New ventures in an emerging industry: access to and use of international resources

Abstract

This paper addresses international activities of young companies in the emerging marine energy industry. We build our study on interviews in eight companies combined with scientific reports and publications. The main challenges for the companies are related to financing and technology development. Our findings show that the companies may be divided in three groups: a) three technology and funding driven international ventures, b) one market driven international venture and c) four companies with limited international involvement. The short timespan between establishment and first major international activity for acquiring funding or technology competence is a distinct characteristic of the firms in the first two groups. The last group with no or limited international activity reveals an alternative development path. Our study gives insight in significant firm level differences with regard to international involvement in the pre-commercial phase of development and discusses the implications for researchers, managers and public policy.

Reveal or Conceal? Signaling Strategies for Building Legitimacy in Cleantech Firms

“…Future researchers could try to overcome the challenges associated with the collection of data by following up selected companies representing different countries over time. For instance, institutional factors-e.g., different legislations in different countries, availability of venture capital and incentives [7,69,70]-may lead to differences in the initial team and board composition. This, in turn, may influence the nature and content of the firm's signals.…”

“…In this paper, and in line with other studies on high-tech firms [51], we adopt previous models describing typical life-cycle stages [7,41]. We simplify these models and adapt them to our research context.…”

“…Cleantech firms, for the above-mentioned reasons, therefore face greater legitimacy challenges when aiming to access external resources than other technology ventures operating in established and legitimized industries [6,7]. The high level of technology innovativeness [8] and the overall uncertainty of the market [9] create additional challenges for firms entering this market.…”

Configuration of supply chains in emerging industries: a multiple-case study in the wave-and-tidal energy industry

“…Currently, the wave-and-tidal energy industry, and its special knowhow, is located in particular hot spots around the world, such as in countries around the North Sea. Earlier studies have found the industry to be characterised by small, young and highly international firms (Løvdal and Aspelund, 2011;Bjørgum et al, 2013). Such studies have also found that this industry faces a particular set of complicating factors.…”

Configuration of supply chains in emerging industries: a multiple-case study in the wave-and-tidal energy industry

“…Second, there are no current industry standards, which increase the difficulty of attracting investors and cost-effective insurance (MacGillivray et al, 2013;Leete et al, 2013). Third, established players in the traditional energy sector have been reluctant to seek opportunities in the wave-and-tidal energy industry, which has left the market open to new and independent ventures (Bjørgum et al, 2013). Fourth, a special characteristic of this industry is the substantial size and weight of the technology, which often requires capital-intensive yard equipment (quay, cranes, etc.)…”