Shaping sustainable markets—A conceptual framework illustrated by the case of biogas in Sweden

• Published in: Environmental innovation and societal transitions 2020-09, Vol.36, p.303-320
• Main Authors: Ottosson, Mikael, Magnusson, Thomas, Andersson, Hans
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biogas; Market formation; Market-shaping; Sustainable market; Transition; Value
• ISSN: 2210-4224; 2210-4232; 2210-4232
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eist.2019.10.008

•This paper outlines a conceptual framework that describes the shaping of sustainable markets.•The framework comprises three market-shaping processes: enabling exchange practices, proving the system and constructing the narrative.•The framework is illustrated with a case analysis of market-shaping processes for biogas in Sweden.•The case analysis shows how public and private actors have engaged in a multitude of activities in the market-shaping processes.•The recursive nature of sustainable market-shaping is highlighted. By merging findings from transition studies with recent literature on market-shaping, this paper outlines a conceptual framework that describes the shaping of sustainable markets. The framework comprises three critical processes: enabling exchange practices, proving the system and constructing the narrative. Individually, these processes generate different kinds of value – traded, demonstrated and expected value – and the value output from each process serves as input to the other two processes. Hence the value streams link the processes together. We illustrate the framework by analyzing market-shaping processes for biogas in Sweden. The case analysis shows how public and private actors have engaged in a multitude of activities that have built up the market-shaping processes. The analysis highlights the recursive nature of sustainable market-shaping, showing how key actors must repeatedly respond to tensions resulting from growth and aspirations of growth.