
How corporate engagement with German Energiewende: based on the stakeholders analysis of nonmarket strategy
- 1 School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University
- 2 School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In 2010, the German government officially initiated the Energiewende as the concept underpinning its energy transition, a plan to shift from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewables towards Green Germany. At the intersection of corporate activities and public policy, this dissertation aims to analyse the roles of corporations in facilitating the German Energiewende from the lens of stakeholder theory. It begins with unpacking the German Energiewende and corporate engagement with public policy. Then in the case of Siemens, it delves deeper into its non-market strategies in promoting renewables use, lobbying activities, decarbonisation cooperation and green finance. Siemens’s non-market strategies are categorized into three roles: strategic adaptor, innovator and investor. From the lens of stakeholder theory, enterprises effectively interact with various stakeholders to jointly facilitate the formation and implementation of the German Energiewende. Overall, it examines the engagement of the private sector in public energy policies and offers insights into the broader discourse on long-term energy transition towards sustainability.
Keywords
German Energiewende, corporate engagement with public policy, stakeholder theory
[1]. Amelang, S. (2015). Energy Transition Shapes Foreign Policy in Germany and Beyond. Clean Energy Wire. https://www.cleanenergywire.org/dossiers/energiewende-and-its-implications-international-security
[2]. Ananth, V. K., Abinash, M., & Rao, L. B. (2021, July). Intelligent manufacturing in the context of industry 4.0: A case study of Siemens industry. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1969(1), 012019.
[3]. Beech, M. (2016). The Paris agreement is a historic turning point on climate change. Utility Week, 15(5 S 11).
[4]. Berlin, Germany: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). (September 2015). Making a success of the energy transition: on the road to a secure, clean, and affordable energy supply (PDF). Retrieved June 7, 2016.
[5]. Berlin, Germany: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). (December 2014). Making more out of energy: National Action Plan on Energy Efficiency (PDF). Retrieved June 7, 2016.
[6]. Brunekreeft, G., Buchmann, M., Dänekas, C., Guo, X., Mayer, C., Merkel, M., Rehtanz, C., Göring, A., Herrmann, A., Kodali, R., & Stadler, M. (2015). China’s way from conventional power grids towards smart grids. Regulatory Pathways For Smart Grid Development in China, 19-43.
[7]. Castelo Branco, M., & Lima Rodriques, L. (2007). Positioning stakeholder theory within the debate on corporate social responsibility. EJBO-Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies.
[8]. Desfosses, D. (2018). Jumping into the Future: The Transition Towards a Decentralised Energy System in Australia.
[9]. Erin Bass, A., & Grøgaard, B. (2021). The long-term energy transition: Drivers, outcomes, and the role of the multinational enterprise. Journal of International Business Studies, 52(5), 807-823.
[10]. Ersoy, S. R., Terrapon-Pfaff, J., Pregger, T., Braun, J., Jamea, E. M., Al-Salaymeh, A., Braunschweig, P., Bereschi, Z., Ciobotaru, O. T., & Viebahn, P. (2024). Industrial and infrastructural conditions for production and export of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels in the MENA region: insights from Jordan, Morocco, and Oman. Sustainability Science, 19(1), 207-222.
[11]. Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). (2010). Energy Concept: for an Environmentally Sound, Reliable and Affordable Energy Supply. Berlin. http://www.bmwi.de/English/Redaktion/Pdf/energyconcept,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi,sprache=en,rwb=true.pdf
[12]. German Federal Government. (2023). Alliance for Transformation. https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/search/alliance-for-transformation-2194412
[13]. Federal Government. (2023). Geothermal energy – a key component of the heating transition. https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/search/future-technology-geothermics-2216188
[14]. German Federal Foreign Office. (2023). German climate diplomacy. https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/themen/KlimaEnergie/climate-foreign-policy/2535028
[15]. Guidolin, M., & Guseo, R. (2016). The German energy transition: Modeling competition and substitution between nuclear power and Renewable Energy Technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 60, 1498-1504.
[16]. Hake, J-F., Wenz, L., & Tovar, G. (2015). The German Energiewende–history and status quo. Energy, 92, 532-546.
[17]. Hart, S. L., & Sharma, S. (2004). Engaging fringe stakeholders for competitive imagination. Academy of Management Perspectives, 18(1), 7-18.
[18]. International Energy Agency. (2021). Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/deebef5d-0c34-4539-9d0c-10b13d840027/NetZeroby2050-ARoadmapfortheGlobalEnergySector_CORR.pdf
[19]. Kramer, M. R., & Porter, M. (2011). Creating shared value (Vol. 17). Boston, MA, USA: FSG.Koirala, B. P., van
[20]. Oost, E., & van der Windt, H. (2018). Community energy storage: A responsible innovation towards a sustainable energy system? Applied Energy, 231, 570-585.
[21]. LobbyMap. (2023). Company Profile: Siemens. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://lobbymap.org/company/Siemens-c03250d0a463d5cd7dbeebe141e2927b
[22]. Masters, M. F., & Keim, G. D. (1985). Determinants of PAC participation among large corporations. The Journal of Politics, 47(4), 1158-1173.
[23]. Miller, C., Carroll, P., & Bell, A. (2015). OE0000222 NRECA Final Report March 2015. Prepared for U.S. DOE/NETL. Cooperative Research Network, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2017/08/f36/OE0000222_NRECA_FinalRep_2015_03_0.pdf
[24]. Millsap, R. E. (2018). The German Gamble: An Analysis of the Energiewende Policy and its Implications for Energy Security in Europe.
[25]. Morris, C., et al. (2012). Energy Transition: The German Energiewende.
[26]. Nelson, J. (2008). CSR and public policy: New forms of engagement between business and government. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative–Working Papers.
[27]. Patala, S., Gnan, L., & Witt, M. A. (2021). Multinational energy utilities in the energy transition: A configurational study of the drivers of FDI in renewables. Journal of International Business Studies, 52, 930-950.
[28]. Rishi, P. (2022). Integrating CSR with Climate Change and Sustainability. In S. A. Baltacı & D. Rehman (Eds.), Managing climate change and sustainability through behavioral transformation (pp. 105-135). Singapore: Springer Singapore.
[29]. Roe, M. J. (2003). Political determinants of corporate governance: Political context, corporate impact. Clarendon Lectures in Management.
[30]. Rohman, H. (2021). How Siemens’ Smart Grid Technology Can Help Indonesia Thrive in the Industry 4.0 Era. Siemens Blog. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://blog.siemens.com/2021/09/how-siemens-smart-grid-technology-can-help-indonesia-thrive-in-the-industry-4-0-era/
[31]. Rutten, D. (2014). The Energiewende and Germany’s Industrial Policy. Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP).
[32]. Schäfer, H. (2018). Germany: the ‘greenhorn’ in the green finance revolution. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 60(1), 18-27.
[33]. Siemens AG. (2022). 2022 Siemens Climate Change [PDF]. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:b09bb77e-1a1c-484a-8193-ede98a006175/2022-siemens-climate-change.pdf
[34]. Siemens. (2024). Financing the energy transition. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://www.siemens.com/global/en/products/financing/market-focus/financing.html
[35]. Siemens. (2024). Energy transition: Unlocking the potential of green financing. Siemens Financial Insight Center. Retrieved March 24, 2024, from https://www.siemens.com/global/en/products/financing/siemens-financial-insight-center/energy-transition-unlocking-the-potential-of-green-financing.html
[36]. Siemens. (2022). Siemens in China [pdf]. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:4fe570e5-f4fc-492b-bdfe-e7f62ae3b45d/corporate-profile-en-202203.pdf
[37]. Siemens. (2023). Sustainability in the Supply Chain: Siemens Code of Conduct for Suppliers and Third-Party Intermediaries. Retrieved from https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:5a61e2f1-d2c8-4c21-8e11-ccea7f6b8e84/CoC-Brochure-en.pdf
[38]. Siemens. (2023). Energy automation and smart grid solutions. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.siemens.com/global/en/products/energy/energy-automation-and-smart-grid.html
[39]. Siemens Energy. (2023). Innovation. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.siemens-energy.com/global/en/home/company/innovation.html
[40]. Siemens Energy. (2024). Energy Transition Actions. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://www.siemens-energy.com/global/en/home/actions.html
[41]. Siemens Energy. (2021). Sustainability Report 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.siemens-energy.com/sustainability-report-2021
[42]. Taghizadeh-Hesary, F., Li, Y., Rasoulinezhad, E., Mortha, A., Long, Y., Lan, Y., Zhang, Z., Li, N., Zhao, X., & Wang, Y. (2022). Green finance and the economic feasibility of hydrogen projects. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 47(58), 24511-24522.
[43]. Tuballa, M. L., & Abundo, M. L. (2016). A review of the development of Smart Grid technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 59, 710-725.
[44]. World Economic Forum. (2023). Country performance profiles. Retrieved March 24, 2024, from https://www.weforum.org/publications/fostering-effective-energy-transition-2023/in-full/6-country-performance-profiles/v
[45]. World Energy Council. (2012). World energy perspective: Nuclear energy one year after Fukushima.
[46]. Yaneva, M. (2015). Siemens to build EUR 100m blade factory in Morocco. SeeNews. Retrieved December 29, 2015, from https://renewablesnow.com/news/siemens-to-build-eur-100m-blade-factoryin-morocco-507214/
[47]. Zhu, X., Zhu, & Achauer. (2019). Emerging champions in the digital economy. Springer Singapore.
Cite this article
Chen,X.;Qiao,X. (2025). How corporate engagement with German Energiewende: based on the stakeholders analysis of nonmarket strategy. Journal of Applied Economics and Policy Studies,18(1),71-79.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Journal:Journal of Applied Economics and Policy Studies
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).