Technological Entrepreneurship and Firm Strategy: The Development and Commercialization of the Ballard Fuel Cell

Abstract

<jats:p> An entrepreneurial strategy has been identified as playing a key role in radical innovation due to the risk-taking nature of the entrepreneurial firm. However, less attention has been paid to the factors that are critical to the success of such innovations by small firms in which these occur. The Schumpeterian idea of visionary individuals who can both operate in the world of advanced engineering and take on a business role as part of a global industry still appears to be essential. This article focuses on the fate of one such individual, Geoffrey Ballard, who has played a pioneering role in developing and commercializing fuel cells for vehicle propulsion. </jats:p>

Alternative business models and entrepreneurship

“…In the longer term, these IC engines may give way to a hydrogen fuel cell. This technology has become viable for automotive applications as a result of the entrepreneurial work by Ballard in particular (Koppel, 1999;Peters and Coles, 2010) and is still seen by many as the most promising longer term solution. Yet at present, most hydrogen still derives from fossil fuels, although fuel cell alternatives such as methanol and ammonia can be derived from renewable feedstocks.…”

“…Thus in reality, neither steam, nor EV went away, but became marginalized technologies in the new automotive regime, much like we still ride horses and still use sailing boats. However, with what the transition scholars all la ds ape changes (Geels, 2002(Geels, , 2005Dijk, 2014;Truffer et al 2017), such marginal technologies, now confined to niches, can become more viable again and that is what appears to be happening to the EV, and to a lesser extent fuel cells (Peters and Coles, 2010).…”