Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Dynamic capabilities for co-innovation in timber construction: a case study of Swedish cross laminated timber innovation ecosystems
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Industrilized and sustainable construction.ORCID iD: 0009-0003-0820-880X
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Industrilized and sustainable construction.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7564-006X
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Industrilized and sustainable construction.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3067-9451
2026 (English)In: Frontiers in Built Environment, E-ISSN 2297-3362, Vol. 12, article id 1783747Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Introduction: Despite growing recognition of engineered wood products as a critical enabler of low-carbon and circular construction, the diffusion of cross laminated timber (CLT) remains comparatively slow relative to its technical maturity and sustainability potential. This suggests that timber adoption is shaped not only as a design challenge but also by firms’ capabilities, collaborative practices, and the broader conditions under which innovations are developed and commercialized. Such conditions include organize renewal, manage interdependencies, allocate responsibilities, and align around shared value propositions across projects. This study explores how dynamic capabilities, understood as situated practices embedded in recurring cross-project interactions, may enable co-innovation in CLT-based new-build and renovation across projects within the contextual boundary of emerging innovation ecosystems (IE).

Methods: Drawing on an exploratory case study of Swedish CLT-based construction, the empirical material consists of transcribed interviews, focus groups and observation notes representing and contextualizing activities indicative of dynamic capabilities among collaborating firms. Thematic analysis was applied for developing activities into capabilities.

Results: Activities were developed into three levels: project-specific value proposition reconfiguration and resource coordination (Level 1, operational capabilities), joint development and technology implementation (Level 2, dynamic capabilities), and knowledge exchange and actor alignment (Level 3, dynamic capabilities). Capability development occurred through iterative adaptations, informal coordination, and relational negotiations rather than fixed or rule based processes, making it emergent and context-dependent.

Discussion: These findings show that IE structures may create conditions that facilitate collaborative adaptation and learning, potentially supporting innovation beyond individual projects. By foregrounding co-innovation at the firm level, the study shows how these dynamic capabilities can create conditions for scaling CLT adoption beyond isolated projects, supporting broader timber uptake and sustainability ambitions.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Frontiers Media S.A., 2026. Vol. 12, article id 1783747
Keywords [en]
co-innovation, construction management, cross laminated timber, dynamic capabilities, innovation ecosystem, networks, timber construction
National Category
Construction Management Other Mechanical Engineering
Research subject
Construction Management and Building Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-116971DOI: 10.3389/fbuil.2026.1783747ISI: 001740855200001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-116971DiVA, id: diva2:2050574
Note

Funder: Actum Foundation;

Full text license: CC BY

Available from: 2026-04-02 Created: 2026-04-02 Last updated: 2026-05-05
In thesis
1. Framing innovation ecosystems in cross-laminated timber construction networks
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Framing innovation ecosystems in cross-laminated timber construction networks
2026 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Alternative title[sv]
Innovationsekosystem i nätverk inom byggande med korslimmat trä
Abstract [en]

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has emerged as a climate-positive alternative to carbon-intensive building materials. However, its full potential remains underutilized, partly due to low levels of and poorly coordinated system-level resource optimization and innovation. Systemic development of CLT-based construction necessitates collaboration across industries. Although collaboration among specialized contractors and suppliers within single projects is supported by established industry practices, sustained inter-firm collaboration across multiple building projects remains under-investigated. While innovation ecosystem (IE) theory offers a promising framework for examining sustained co-innovation through shared value propositions, existing IE research in construction lacks a practice-based understanding of how organizations execute such collaboration across projects. This thesis addresses these gaps through a dual theoretical stance, combining IE theory to explain what needs to be coordinated across projects with dynamic capabilities (DC) theory to explain how firms develop and enact the necessary capabilities to do so. The thesis explores how firms in CLT-based construction collaborate to innovate and to create and capture value from innovation. The research builds on a six-year (2020-2025) longitudinal study on company networks within CLT-based construction, drawing on data from interviews, focus groups, observations and public documents, retrospectively covering events back to 2013. The findings show that the fragmented, project-based nature of construction requires IE actors to commercialize co-innovated products outside the ecosystem, making IE-specific capabilities for value capture central to competitive advantage. The shared value proposition enables co-innovation, observed in this study, as both building project-initiated and supplier-initiated processes. As products matured and the shared value proposition became established on the market, the focal firm began vertically integrating suppliers, consistent with the long product life cycles characteristic of the construction industry. The findings further describe IE coordination as a superimposed structure on conventional building project organization and activities. These superimposed mechanisms for co-innovation and value capture enable collaboration across multiple building projects through the sharing of resources and risks among IE actors. The thesis contextualizes IEs within project-based on-site construction and within industrialized house building (IHB). In doing so, it extends IE and IE life cycle theory by conceptualizing IEs as organizational structures superimposed on individual firms and temporary building project organizations. The thesis contributes to IHB theory by introducing an ecosystem perspective to industrialization and enriches construction management literature with a new perspective on network-based approaches to innovation. It also provides a methodological contribution to DC research in construction through a framework for analyzing DCs via their underlying situated practices, and to IE theory through a contextualized method for identifying ecosystems in the construction industry, as well as by testing a longitudinal process approach to analyzing temporal IE development. The managerial implications offer insights for managers in the construction industry seeking to realize the benefits of co-innovation, as well as guidance for policymakers aiming to support network-building among firms pursuing co-innovation and shared value propositions.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Luleå University of Technology, 2026
Series
Doctoral thesis / Luleå University of Technology, ISSN 1402-1544
Keywords
innovation ecosystems, dynamic capabilities, co-innovation, value capture, networks, cross-laminated timber, timber construction
National Category
Building Technologies
Research subject
Construction Management and Building Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-117149 (URN)978-91-8142-046-3 (ISBN)978-91-8142-047-0 (ISBN)
Public defence
2026-06-04, A109, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, 09:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2026-04-14 Created: 2026-04-14 Last updated: 2026-05-13Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(2733 kB)42 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 2733 kBChecksum SHA-512
b5ac8f8b30cec5df5f97ef47d0ec705985a7d7c5e520a68936309c33352b34da13b420375db0e6aeacdb1559b52e50a89b7693ba38cee4c1d5d30a9f09f08a2e
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full text

Authority records

Gull, Anna-LenaErikshammar, JarkkoStehn, Lars

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Gull, Anna-LenaErikshammar, JarkkoStehn, Lars
By organisation
Industrilized and sustainable construction
In the same journal
Frontiers in Built Environment
Construction ManagementOther Mechanical Engineering

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 16088 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf