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Title Why the Lights Went Out: A Capability Perspective on the Unintended Consequences of Sector Reform Processes
Full text https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/436240
Date 2019
Author(s) Worch, Hagen; Kabinga, Mundia; Eberhard, Anton; Markard, Jochen; Truffer, Bernhard
Contributor(s) Section Economic Urban Transitions; Dynamics of Innovation Systems; Innovation Studies; Economic Urban Transitions; Gil, N.; Stafford, A.; Musonda, I.
Abstract In this chapter we advance the argument that regulatory policies can have a far-reaching impact on the organizational capabilities and, ultimately, on the performance of public utilities. Once capabilities are lost, it may be hard to regain them in the short term. Our insights are based on a qualitative-comparative analysis of capability-losing processes at Eskom, South Africa's national electric utility. South Africa experienced severe power outages between 2005 and 2008, which are commonly explained as having been caused by inadequate generation capacity, badly maintained power plants and insufficient coal supply. In this chapter, we go a step further and examine the underlying reasons at the organizational level. We show that a variety of new regulations led to a substantial loss of critical competences and skills at Eskom. This caused a deterioration of planning, operation and maintenance procedures, and made swift reactions to the crisis difficult. The 'capability perspective' presented in this chapter complements traditional theoretical explanations of utility and sector performance
Subject(s) Taverne
Language en
Type of publication Part of book
Format application/pdf
Rights info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Identifier , 33-68 (2019)
Repository Utrecht - University of Utrecht
Added to C-A: 2024-03-27;10:12:20