Strategies for Change - An Analysis of Spanish entrepreneurial strategies for creating a sustainable Innovation System

Abstract

This research focuses on the combination of the theory of Innovation system and Entrepreneurship. To identify the relation between those two theories, a case study is performed in the Spanish wind energy industry. The investigation includes an analysis of the Spanish Innovation system as well as an analysis of company strategies. The combination of both results show entrepreneurial strategies, which have a positive influence on the performance of the Innovation system and consequently the innovation’s implementation speed. It is identified that the wind energy Innovation system performed well in the start-up period of the industry and that the entrepreneurs present at that time applied 14 different strategies. Within the research 16 correlations are identified to be influential between strategies and system functions. The application of those functions are highly dependent the chronological phase of the industry as well as the size of the company. With these results a first step in the combination of the two theoretical strands is taken, which provides benefits for the Innovation system’s performance, as well as a guideline for entrepreneurs to increase their innovation´s implementation speed.