Pro-market reforms have disrupted the playing field and strongly affected the innovative behavior of electricity, gas and water utilities. Beyond a significant reduction in sectoral R&D investments, very little is known about how these firms accomplish their innovation strategies in this new scenario. Given this gap in the literature, the first aim of this paper is to identify the internal determinants of both the product and process innovation of utilities in a liberalized environment. Additionally, there is another external force that is also disrupting the specific landscape of utilities: the sustainability challenge. Therefore, the second aim of this paper is establishing whether sustainability-orientation is a driver of innovation in the utilities industries. The empirical study is carried out on a panel of 82 Spanish electricity, gas and water utilities over the period 2005–2012 (Technological Innovation Panel dataset (PITEC)). The main findings are: (i) the acquisition of disembodied knowledge does not play a relevant role for utilities; (ii) non-formal search processes are central to product innovation; (iii) some markets for technology –external R&D and technology embedded in equipment—are determinant factors for process innovation; (iv) sustainability orientation increases the likelihood of generating both, product and process innovations. These firm-level results are novel contributions to the field of utility management.

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Corporate governance practices in the privatised British electricity utilities are analysed in this paper. It is shown that external governance did not put enough pressure on the managers of the companies. Soft price regulation, the lack of product market competition in distribution, low financial leverage and the deactivated takeover market created a stable environment. Moreover, diffused ownership was not an adequate stimulus either. Although board structures complied with best practices and executive incentives were in place, these two devices were unable to successfully restrict managerial discretion. Therefore, it is suggested that global competition in the market for corporate control could play an important role in bringing in the appropriate incentives. The evidence indicates that allowing American electric firms to bid for their UK counterparts brought to light inadequate corporate behaviour.

La Realidad Aumentada está cambiando la forma de experimentar los recursos y destinos turísticos. Pese a las ventajas potenciales que puede aportar esta tecnología, los espacios naturales protegidos han sido poco proactivos en su adopción. Por este motivo, en el presente trabajo se realiza una propuesta innovadora de despliegue de Realidad Aumentada en el Camín Real de la Mesa (Somiedo, España), itinerario turístico senderista que discurre por un espacio natural protegido singular. Se trata de un entorno moldeado por la interacción secular entre naturaleza y actividad humana, de gran calidad paisajística, pero que no es fácil de interpretar en toda su amplitud en una visita autónoma. La solución diseñada y prototipada viene a demostrar que la Realidad Aumentada es una herramienta apropiada y plenamente aplicable para mejorar las experiencias turísticas y generar otras oportunidades en los espacios naturales protegidos.