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Rise and fall of the giants? : Innovating firms in Sweden, 1890-2016

Hylmö, Anders LU orcid and Taalbi, Josef LU (2024) In Lund Papers in Economic History
Abstract
This study investigates patterns of innovation during two successive industrial revolutions in Sweden. “Genius engineering firms”, such as L M Ericsson, SKF and ASEA (ABB) have dominated narratives about Sweden’s industrial and innovation success. Using new long-term data series of innovation output, 1890-2016, we observe several patterns. First, we document inverted U-shaped patterns during the course of the 20th and 21st centuries of the average age of innovating firms and the share of innovations produced by the genius engineering firms. At most, the genius engineering firms accounted for slightly less than half of innovations in the 1960s, followed by a drop to less than 10% towards the end of the period. To explore potential reasons... (More)
This study investigates patterns of innovation during two successive industrial revolutions in Sweden. “Genius engineering firms”, such as L M Ericsson, SKF and ASEA (ABB) have dominated narratives about Sweden’s industrial and innovation success. Using new long-term data series of innovation output, 1890-2016, we observe several patterns. First, we document inverted U-shaped patterns during the course of the 20th and 21st centuries of the average age of innovating firms and the share of innovations produced by the genius engineering firms. At most, the genius engineering firms accounted for slightly less than half of innovations in the 1960s, followed by a drop to less than 10% towards the end of the period. To explore potential reasons behind the decline in innovation rates, we interviewed 10 large firms and surveyed important events in their company histories. Our findings suggest that vertical disintegration, internationalization, and increased servitization are partial explanations for these patterns. Our quantitative and qualitative results also stress that the extent to which large firms have been able to reorient themselves towards digitalization and ICTs has been a key aspect of long-run innovation patterns. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Innovation, Industry dynamics, Industrial Revolutions, Sweden
in
Lund Papers in Economic History
issue
2024:257
pages
42 pages
project
SWINNO 3.0 Significant Swedish technological Innovations from 1970 until now
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e5dd5adf-0ef8-4380-a250-587b55f49c19
date added to LUP
2024-03-06 15:08:23
date last changed
2024-06-10 09:18:17
@misc{e5dd5adf-0ef8-4380-a250-587b55f49c19,
  abstract     = {{This study investigates patterns of innovation during two successive industrial revolutions in Sweden. “Genius engineering firms”, such as L M Ericsson, SKF and ASEA (ABB) have dominated narratives about Sweden’s industrial and innovation success. Using new long-term data series of innovation output, 1890-2016, we observe several patterns. First, we document inverted U-shaped patterns during the course of the 20th and 21st centuries of the average age of innovating firms and the share of innovations produced by the genius engineering firms. At most, the genius engineering firms accounted for slightly less than half of innovations in the 1960s, followed by a drop to less than 10% towards the end of the period. To explore potential reasons behind the decline in innovation rates, we interviewed 10 large firms and surveyed important events in their company histories. Our findings suggest that vertical disintegration, internationalization, and increased servitization are partial explanations for these patterns. Our quantitative and qualitative results also stress that the extent to which large firms have been able to reorient themselves towards digitalization and ICTs has been a key aspect of long-run innovation patterns.}},
  author       = {{Hylmö, Anders and Taalbi, Josef}},
  keywords     = {{Innovation; Industry dynamics; Industrial Revolutions; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2024:257}},
  series       = {{Lund Papers in Economic History}},
  title        = {{Rise and fall of the giants? : Innovating firms in Sweden, 1890-2016}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}