T RANSPORTATION S ECTOR

In the transportation sector I found significant differences between the three organizations I studied. Whereas Maersk provides several texts dealing with and legitimating a focus on innovation and DFDS also deals with innovation, the texts I analyzed from DSV did not contain any mention of innovation or innovative practices at all.

5.4.1 Maersk

Maersk‟s 2010 annual report barely mentions or deals with innovation. „Innovation‟ or

„innovative‟ is only mentioned in passing, such as “Maersk Oil has initiated a number of activities, the purpose of which is to ensure top rankings in terms of safety, operation of

57 http://www.danisco.com/about_us/innovation/our_skills_your_solution/investing_in_innovation/

mature fields, and innovation” (Maersk, 2011: 12) and a passage about investments in “new, innovative vessels” (Maersk, 2011: 13).

On Maersk‟s website, however, there is an entire section dedicated to how Maersk works with innovation. On the website‟s front page, four links are displayed at the top: „career,‟

„sustainability,‟ „about Maersk‟ and „innovation.‟ In the section called „working with innovation,‟ there are several texts explaining how and why Maersk works with innovation:

Innovation is a fundamental part of modern business. If you don‟t innovate, you stand still. And in today‟s world standing still means going backwards as others keep moving ahead. At Maersk, we have a dedicated innovation department consisting of a team of marine engineers and naval architects who work on all sorts of “outside the box” projects (Maersk website, August 2011).⁵⁸

The rationale for working with innovation is thus given here, and Maersk are thus employing rationalization in this text. The text goes on to explain that “the innovative solutions our team has come up with so far will reduce fuel consumption by some 20%.” And in a text called

„our approach to innovation‟ it is explained that “it‟s a highly focused discipline that enables us to simplify our processes, improve our results and build a better company for all concerned,” “innovation is also a critical tool for improving the service we offer our customers and for boosting efficiency” and “in fact, we see innovation as a key to improving virtually every aspect of our business” (Maersk website, August 2011).⁵⁹ In another section called „sustainable innovation,‟ a text explains that “the idea of “sustainable innovation”

involves putting innovation to work to reduce energy consumption, improve environmental performance and enhance employee safety – measures that secure our ability to keep innovating” (Maersk website, August 2011).⁶⁰ On its website, then, Maersk primarily legitimates its focus on innovation through rationalization, but one section, „case stories,‟

employs narrativization. Three such case stories are provided on Maersk‟s website: „Maersk forms joint venture to help protect marine ecosystems,‟ „Nadiro brings lifeboat safety into the 21st century‟ and „Generating power from heat instead of fuel‟ (Maersk website, August

58 http://www.maersk.com/Innovation/WorkingWithInnovation/Pages/WorkingWithInnovation.aspx

59 http://www.maersk.com/Innovation/WorkingWithInnovation/Pages/Ourapproachtoinnovation.aspx

60 http://www.maersk.com/Innovation/SustainableInnovation/Pages/SustainableInnovation.aspx

2011).⁶¹ Each case story begins with a statement of a problem that Maersk then solves. The second story, e.g., begins with “The shipping industry has seen too many lifeboat incidents over the years, and a number of them have involved fatalities.” Then some statistics on lifeboat incidents are given, before the solution is provided: “Bent Nielsen, an employee of Maersk Drilling and Maersk FPSOs, started thinking about the problem and came up with an idea for a new design, which he proposed and developed in conjunction with our innovation department.” Finally, a happy ending: “We‟re convinced that Nadiro will improve safety, reduce risk of accidents and, ultimately, save more lives” (Maersk website, August 2011).⁶² These case stories are thus narratives where Maersk is portrayed the hero. Maersk is thus legitimating its focus on innovation by portraying itself as winners or heroes in narratives where the company, through innovation, e.g. saves lives. In sum, then, Maersk is primarily rationalizing their focus on innovation, backed up by narratives legitimating its focus on innovation through narrativization. I found five rationalizations and three narrativizations.

5.4.2 DSV

DSV‟s 2010 annual report makes no single mention of the word „innovation‟ and has no references to „innovative‟ practices. The report deals a lot with market growth and global expansion, and it explains that DSV wants to continue this growth “through customer focus, asset-light business model, IT systems and organization” (DSV, 2011: 8). Innovation does therefore not seem like a focus area for DSV. This is also the case on the company website where no texts deal with innovation. In a text named „our future,‟ it is stated that “DSV is constantly changing, pursuing a strategy of expanding its position among the leading and most profitable transport businesses in Europe.” It is further explained that the future growth of DSV “should be created through organic growth, acquisitions and mergers” and that DSV‟s focus areas are to “extend customer relationships, strengthen international position, engage best partners and vendors, organizational growth, expand network worldwide, operate with global IT and logistics technologies” (DSV website, August 2011).⁶³ DSV, it seems, does therefore not believe innovation to be necessary for future expansion and growth, but focuses instead on e.g. customer focus and IT systems.

61 http://www.maersk.com/Innovation/WorkingWithInnovation/Pages/CaseStories.aspx

62 http://www.maersk.com/Innovation/WorkingWithInnovation/Pages/CaseStories.aspx?SSItemId=2

63 http://dsv.com/index.html

5.4.3 DFDS

DFDS‟s 2010 Annual Report, on the other hand, does mention innovation. In the first section, a foreword by the chairman and the CEO, a section called „innovative operations‟ states that

“creating value for customers in highly competitive markets requires a business model which offers innovative services and solutions” and “we will therefore continue to demonstrate to the world that DFDS is a modern, responsible and innovative workplace” (DFDS, 2011: 5).

These are thus cases of rationalization, as innovation is supposed to „create value for customers.‟ In the next section called „vision, strategy and goals‟ it is explained that “the people of DFDS continue to deliver efficient and innovative transportation services for our customers as they have done since 1866” (DFDS, 2011: 6). This is thus retrospective normalization as innovation is being normalized by referring to similar practices in the past, as well as rationalization (for our customers). In the section „management report‟ it is argued that “… DFDS‟ ability to meet the growing needs of freight customers … require broad market coverage, innovative customer concepts and efficient information systems” (DFDS, 2011: 12). Here, again, innovation is being rationalized as the purpose, to meet the needs of freight customers, is provided.

On DFDS‟ website only one text deals with innovation: a text about DFDS‟ policies and strategy. The text, however, is almost similar to the normalization in the annual report: “the people in DFDS continue to deliver efficient and innovative transportation services for our customers as they have done since 1866” (DFDS website, August 2011).⁶⁴ This is almost the same retrospective normalization of innovation as is found in the annual report in the section

„vision, strategy and goals‟ (DFDS, 2011: 6). In sum, then, DFDS both rationalizes and normalizes its focus on innovation, but DFDS does not mention or explain innovative practices to the same extent as Maersk do. In sum, I found four texts legitimating innovation through rationalization, and two texts legitimating it through normalization.

Taking the transportation sector together, it is obvious that the three organizations I have analyzed have reacted quite differently to the societal discourse on innovation. Maersk deals quite a bit with innovation, with rationalization and to a lesser extent narrativization as its legitimation strategies. DFDS also acknowledges the need for innovation, but legitimates its focus on innovation primarily through rationalization and some retrospective normalization.

64 http://www.dfdsgroup.com/policies/strategy/strategy

Finally, the texts I analyzed from DSV contained no mentions of the word „innovation‟ or any references to innovative practices or projects. It can thus be concluded from my data that these three organizations have responded very differently to the discourse in our society about innovation as a necessity to stay competitive and survive. The results are:

Table 5:

Transportation Sector Maersk DSV DFDS

Rationalization 5 0 4

Normalization 0 0 2

Authorization 0 0 0

Narrativization 3 0 0