Incumbent behaviour and disruptive innovation in the Norwegian Aquaculture Industry

• Autor(a) principal: Walker, Thomas Hilding Valstad
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/31209
• topic: Disruptive innovation; Sustaining innovation; The innovator´s dilemma; Land-based aquaculture; Farmed Atlantic salmon; Inovação disruptiva; Inovação sustentável; O dilema do inovador; Aquicultura em terra; Salmão do Atlântico de viveiro; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Since the early days of salmon farming, it has only been possible to cultivate Atlantic salmon at particular locations. Salmon farming requires certain specific ecological conditions such as water temperatures between 0-20 °C and the flow of currents to let the salmon roam freely. (MOWI, 2019).These conditions usually occur in waters with the protection of fjords and archipelagos and are generally found in parts of the northern or southern hemisphere (MOWI, 2019). The combined coastline of mainland Norway with its various islands stretches over 102 936 km across the northern hemisphere. Fulfilling necessary conditions, Norway has established itself as the biggest producer of salmon in the world (Kartverket [Norwegian Mapping Authority], 19; Hoel & IBM, 2018). Therefore, the Norwegian coastline possesses a significant competitive advantage. However, advances in landbased aquaculture technology could disrupt the industry and render this competitive advantage less relevant. This study investigates what strategic actions are being taken by the Norwegian Aquaculture Industry (NAI) with regards to Land-Based Salmon farming (LBSF) and seeks to understand how incumbents view LBSF. The working hypothesis posits that LBSF is a potentially disruptive technology and that the industry has fallen victim to The Innovator's Dilemma (TID). The findings in this dissertation demonstrate that risk averse behaviour as Christensen (1997) pointed out, can stymie corporate strategy and this appears to be true for decision makers in the NAI. The findings further indicate that the incumbents in the NAI will only make strategic moves when LSBSF have validated and scaled their methods of production. LSBSF may not need an urgent response in the short term, but it is a development that needs to be closely monitored by incumbent firms.