RESEARCH THEMES
Jan’s research on Sustainability and global Innovation and production systems
Jan’s focus in his current research is transforming global innovation and production systems from being unsustainable towards becoming sustainable. Underneath this focus, there is a theoretical interest dating back to his PhD in the dynamics of industrial activities’ spatial distribution and the implications of the dynamics on global suppliers and local communities. This has translated into five different yet related streams of research. They are all multi-scalar in nature and thereby combines both firm-level analyses and institutional components. Across the various research streams, there is a focus on the role of participation in changing dominant unsustainable practices. He has worked primarily with the garment industry, IT sector, drones and creative industries (e.g. gaming, news media and film); most of his research is undertaken either in Europe or developing countries.
Global innovation and production systems and social sustainability
During the last five years, he has been actively engaged in or running four large externally funded research projects focusing on possibilities for leveraging synergies between productivity improvement and occupational health and safety (OHS) among global suppliers. The projects are located in the intersection between global supply chains studies, institutional theory, development studies and social sustainability research. The projects in Myanmar and Bangladesh have a strong action research component and work with companies’ interventions. The projects look both at first and lower tiers suppliers. In the projects, he explores the advantages and limitations of participatory processes in connection with global innovation and production systems.
Global innovation and production systems and innovation systems
An enduring theme during Jan’s research career is the interplays between global companies and innovation systems. He has written extensively on this topic and analysed how local innovation systems’ configuration influences global suppliers’ ability to upgrade from low to higher value-added production. The innovation systems research focuses on the role of developing innovative activities in this transformation process and theorises this as interactive learning. Interactive learning covers knowledge co-development between the innovation system’s different actors and focuses on the participatory processes across firm boundaries. Innovation systems configuration and ways of facilitating local and non-local iterative learning processes can explain the spatial distribution of innovative activities and explain the global distribution of social and environmental challenges. His most cited work is within this field.
Global innovation and production systems and clustering
Industrial activities tend to cluster in selected locations. Jan has, for many years, looked into the importance of clustering for firms’ performance. His research in this domain has a strong focus on localised learning processes and which knowledge creation processes require physical co-presence and which knowledge processes can be managed on geographical distance. His cluster research, in other words, is concerned with the importance of co-location for participatory processes. His most recent research has looked into how clusering affects sustainability transformations among co-located companies.
Entrepreneurship and global dynamics
When researching global spatial dynamics, it is crucial to incorporate supplementary actors to global companies. In his research on entrepreneurs – primarily in developing countries – Jan looks especially into network dynamics (i.e. participation) and how they impact entrepreneurial companies’ performance. Moreover, he is interested in how entrepreneurs can contribute to sustainability transitions.
Global sourcing and biodiversity
An upcoming research theme is how global companies sourcing practices impacts biodiversity in host countries. The research aims at understanding how multi-stakeholder initiatives involving the participation of local actors can simultaneously improve economic, social and environmental performance with particular attention paid to biodiversity. Regeneration of biodiversity is critical for avoiding future pandemics. Still, scholars have not yet assessed how to ensure that global sourcing processes are not just CO2 neutral but also contribute to regenerating biodiversity and how participatory methods can provide locally socially and environmentally sustainable development trajectories.