The conventional model of energy production and consumption has come under severe scrutiny. Concerns related to climate change, increased energy needs and issues surrounding conventional sources of energy generation have highlighted a need to adopt sustainable means of energy generation. Renewable energy sources are believed to have the potential to meet rising energy needs in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Solar energy is particularly interesting in this respect as it has the potential to be used at commercial as well as household level; however, to this end, its contribution to global energy supply has remained limited. A number of studies have explored factors influencing the adoption of solar photovoltaics (PV) at the household level and proposed measures to foster its development. This paper aims to systematically review and analyse the state of solar PV adoption by exploring "What are the key factors influencing the adoption of solar PV at household level?". From 146 studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, the study identifies 127 unique factors influencing adoption behaviour, and groups these into eight categories, namely economic, environmental, social, personal, demographic, technical, regulatory and market-related factors. Based on the findings, this paper proposes guidelines for practitioners, identifies knowledge gaps and suggests directions for future research to strengthen the scholarship in this domain.

© 2021 The Authors. Rural Sociology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Rural Sociological Society (RSS). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This paper examines discourses in five Finnish municipalities' energy transition processes to identify and explain different ideological discourses among its members. The study fills a gap in research extending the idea of sense making to capture the ideologies that hide in discourses during socio-technical transitions. We identify three types of ideological discourses labelled as Clan, Solarpunk and Native. The implications of the ideologies embedded in municipal, multi-partner networks that participate in energy transition affect who will be heard in a local context. This impacts future choices directly related to sustainability outcomes. We propose that discourses in these multi-partner networks, conceptualized from the perspective of municipal energy systems, help us to uncover underlying ideologies that imperil change. And yet at the same time, these revelations offer opportunities for sustainability-oriented innovation.

In this paper, we revise the concept of neolocalism by showing how companies that sex up rural places update and add novel nuances to neolocalist marketing. As the positive aspects drawn from tradition, stories and history are at the center of neolocalism, we aim to highlight how the usually negatively perceived images of the rural may be turned into something positive, trendy, desirable, and eventually sexy in the marketing of rural areas and businesses. The data of this study consists of nine company interviews and four consumer focus groups ( n = 17). Our findings show how three features—namely, the hybridization of rural and urban, generational experience of millennials, and minimalist visualization—combined construct ideas for new image creation for rural areas. The concept of sexing up places ushers in new possibilities for rural actors and regions by reducing the distinction between rural and urban via visual imagery that is a particularly good match for the generational experience of the millennials. In this way, the study offers a novel way to tackle the challenges faced by rural areas, such as depopulation and image loss.

©2021 The Authors. Published by Talent First Network 2007–2021 and published in the Technology Innovation Management Review. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

The existing energy system is heavily centralized, where production and distribution systems are largely controlled by big utility companies. The issue of global warming, the need to reduce emissions, sustainable use of conventional hydrocarbons, and improvements in renewable energy technologies – both in terms of cost and performance – has highlighted the need to transform the energy market. The trend is further exacerbated by the advancement in technology. The transformation is said to have implications for the stakeholders involved in the process, including customers, utility companies, and regulatory bodies. The objective of this study is to explore the effect this transformation would have on the local energy system and the changes needed to be made to ensure the transition provides desired outcomes. Based on the findings, the study proposes changes companies need to make in their business models to adapt to the changing needs of the market as well as of customers.

J.J. Ortega Gras1, J. Garrido Lova2, A. Muñoz Puche1, E. Mouazan3, M.V. Gómez Gómez4, J. Rodriguez Fuentes5, A. Rajala6 1CETEM - Technological Centre of Furniture and Wood (SPAIN) 2AMUEBLA - Cluster Habitat of Murcia Region (SPAIN) 3Ecores (BELGIUM) 4Karlsruher Institute of Technology (GERMANY) 5CENFIM - Furnishings cluster (SPAIN) 6University of Vaasa (FINLAND)

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the skills and attitudes development of multicultural teams. In todays’ environment, business interconnectivity and multicultural societies are becoming the normal way of living. Although students are increasingly facing multicultural learning environments, their awareness and willingness or harmonious and productive learning in these environments need to be prepared for in a systematic manner. Therefore, it is necessary that the students are conscious of their commonalities and differences with other students to gain cultural competence. Students’ progress in developing their cultural intelligence is determined by co-operative social skills and the amount of interactions in a multicultural environment.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted using a quantitative methodology. The questionnaire development roots in a students’ self-assessment scheme proposed by Armstrong (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) covering the progress made during the participation in an intercultural project.FindingsThe research findings relate to attitudes toward developing and sharing knowledge, stress, learning and task orientation, intercultural communication and cultural awareness skills related to the impacts of culture on the different ways of learning when working in multicultural teams. The study confirmed that knowledge gains and competence progress are higher in international teams compared to national teams.Research limitations/implicationsTo provide for better differentiation as to the student profile, e.g., nationality, cultural categories, a larger sample size is suggested.Practical implicationsThe study might be seen as a road map for universities and international companies alike for imparting cognitive, affective and behavioral competencies.Originality/valueThis study complements previous studies investigating the phenomenon of stress with multi-cultural complexity in more long-term durations. It implies stress factors to appear also in short-term multi-cultural exposures.

This study examines the influence of market-based assets on innovativeness and business performance. The concept of market-based assets builds on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm. Despite several recent studies, empirical evidence of the dependencies between market-based assets and innovativeness remains scarce. Based on existing literature, this paper identifies three distinct market-based assets: customer-based assets, channel-based assets and partner-based assets. In particular, the study investigates the effects of these assets on both product innovativeness and business process innovativeness, and on business performance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. The data are from 5,627 firms from 13 countries analysed using structural equation modelling. The results show that the three market-based assets affect product innovativeness more strongly than business process innovativeness. The results show that market-based assets and innovativeness are key drivers of business performance.

We examine network relationships, particularly the type and strength of these relationships and how firms use them in order to commercialize different types of innovations. We conduct an in–depth case study of four small firms to provide insight on how and why a portfolio of network relationships (e.g., suppliers, distributors, customers, and research institutes) helps small new innovative firms to gain resources. We develop a framework of four innovation types and expand on how successful commercialization for each innovation type requires certain types and strength of relationships. Both types (systemic and autonomous) of radical innovations require strong collaborative ties with customers, whereas incremental innovations are commercialized through different types of downstream networks.

How can a firm change its value-creation logic from providing technology to selling technology- based services? This is a question many security companies face today when trying to apply a solutions-based business model in response to recent macro-and microeconomic trends. The fact that customers increasingly demand security as a service, rather than technical equipment, challenges the basis of a security firm's value provision and alters the logic of its operation. In this article, we investigate a technology-and product-oriented security business that is now rapidly transforming into a service business. We use data from a case study to propose a 4C model (conceptualization, calculation, communication, and co-creation of value) that can help security providers to objectify their service offerings and succeed in the servitization of their security businesses.

This is a single case study of a self-emerging network that from the beginning has strived to develop a scalable urban innovation in the fields of housing and living. Scalability in this context is transferring the innovation to another urban area after piloting, including the minor adjustments needed to fit the new area. We are interested in the networking process and the roles of network manager that enable both the networking process itself and the scalability of the innovation. We report the process through positive and negative critical incidents induced internally by the network manager or externally from outside the network. We emphasize the roles that facilitate networking although the case illustrates some negative roles as well. Furthermore, we state that the network manager’s role can be positive in a certain phase of the networking phase and have a negative effect in another. A good example of this is the role of activist, which enables networking at the beginning of the process but can have a hindering effect during the actual networking. The different roles a network manager can adopt and their differing influence on the networking process can be explained by the fact that networks are dynamic. Therefore, the systematic networking process and the network manager, though different roles should ensure that the network is both aware of its dynamic nature and able to respond to changes without losing the ability to concentrate on its core goal. The end result of this study is a conceptualization of a network management process with the suggestions of the network management roles that during the process enable and ensure networking and scalability of innovation created.

This study examines the influence of three types of market-based assets on innovation success and business performance. The authors surveyed managers from 5627 firms in 13 countries. Using structural equation modeling, the authors demonstrate that different market-based assets drive success in new product and business process innovations, which in turn, influence financial performance. The present study provides support for extant research that emphasizes the sequential nature of new product and business process innovations, as the former predicts the latter.