Perceived Resources for Battery Manufacturing in Norway
Nya Fest Session 4: Sustainability and energy transitions in economic and business history organized by Mattias Näsman and Josef Taalbi
Abstract
This work sets out to analyze what resources that were and are available for battery produc-tion in Norway by using FREYR Battery as an example. However, since the company has no production in place, the goal of the article will be to investigate the perceived resources of the company, as perceived by founders, management and investors, while also discussing the po-tential of those resources. To do so, the article will examine how the founders, management, new owners, investors and customers have perceived and understood the resources, and how this, in turn, has been presented to the investment market. It is outside this article’s scope to make definitive conclusions on the future effectiveness of the perceived resources because situations change with time, and the quality of a resource is contextually bound. Nonetheless, an analysis of what conditions for the battery industry are present, or perceived to be, is interesting as it can also shed light on whether the creation of the company is ce-mented mostly in the possibility for profits or genuine green concerns How resources are found and perceived is ingrained in entrepreneurial efforts and an important part of the crea-tion of new ventures. Which advantages are, or perceived to be, present for the creation of FREYR, how is the company’s resource basis presented outside the company, and how has the resource basis initially influenced the company strategy? The involvement and backing of the Norwegian state through Eksfin to FREYR Bat-tery, a resource in itself, could also be an indicator of the perceived resources for the battery industry. Rationally, the state only supports industries and companies if there are sound con-ditions and good advantages available, or important strategic value for national interests
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