Conceptualisations of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions: Insights from organisation theory and a systematic literature review
基于组织理论，提出创新/防御和合作/竞争两个光谱来描述企业在可持续转型中的行为，并通过汽车行业的系统文献综述揭示行为动机，引入四种概念化解释。
Abstract Following the tradition of using opposing concepts as a basis for organisational analysis, this article advances a theory‐based understanding of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions. Building on seminal transition studies, we propose innovating/defending and collaborating/competing as two useful spectra to describe organisational behaviours in transitions. Presenting the automotive industry as an explanatory case, we show results from a systematic literature review that reveal motives for diverging behaviours. Combining the spectra into a 2 × 2 matrix, we then introduce four conceptualisations to explain the observed motives and behaviours. The conceptualisations are associated with different streams of organisation theory: dynamic capabilities and the resource‐based view, resource‐dependence theory, neo‐institutional theory and theories on organisational learning and path dependence. Referring to organisational ambidexterity, value configurations and political arenas, we conclude that transitions research can reach a more multifaceted understanding by challenging the prevailing notion of the firm as a coherent actor.