Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships

Despite the burgeoning literature on the governance and impact of cross-sector partnerships in the past two decades, the debate on how and when these collaborative arrangements address globally relevant problems and contribute to systemic change remains open. Building upon the notion of wicked problems and the literature on governing such wicked problems, this paper defines harnessing problems in multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as the approach of taking into account the nature of the problem and of organizing governance processes accordingly. The paper develops an innovative analytical framework that conceptualizes MSPs in terms of three governance processes (deliberation, decision-making and enforce-ment) harnessing three key dimensions of wicked problems (knowledge uncertainty, value conflict and dynamic complexity). The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil provides an illustrative case study on how this analytical framework describes and explains organizational change in partnerships from a problem-based perspective. The framework can be used to better understand and predict the complex relationships between MSP governance processes, systemic change and societal problems, but also as a guiding tool in (re-)organizing governance processes to continuously re-assess the problems over time and address them accordingly

U-turn: the rise and demise of the automobile industry

his article introduces the fundamental rational that supports the ‘technological regime’ of the modern automobile, as well as its potential for inertia, transformation and decline. It presents the main concepts used in automobile design, material selection, and the economic fundamentals that orient today's car assembly and commercialisation. The practices currently adopted by automakers that aim at the rationalisation of systems of production, such as platform consolidation, ‘architectures’ and modular assembly are briefly discussed. The article inquires into the main reasons for the high pace of consolidation that characterised the automobile assembly and supplier sectors during the 1990s. Subsequently, the discussion about the choice of materials and its impact throughout the life-cycle of cars illustrates the complexities involved in reducing the overall environmental impact of the industry. Finally, by questioning the levels of efficiency of current automobiles and by identifying the core competences of automakers, the final part of the article explains why the automobile industry currently faces one of the most challenging moments of its history

The automobile industry & sustainability

This paper summarises the contributions made to the special issue on The automobile Industry & Sustainability. Taking a life-cycle perspective, the contributions are allocated into the automotive life-cycle phases of design, manufacture (and supply chain management), use, and disposal or ‘end of life vehicle’ management. The contributions are also set into the broader context of research into the global automotive industry, and the economic, social and environmental pressures confronting the industry. In doing so, this introductory paper provides a brief assessment of the ways in which the papers in the special issue have furthered our understanding of the difficulty in achieving a sustainable automotive industry, and some of the measures that might be taken as progress towards that difficult goal

Radical reformism: towards critical ecological modernization

According to a specialized research area within environmental sociology - ecological modernization theory - the shift towards seeking to protect the environment constitutes a broadly emergent sociological phenomenon: the radicalization of modernity. The understanding of the fundamentals of such phenomenon is, therefore, crucial for both the practice and theorization of organization and environment. This is the main reason why this paper seeks to incorporate ideas from the disciplines of both environmental sociology and organization theory. By delving into the main sources of dynamism that 'produced' modernity the paper argues that a sustainable organizational practice depends on the incorporation of a special type of radicalism into ecological modernization. The paper anchors its main arguments in research conducted in the European automobile industry - a socio-technical context undergoing ecological modernization. The main conclusions of the paper relate to the nature of the reforms required for organizational practices to facilitate sustainable industrial development. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Towards a regime-based typology of market evolution

This paper provides a typology for the analysis of markets in which new innovations have the potential to cause regime transition. We elaborate the typology of transition pathways (Geels and Schot, 2007) into a typology of market evolution, with transition being one of the possible types. We strengthen the theoretic link between transition and industrial innovation studies by moving beyond the incremental-radical innovation dichotomy, adopted in many industrial innovation studies, as well as map out the socio-technical dimension of market evolution. We test the Regime Evolution Framework (REF), as we call it, against the introduction of steam power in trains and ships, which are well-established cases. By doing so, we are better prepared to adopt the framework for the analysis of electric propulsion systems in cars, a potentially disruptive innovation that has slowly been entering mainstream markets. The framework allows us to: (i) better qualify the categories of sustaining and disruptive innovation; (ii) understand the evolution of hybrid patterns of market innovation, since the elements of emerging disruptive innovations sometimes sustain the established technology, and; (iii) assess and map emerging market patterns