Patterns of market dynamics (PhD program).

Incumbent responses to market change.
Gianluca Chimenti’s PhD project focuses on the dynamic effects of market change in the context of the sharing economy. This phenomenon is of particular interest since it concerns how alternative market forms are challenging established market conceptions. Empirically, the project focuses on emerging shared mobility platforms (ride sharing, car sharing, etc.) and follows their attempts to reconfigure extant market orders within the Swedish transportation sector. This includes, but is not limited to, the examination of conceptual controversies concerning what “the sharing economy” is, the changing roles of public actors, and incumbent car manufacturers’ re-invention of business models in response to increased interest in shared mobility. A first article based on the project is currently being revised for Consumption Markets & Culture.

For further information, please contact Gianluca.Chimenti@phdstudent.hhs.se

Inter-field interactions and markets.
Albin Skog’s PhD project deals with questions of disruption and innovation in markets and their relation to the specific structure of the markets and the dispositions of the agents active in those markets. In a time when many markets are disrupted by (seemingly) new agents and ideas, Albin connects his work to recent discussions within organizational theory that have suggested that understanding what happens when actors or practices cross over from one section of social life to another is paramount in understanding social change. These phenomena, which can be called inter-field interactions, is the focus of his dissertation work. Building on neo-institutional theory Albin mobilizes a Bourdieu-inspired framework to address problems and generate new theory that adds to existing knowledge on disruption and innovation in markets, as well as on social change at large.

For further information, please contact Albin.Skog@hhs.se

Market governance and spatiality - A study of art market dynamics.
Jessica Backsell’s PhD project focuses on governance structures and power relations within markets. More specifically it explores how governance ambitions are expressed and realized through market boundaries with a special focus on the art market, including phenomena such as freeports and art market indices. Theoretically, the project draws on the work of post-structural philosophers including Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben to conceptualize how spatial arrangements arise as a result of boundary deconstruction due to global trade and movements. In addition, it also explores contemporary discussions on performativity and the interrelation between conceptual and material aspects of markets and how these contribute to shape markets.

For further information, please contact Jessicainez.Backsell@phdstudent.hhs.se

The market consequences of deregulation.
Fairouz Hussien’s PhD project on dynamic market processes focuses on the effects of deregulation of the US domestic air travel market in 1978. When the Airline Deregulation Act was adopted in 1978, it was the first major market liberalization in modern times with both international and cross-industrial impact. The research project peruses historical archives for data collection, alongside interviews with industry experts. The aim of the project is to describe the liberalization process and its long-term consequences in the air travel market, looking into the changes that the market dynamics and boundaries have gone through since the implementation of the Deregulation Act, as well as the networks and power dynamics behind its development and implementation.

For further information, please contact Fairouz.Hussien@phdstudent.hhs.se