State-Owned Enterprise in Sweden Year 2080: Four Governance Prototypes : Creating Transformative Space with Transdisciplinary Climate Fiction Prototyping

Abstract: This study explores the potential of transdisciplinary climate fiction prototyping to create a transformative space within state-owned enterprise governance. The approach includes a thematic analysis of governance documents within the portfolio, scenario development, narrative design, participatory sessions with the department of state-owned enterprise, related ministries, and company representatives. The narrative design climate fiction, henceforth Cli-Fi, is used to highlight complexity and create an affectual relationship with the future. The main finding is uncovering a systemic closure constituted by risk aversion that locks in transformative potential of state-owned enterprise governance. The four Cli-Fi prototypes are thus built on narratives driven by different risk behavior that hinder or enable change for sustainability, and are called The Dutiful Widower, The Future Proofers, Winning Vincent, and The Untrusted Trustee. The study concludes that transdisciplinary Cli-Fi prototyping can, and perhaps should, be leveraged to create transformative spaces within organizations and to identify closures and openings for sustainable development.