May 2015
Nation states and conglomerates play a significant role in how the wind industry is being formed globally
Free market forces based on supply and demand have not created all industries and this paper outlines that without entrepreneurial nation states, the wind energy market would likely not have been able to become one of the very robust foundations of the on-going global green transformation of today. This paper by Thomas Poulsen describes the primary constituencies within the wind industry and how their business models are different. Using shipping and logistics as the setting to gather empirical data about strategic management of firms in the wind market, the paper analyzes the on-going industry consolidation and an important conclusion is that especially conglomerates make use of their vast financial assets by using mergers and acquisitions as well as joint-venture formation as their strategy to obtain the necessary shipping and logistics capacity, skills, and competencies. The findings of the paper are based on the first half of a comprehensive exploratory case study performed by Thomas Poulsen over an 8-year period from 2009 through 2017 with global interviews and site visits. State-owned enterprises in China as well as in Europe are hybrid market makers identified in the paper as having very special functions and objectives on behalf of the nation states as new business areas like offshore wind are established on a global basis.
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