EME 805
Renewable Energy and Non-Market Enterprise

2. Background and Rationale

PrintPrint

2. Background and Rationale

I. Defining the market(s) with which the nonmarket strategies will interact.

  1. What are the fundamental features of the market(s) you plan to engage?
    • What is being traded? (This can be a rather complex question. You may need to define various submarkets.)
    • How are things done? (What are the market norms, regulations, expectations, etc.)
    • How is the economic value of the offer determined? (What is the price and how is it set?)
  2. What aspects of the market are standardized (organization by standards) and which are determined by reputation and/or status (organization by status)?
  3. Identify existing market imperfections that may have hindered current adoption, and explain why market pricing alone may not be the main point of contention. Market pricing might be difficult to get right because of various political and social conditions, or due to market imperfections, such as:
    • What are the primary issues that do not seem to behave according to a 'straightforward' rationality?
    • Poor price elasticity (buys don't respond to increases in price as much);
    • Market or institutional gaps (buyers want energy savings in the long term, while builders want to reduce costs on the front end);
    • Lack of credibility or predictability in price signals (long term investments for companies to innovate or develop in a new area may be too uncertain);
    • Existing policies that block reasonable/rational implementation of new markets;
    • Poor coordination and lack of knowledge of externalities (various parts of a broader system necessary to support undertaking are not talking to each other);
    • Inertia and biases exist such that it may be difficult to shift behavior, even if the efficiency gains are known;
    • Financing instruments lacking to support initial adoptions.

II. Defining nonmarket conditions for the target campaign.

  1. Campaign Boundaries
    • What is the issue to be addressed? What are the issue(s) the target will address/solve?
    • Who are the actors? (This is different from a stakeholder analysis, but is similar in analyzing those who have influence over outcomes.)
  2. Campaign Contexts
    • What are the actors' interests in the issue? (Why are they motivated at all?)
    • In what arenas do the actors meet? (This can be a cooperative and/or competitive arena.)
  3. Campaign Resources
    • What information moves the issue and speaks to interests?
    • What assets do actors need to prevail in this arena?