Re-designing public–private partnerships: Case study – Green Hydrogen Hub, Denmark | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of Design, Business & Society
  4. Volume 9, Issue 2
  5. Article
Sustainability & Design Research
  • ISSN: 2055-2106
  • E-ISSN: 2055-2114

Abstract

Public and private actors are increasingly realizing that the hypercomplex challenges that societies are facing require them to collaborate in different manners than current structures and best practices cater for. Private–public partnerships (PPP) and public–private innovation (PPI) are familiar constructs. However, politicians, public and private actors, and academics increasingly point out that society’s complex, wicked problems require new forms of collaboration structures that allow for solutions to be co-created in order to create real impact. Novel collaboration structures are emerging worldwide, and early studies indicate that they demand a radical change of governmental behaviours in order to sustain these, often long-term, relationships. This case study examines the cross-sectoral co-creation initiative, Green Hydrogen Hub (GHH). GHH is designing and developing a society-scale green energy storage capacity that will play a key role in the green electrification of Denmark. Specifically, it investigates the change of role, self-perception and orchestrating capabilities of the governmental actor, Gas Storage Denmark, in its role in the public–private co-creation (PPC) consortium. Through a series of qualitative interviews with both public and private actors within and surrounding the co-creation consortium, this study has identified one overarching necessity for driving successful PPC: the ability to juxtapose public actors’ for-purpose obligations and private actors’ for-profit obligations in a non-oppositional setup. The case shows how this is obtained through three key indicators: 1) an ability to establish a resilient team, 2) a strong focus on storytelling about the overall purpose, 3) a plasticity from the actors to deliver on the purpose. As such, this article brings a deeper understanding for both public and private organizations as to how they can effectively engage in co-operative complex innovation activities.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Gas Storage Denmark
© 2023 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/dbs_00053_1
2023-10-09
2024-04-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Andrews, R. and Van der Walle, S. (2012), ‘New public management and citizens’ perceptions of local service efficiency, responsiveness, equity and effectiveness’, Public Management Review, 15:5, pp. 762–83.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Batie, S. B. (2008), ‘Wicked problems and applied economics’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 90:5, pp. 1176–91.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bright, D. S., Cameron, K. S. and Caza, A. (2006), ‘The amplifying and buffering effects of virtuousness in downsized organizations’, Journal of Business Ethics, 64:3, pp. 249–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Brogaard, L. and Petersen, O. H. (2014), Oversigt over Offentlig-Private Innovationspartnerskaber (OPI) på velfærdsområdet, Copenhagen: KORA.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bryson, J. M., Crosby, B. C. and Sone, M. M. (2006), ‘The design and implementation of cross-sector collaborations: Propositions from the literature’, Public Administration Review, 66:1, pp. 44–55.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Calton, J. M., Werhane, P. H., Hartman, L. P. and Bevan, D. (2013), ‘Building partnerships to create social and economic value at the base of the global development pyramid’, 117:4, pp. 721–33, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1716-0.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Chugh, A. and Taibi, E. (2021), ‘What is green hydrogen and why do we need it?’, World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/what-is-green-hydrogen-expert-explains-benefits/. Accessed 9 December 2021.
  8. Climate Act No 965 (2020), n.pag., https://en.kefm.dk/Media/1/B/Climate%20Act_Denmark%20-%20WEBTILGÆNGELIG-A.pdf. Accessed 12 May 2021.
  9. Conklin, J. E. and Weil, W. (2007), ‘Wicked problems: Naming the pain in organizations’, Touchstone Tools and Resources, http://www.accelinnova.com/docs/wickedproblems.pdf. Accessed 13 October 2021.
  10. Degnegaard, S. (2017), ‘Multi-stakeholder business models: Designing out wicked problems’, Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 13:5, pp. 210–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Degnegaard, S. (2018), ‘Into the wild: Pioneers in designing new business models for co-creation’, Journal of Design, Business & Society, 4:1, pp. 13–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Degnegaard, S. (2019), ‘Co-creation for impact: Co-creating new business models for designing out wicked problems’, Ph.D. thesis, Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Degnegaard, S. and Degnegaard, R. (2016), ‘Redesigning the energy sector: Co-creating new business models’, Journal of Design, Business & Society, 2:1, pp. 23–48.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Degnegaard, R., Degnegaard, S. and Coughlan, P. (2015), ‘How to design for large-scale multi-stakeholder co-creation initiatives: Reframing crime prevention challenges with the police in Denmark’, Journal of Design, Business & Society, 1:1, pp. 7–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Energinet (2019), Winds of Change. Energinet’s Strategy, Frederica: Energinet.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Faerman, S. R., McCaffrey, D. P. and Slyke, D. M. V. (2017), ‘Understanding interorganizational cooperation: Public-private collaboration in regulating financial market innovation’, Academy of Management, 1999:1, https://doi.org/10.5465/apbpp.1999.27628084.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Frensch, P. A. and Funke, J. (eds) (2014), Complex Problem Solving, New York: Psychology Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Gilbert, N. (2004), ‘Citizenship in the enabling state’, in A. Evers and A. Guillemard (eds), Social Policy and Citizenship: The Changing Landscape, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 80–96.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Glynos, J., Howarth, D., Norval, A. and Speed, E. (2009), Discourse Analysis: Varieties and Methods, Colchester: National Centre for Research Methods, University of Essex.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Green Hydrogen Hub (2021), ‘Green Hydrogen Hub’, https://greenhydrogenhub.dk. Accessed 4 March 2021.
  21. Grint, K. (2008), ‘Wicked problems and clumsy solutions: The role of leadership’, Clinical Leader, 1:2, pp. 169–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Gutiérrez-Martín, F. and Guerrero-Hernández, I. (2012), ‘Balancing the grid loads by large scale integration of hydrogen technologies: The case of the Spanish power system’, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 37:2, pp. 1151–61.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Hatani, F. (2016), ‘Institutional plasticity in public-private interactions: Why Japan’s port reform failed’, Journal of World Business, 51:6, pp. 923–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Hodge, G. and Greve, C. (2007), ‘Public–private partnerships: An international performance review’, Public Administration Review, 67:3, pp. 545–58.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Johnstone, B. (2008), Discourse Analysis, 2nd ed., Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Klijn, E. H. and Teisman, G. R. (2003), ‘Institutional and strategic barriers to public-private partnership: An analysis of Dutch cases’, Public Money and Management, 23:3, pp. 137–46.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Longoria, G., Lynch, M. and Curtis, J. (2021), ‘Green hydrogen for heating and its impact on the power system’, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46:53, pp. 26725–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Masten, A. S. and Reed, M.-G. J. (2002), ‘Resilience in development’, in C. R. Snyder and S. J. Lopez (eds), Handbook of Positive Psychology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 74–88.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Molero, F., Cuadrado, I., Navas, M. and Morale, J. F. (2007), ‘Relations and effects of transformational leadership: A comparative analysis with traditional leadership styles’, The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 10:2, pp. 358–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Nicholson, M. (2012), The Power Makers Challenge, London: Springer, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4471-2813-7.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Orsted (2021), ‘Orsted’, https://orsted.dk. Accessed 10 August 2021.
  32. Porter, M. E. and Kramer, M. R. (2011), ‘Creating shared value’, Harvard Business Review, January–February, pp. 62–77, https://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value. Accessed 22 January 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Rämö, H. (2002), ‘Doing things right and doing the right things’, International Journal of Project Management, 20:7, pp. 569–74.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Rittel, H. W. J. and Webber, M. M. (1973), ‘Dilemmas in a general theory of planning’, Policy Sciences, 4:2, pp. 155–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Stephens, J. P., Heaphy, E. D., Carmeli, A., Spreitzer, G. M. and Dutton, J. E. (2013), ‘Relationship quality and virtuousness: Emotionally carrying capacity as a source of individual and team resilience’, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 49:1, pp. 13–41, http://jab.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/01/09/0021886312471193. Accessed 16 November 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Sundhedsdatastyrelsen (2021), ‘Danish health data authority: Digital health solutions’, https://sundhedsdatastyrelsen.dk/da/english/digital_health_solutions. Accessed 15 September 2021.
  37. Walsh, F. (1998), Strengthening Family Resilience, New York: Guilford Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. The World Bank (2020), ‘Public-private partnerships legal resource centre’, The World Bank, https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/about-us/about-public-private-partnerships. Accessed 10 September 2021.
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/dbs_00053_1
Loading
Re-designing public–private partnerships: Case study – Green Hydrogen Hub, Denmark
Journal of Design, Business & Society 9, 193 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1386/dbs_00053_1
/content/journals/10.1386/dbs_00053_1
/content/journals/10.1386/dbs_00053_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): business model design; co-creation; collaboration; driven; energy transition; organizational plasticity; purpose; wicked problems

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error