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From the perspective of manufacturing companies, the political, media and economic discourse on decarbonisation in the recent years manifests itself as an increasing social expectation of action. In Germany, in particular, this discourse is also being driven forward by powerful companies, respectively sectors, most notably the automotive industry. Against this background, the present paper examines how German manufacturing companies react to rising societal pressure and emerging policies. It examines which measures the companies have taken or plan to take to reduce their carbon footprint, which aspirations are associated with this and the structural characteristics (company size, energy intensity, and sector) by which these are influenced. A mix methods approach is applied, utilising data gathered from approx. 900 companies in context of the Energy Efficiency Index of German Industry (EEI), along with media research focusing on the announced decarbonisation plans and initiatives. We demonstrate that one-size-serves-all approaches are not suitable to decarbonise industry, as the situation and ambitions differ considerably depending on size, energy intensity and sector. Even though the levels of ambition and urgency are high, micro and energy intensive companies, in particular, are challenged. The present research uncovers a series of questions that call for attention to materialise the ambitions and address the challenges outlined.
The 17 SDGs, as agreed upon by the international community, are designed to be implemented across all levels of human activity. Alongside the level of international politics, this also includes the local levels, national politics, wider society, and the economic sphere. Many channels are called on to further implementation, including the transfer of technology to developing and emerging countries. As the patent holders, this must include the active participation of companies. While the literature examines the important role of technology transfer in North-South business-to-business (B2B) partnerships, studies on the technology transfer between European and African companies are scarce. Therefore, in this study we use original data from 26 interviews conducted with managers engaged in sales partnerships between German manufacturers and their distributors in African markets to examine the existence and forms of technology transfer. We find that training and marketing excellence are the predominant forms of technology transfer and based on that suggest a refinement of established frameworks on B2B technology transfer.
Die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz ist eine gesellschaftliche Notwendigkeit und bildet neben dem Umstieg auf erneuerbare Energien den entscheidenden Hebel zur Realisierung der Energiewende und Minderung der CO2-Emissionen in Deutschland. Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU) nehmen in diesem Zusammenhang eine besondere Stellung ein: Aktuelle Studien deuten auf geringere Steigerungsraten der Energieeffizienz gegenüber Großunternehmen hin, die zumeist mit unterschiedlichen materiellen und personalen Voraussetzungen erklärt werden.
Das Forschungsprojekt "Entscheidungen für Energieeffizienz" widmete sich vor diesem Hintergrund der Situation produzierender KMU in Baden-Württemberg. Mit dem Ziel, ein verbessertes Verständnis über die Energieeffizienz-Entscheidungen der KMU zu gewinnen, wurde der Frage nachgegangen, wie der Umgang mit Energie in der täglichen Praxis in KMU organisiert wird, wie über Energieeffizienz entschieden wird und welche Treiber und Hemmnisse sich dabei ergeben.
Zur Beantwortung der Fragen wurde ein Ansatz verfolgt, der kulturelle Einflüsse mitberücksichtigt. Forschungsstrategisch kam ein Mixed-Methods-Ansatz zur Anwendung, der durch die Kombination von qualitativen Daten (Einzelfallstudien) und quantitativen Daten (Fragebogenerhebung) methodisch umgesetzt wurde.
Despite strong political efforts in Europe, industrial small- and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) seem to neglect adopting practices for energy effciency. By taking a cultural perspective, this study investigated what drives the establishment of energy effciency and corresponding practices in SMEs. Based on 10 ethnographic case studies and a quantitative survey among 500 manufacturing SMEs, the results indicate the importance of everyday employee behavior in achieving energy savings. The studied enterprises value behavior related measures as similarly important as technical measures. Raising awareness for energy issues within the organization, therefore, constitutes an essential leadership task that is oftentimes perceived as challenging and frustrating. It was concluded that the embedding of energy efficiency in corporate strategy, the use of a broad spectrum of different practices, and the empowerment and involvement of employees serve as major drivers in establishing energy effciency within SMEs. Moreover, the findings reveal institutional influences on shaping the meanings of energy effciency for the SMEs by raising attention for energy effciency in the enterprises and making energy effciency decisions more likely. The main contribution of the paper is to offer an alternative perspective on energy effciency in SMEs beyond the mere adoption of energy-effcient technology.