consente di fare luce sulla eterogeneità con cui i diversi settori reagiscono agli shock imprevisti, consentendo così ai decisori politici di elaborare iniziative industriali per incoraggiare la sostenibilità dei cambiamenti strutturali. Dal punto di vista metodologico, viene sviluppato un indicatore composito che consente di visualizzare e confrontare le performance settoriali in modo dinamico e lo applichiamo agli Stati Uniti dopo lo shock del 2008. Il sesto articolo ("Does Industry Resilience matter for post-shock Industrial Policy? A focus on tourism related industries") mette a punto la metodologia basata su indicatori compositi e la applica al caso italiano, mostrando in che misura i settori hanno reagito in modo eterogeneo allo shock del 2008

Understanding Smart Product-Service System Value Offerings: A Comparative Case Analysis

Although smart product-service systems (SPSS) have attracted increasing interest from manufacturers in recent years, their commercialization can pose major challenges. This study aims to advance the SPSS literature by examining the pillars of manufacturers’ SPSS value offering strategies. Using a sociotechnical perspective and a configurational approach, this study examines how manufacturers configure SPSS value offerings. A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on data from a qualitative study reveals three different configurations of sociotechnical factors that are consistently sufficient to achieve an attractive SPSS value offering. From a theoretical perspective, insight into these configurations advances the understanding of complementarities among sociotechnical factors for SPSS. From a managerial perspective, the configurations provide templates for evaluating existing organizational work systems as well as design options for developing new ones

Unlocking innovation for net zero: Constraints, enablers, and firm-level transition strategies

Transition pathways for net zero encompass seemingly insurmountable innovation challenges for the scaling of less mature technological solutions such as hydrogen, materials substitution, and electrification as well as societal challenges to increase the market acceptability of these solutions. In this article, we present a conceptual framework which provides a firm-level perspective on net-zero innovation which has four unique characteristics, i.e. it is complex, systemic, urgent, and directional. The framework shows that the input, process, and output constraints that incumbent firms face in the net-zero transition can be tackled through four firm-level innovation levers – i.e. recombinative, collaborative, integrative, and socio-cognitive capabilities – which, in concert, act as enablers for firms to address these net-zero constraints. We conclude the article by outlining the framework’s main insights for firms’ innovation strategies for net zero and the policy implications. We also propose avenues for future research on net-zero innovation