Organization of Value Creation and Work in the Japanese Wind Power Industry: Studying Organizational Diversity in Face of Institutional Change

The Fukushima disaster of 2011 has changed the perspective on renewable energies, not least in Japan. Although the production of renewable energies has since then continuously increased in that country, too, Fukushima seems to have had a greater impact on other countries such as Germany, for example. Given the insight that emerging fields often form and change around particular events that create opportunities, we see institutional change in the field of Japanese energy production taking place. In particular, we are interested to learn about the scope, pace and trajectory of this change, how it is brought about, and whether this will result in more organizational diversity. Preliminary results show that there has been a rather endogenous change within the field of the Japanese energy sector, which was first and foremost initiated and managed by the incumbents of the field, thereby trying to preserve their position. This, however, might explain that change within the Japanese energy sector is most likely to remain incremental rather than transformative, also with regard to the organization of value creation and work.