Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION AND SOCIETAL TRANSITIONS
Volume 15, Issue -, Pages 101-122Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.eist.2013.12.002
Keywords
Dynamic capabilities; Innovation; Privatization; Sustainability transitions; Urban water sector
Categories
Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)
- Chair of Management of Network Industries at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL)
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This paper analyzes the ability of water utilities to contribute to sustainability transition processes. More specifically, we compare the capacity of utilities, embedded in purely public, mixed and largely private governance modes, to innovate. We employ dynamic capabilities as core indicators for innovativeness and therefore as major enabling factors for sustainable sector transitions. We assess the relationship between governance modes and innovation by conducting an in-depth comparative analysis of three water utilities, each within a differing governance mode along the public-to-private continuum: Zurich, Berlin and Leeds. While we find that the private and mixed governance modes have an increased degree of innovativeness, they perform lower in terms of static sustainability criteria than the public mode. We therefore conclude that the impact of privatization on sustainability transitions in the water sector involves multi-dimensional trade-offs between static and dynamic sustainability criteria. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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