Adaptation strategies in energy sector enterprises


 Background

Energy companies face challenges arising from the ecological, social and legal environment. The reduction of negative impact on the environment and society while maintaining sustainable development affects the formation of new development strategies. Adaptation strategy to external requirements is the subject of completed research.
Methods

As a new approach to carrying out strategic analysis, two models were used simultaneously (inductive and hypothetical-deductive) which allows for realization qualitative (interviews, observations) and quantitative (statistical analysis) research methods generally called multimode methods. That is why induction and hypothetical-deductive models were used in the study to correctly formulate generalizations and put forward appropriate hypotheses. The study was conducted on the basis of enterprises from the energy sector, and the adaptation strategy was presented as a new approach in the energy sector, moving out or proposing the theory of active and passive adaptation. The study analyzed the relationship between the macro environment (political, legal, social, technological) and the implemented adaptation strategy in energy enterprises.
Results

The results of the conducted surveys show the impact of macroenironmental elements on strategic decisions. Power companies quite highly assess the impact of the national and EU legal and political environment on the actions taken. There is also association in the decision process concerning the frequency of market analysis in the group of enterprises.
Conclusion

The issue of adapting the enterprise to the environment is concerning its involvement in the field of research and development (R + D). Depending on the size of the company, there is a difference in the number of companies carrying out research on their own side or by outsourcing. Regulations and the technological environment force innovations of energy companies in the direction of reducing harmful impact on the environment and society. Legal and political factors (both national and EU) determine the activities of power companies (in each group: small, medium and large) and determine the choice of adaptation strategies. The intensity of adaptation to the requirements of the environment changes depends on the size of the company. Power companies apply passive adaptation strategies and as they increase their position on the market, they begin to implement an active adaptation strategy.


Introduction
Basically, all people are dealing with the energy sector as the end consumers of energy. The whole sector can be considered as a system consisting of individual services as follow: transmission service, distribution service, sales service. In the energy sector, all mentioned services are outsourced from the main core of the energy business (Uriona-Maldonado et al. ) The key issue for the nal customer is the continuity of supplies and acceptable energy costs. The energy and social aspects meet at the point of building responsible strategies in energy companies. However, this is in uenced by the strategies of individual energy companies and this aspect is the main core of this realized research. Over the past decade, due to the growing dynamics in task-oriented environments of enterprises, strategy of adaptation has become a central topic for management and strategy building. The situation of enterprises operating in a turbulent and uncertain environment is constantly changing (Borowski 2015), for example very changeable oil market with their crises and unpredictable prices (Wellum 2020). According to the latest forecasts, the level of uncertainty in the business environment will increase in the coming years (Eoyang & Holladay 2013;Conteh et al., 2014). Uncertainty in organization is to face it in the choice of appropriate strategies (Samsami et al. 2015). Due to those changes managers or chiefs executive must anticipate, articulate and manage change. Technical innovations were important for the development of societies in the past, but they are currently playing a key role and this will increase in the coming years, including the energy sector, clean technologies, and reducing negative impacts on society (Thrän 2018). The creation of countries well-being and their dynamic sustainable development depends on the competitiveness of their rms and this, in turn, relies fundamentally on the capabilities of their entrepreneurs and managers. ). In enterprises in the energy sector, the reduction of harmful emissions in the conditions of power installations is an important element of the actions taken. In the enterprises of energy sector we can observe the signi cant role of managers, but also adaptability and exibility are the important issue, because the choice of the right strategy guarantees energy security and, as a consequence, the security of the economic development of the entire country (Bahrami, Evans 2014). In the literature there is a lack of research concerning energy sector combined with adaptation strategy, therefore this paper joins empirical ndings with theoretical interpretation in order to ful l this theoretical gap. The novelty of the topic discussed in this manuscript is to combine adaptation strategies with macro-environment factors affecting the undertaking of energy managers. In the sector of energy enterprises this is an important, pivotal issue, because the choice of the right strategy guarantees energy security and, as a consequence, the security of the economic development of the entire country. Not only on the production side but above all on the consumer side, energy is a key factor for the safe functioning of the economy, e.g. of the food industry enterprises (Wojdalski et al. 2013). In industrialized countries, the key to economic growth and expansion is their power sectors' proper performance. Countries with higher GDP invest more in renewable energy, and this type of energy production and consumption is more widely used and more popular (Ntanos et al. 2018; Bickel 2019) and policymakers should support and encourage in order to invest and use of renewable energy in the future (Jones 2015, Jenkins 2015. it also involves adjusting the variable supply of energy from renewable sources (solar, wind) to the reported demand ( The indispensability of electricity in all economic processes and consumption makes it a public good and the rationalization of the costs of its production, proper supply level and meeting demand as well as physical delivery conditions is a strategic challenge for the economy of each country that translates into appropriate management of electric utilities (Appiah-Adu, Bawumia 2016; Borowski 2016).
In order to learn the directions of development of energy enterprises (1) research questions were formulated and empirical research (observations and deep interview) was carried out, which allowed veri cation of research questions and generalization (induction method) and (2) critical theoretical analysis was carried out to con rm or eliminate the hypotheses (method hypothetical deductive).

Material And Methods
In management sciences, research can be conducted using methods and techniques that are presented in However, for several years in management sciences and broadly understood social sciences, mixed methods were adopted, accepted and used. It is assumed that the use of a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods provides the possibility of greater exibility in undertaking research, generating better supported arguments based on research data and greater importance for a wider range of stakeholders. In the mixed methods approach, it is expected that the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will eliminate the errors of individual methods and complement the results obtained

Qualitative research method
The continuous increase of interest in the world of science in qualitative research in the eld of management sciences, which is clearly observed in recent decades, con rms the growing importance of qualitative research in relation to issues related to organizational and management matters and also in energy sector (Najda-Janoszka, Daba-Buzoianu 2018). observation, analysis of texts and documents, interview (surveys), recording and transcription. These methods do not occur in isolation from each other, on the contrary they are often combined as e.g. observation with an interview triangulation (Mroczko 2014;Shank 2002). Nowadays, very often survey interviews take place via the Internet (Keusch 2015). The induction model is based on the assumption that the more diverse cases con rm a given hypothesis, the more likely it is and we can trust it to some extent, sometimes even to the extent that it becomes the law of science, although there is often a discussion about the role of induction in qualitative research (Lawson 2005; Bendasolli 2013). The probability of correct inference obtained by induction will be the greater, the more objects are examined and it is found that they all have the same characteristic, and the more diverse these objects will be, and the more different the conditions in which they were made differ. observation. In other words, it can be said that the more con rmed individual sentences about facts, observational sentences, the more their generalization, theoretical sentence, i.e. the hypothesis is credible. Any inductive reasoning begins with judgments about empirical data and ends with a judgment that goes beyond that data. A judgment that goes beyond empirical data is either a hypothesis regarding future events based on a series of repetitive data, or a generalization regarding such a series of data.

Quantity research method
However, in quantitative research for which the main characteristic element are hypothetical-deductive models, theoretical foundations are rst identi ed (Hyde 2000). The theoretical foundations are built on the basis of a literature review and its critical analysis to determine the conceptual framework of the study by de ning the concepts precisely. The hypothetical-deductive method, also known as the empirical science method, is an empirical research instrument. Using this method, theorems are obtained only to some extent likely because they are only to some extent con rmed by the facts and events collected. The hypothetical-deductive method consists in deriving logical consequences from the assumptions made and hypotheses. The conclusion follows from the premises under some logical law (scheme). The direction of inference -from the premise to the conclusion -coincides with the direction of the result (from reason to succession and thus the premises are right, and the conclusion -a consequence in deductive reasoning). The deductive system can be considered as a set consisting of sentences taken without proof (axioms), and sentences adopted on the basis of evidence whose premises are either primary statements or their consequences. Hypothetical-deductive methods are based on two assumptions: (1) all statements in science are hypothetical and revocable, and (2) the purpose of scienti c proceedings is to eliminate false hypotheses (Dźwigoł, Dźwigoł-Barosz 2018). Using the quantitative approach, the qualitative approach is re ned and thus becomes more objective. The quantitative approach in management sciences is based on statistics. The scheme of idea of hypothetical-deductive model is shown at the 3.3 Text analysis as secondary research (desk research) -was based on English and Polish literature as well as reports and articles published in specialist press. As part of desk research, content analysis, analysis of existing statistical data and historical and comparative analysis were carried out. An analysis of the data contained in the annual reports of energy enterprises was carried out, as well as an analysis of data coming from other literature items and specialist magazines

Primary research (empirical research -interview)
Interviews were realized in the group of managers and directors of the energy companies. During interviews it was possible to obtain information thanks to which it was easier and better to understand the analyzed phenomena. Interviews have brought out knowledge and opinion on adaptability. Main questions about the company's development and strategy were asked during the interview.
What is your vision for the company? What changes, if any, would you make to the strategic direction?
What do you see as the key macrotrends (macro environments), regulatory changes, and industry structures across the businesses in the energy sector?
What changes, if any, would you make to the strategy and board processes?
Would you make any changes to the key corporate processes, such as adaptation to the market, budgeting, planning, risk reviews, or business reviews? Why?

Observations
Observations consisted of making systematic insights in a planned and intentional manner. Observations allowed to notice and record unexpected events. The observation on the group of energy enterprises was a precisely planned activity, they had a clearly de ned goal and structure of proceedings, thanks to which they were not accidental. Thanks to this approach, distortion in the observation process could be avoided. The information collected during observation helped to nd answers to speci c research questions previously asked. The observations made allowed to analyze detailed solutions used by speci c enterprises. The essence of the observation method was to qualitatively capture the causes, course and effects of speci c phenomena and decisions made.

Generalizations
On the basis of conducted interviews and observations, generalizations were formulated. The synthesis carried out in the phenomena and processes under investigation allowed to present the leading functions of the proposed solution in a new approach. Enterprises adapt their activities to the requirements of the environment. Depending on the size of the enterprise, they follow different ways to adapt to the environment. Elements of the environment in uence decisions in different ways. Managers are looking for new, innovative solutions and bear the costs associated with the R&D sphere.
The observations were carried out based on the PESTEL analysis, which allowed the grouping of individual components associated with adapting to the requirements of the environment and was the basis for observation. The experimental simpli ed inductive research model was adopted in the paper, which allowed to visualize the variables under examination and to show their interdependence. The relationships that arose between individual variables formed the basis for formulating generalizations. Independent variables were separated and then a static model was built. The static model, taking into account the impact of individual independent variables on dependent variables, is presented in Fig. 4.
Dependent variables in the research model were the result and changed depending on the impact of independent variables. Independent variables in the study were subject to actions and changes to determine their impact on dependent variables. The research model used in this study, describing the functioning of enterprises on the electricity market, is presented in Fig. 4.
Analytical induction generated a set of hypotheses that are relationships between concepts and treated as a set of hypotheses subject to constant veri cation.

Formulating a hypothesis
The research assumed the hypothesis that energy companies adapt to the environment (passive adaptation) and, depending on the size of the company, they start cooperation with the environment (active adaptation). Energy companies that adapt their activities to the environment in a passive manner they apply the approach called passive reactive adaptation (conservative). Energy companies that have entered the path of active adaptation begin cooperation with market regulating institutions, implement innovative solutions in advance, anticipate upcoming market events or shape them and become active players. This approach can be described as active -anticipative adaptation (innovative).

Elements of the environment
To perform the above analysis of energy companies against the background of the environment, the best suited -due to its simplicity and universal nature -PESTEL analysis (P -Political, E -Economic, S -Social, T -Technological, E -Environmental, L -Legal). Individual elements are independent variables. The PESTEL analysis consists in examining and sometimes forecasting the segments of the organization's environment: political environment (P), economic and demographic environment (E), social environment (S), technological environment (T), environmental environment (E) and legal environment (L). The essence of this tool is to de ne the basic spheres of the environment, i.e. those areas that can have a key impact on the functioning of the enterprise and its future strategy. The purpose of PESTEL analysis is to determine the factors that most strongly affect the activities of a given enterprise or group of organizations. The PESTEL analysis has a wide set of tools to assess the competitiveness of regions, industries, and individual organizations (Yüksel 2012; Song 2017; Borowski 2019). These are three groups of tools: tools for analyzing the environment of the enterprise (sector) and its impact on the situation of the examined entity, tools examining the competitiveness of a given entity and tools for strategic positioning, i.e. showing the examined object against the background of external conditions.
The PESTEL analysis for the energy sector lists individual components that signi cantly constitute the elements of a given environment and have an impact on dependent variables. The matrix of PESTEL elements is shown at the Table 1.

System approach to adaptability
System approach in management sciences means joint management of related processes, which should contribute to increasing the e ciency and effectiveness of the enterprise in achieving its goals (Jackson 2007). In particular, the detailed requirements in the system approach to enterprise management relate to: de ning the system through processes and their goals, detailing the goals in such a way as to achieve them in an effective manner, improving the system through research and monitoring, and testing the availability of resources. The system can therefore be de ned as a set of related elements functioning as a whole. The system is a separate part of reality for which you can specify the entry and exit limits and internal processing processes. The system should perform adaptive, transformation and development functions (Kunc 2017). The main tasks of the organization management system include identifying the causes of non-compliance in processes and preventing disruptions and errors in the functioning of individual areas of activity. Such a broadly de ned system includes both processes directly related to monitoring and improvement, as well as those having a direct impact on the effects of the organization.
Depending on the particular change under consideration, a single system can be both exible and adaptive. An example of a system with a high degree of adaptation are people who constantly use their psychomotor, intellectual and sensory / perceptual abilities to change themselves (Ross, Rhodes, & Hastings 2008).
Adaptation in the systemic approach can be presented as a dynamic model with feedback, where legal regulations and various elements of the political and legal environment constitute a "control device", while the enterprise is a "control object" which may be affected by various interfering signals in the form of variable macro environment. The scheme of adaptation with feedback is presented at the Fig. 5.
There are a set of factors that limit or slow down changes in an organization. Enterprises experience a signi cant impact of various internal factors, e.g. rules governing the functioning of the organization and the impact of environmental factors, e.g. the legislative process or the organization's activities in the to a new con guration, which requires another structure. Therefore, inertia has a clear advantage in situations where the environment is very uncertain, characterized by rapid changes and these changes are dramatic. Companies sometimes delay the adoption of rules set by powerful entities such as the state and other rule-setting organizations, despite the risk of slow adoption or non-compliance. As a broader contribution, we hope that this work draws attention to the company's various responses to coercion rules, a part of institutional theory that has been neglected, although it provides signi cant implications for the strategic choices of companies when adapting to their environment (Zhang, Greve2018). In Polish science, Garbara was a pioneer in thinking about adaptation, then called the adaptation process. He also distinguished active or passive adaptation of the organization to the environment (Garbara 1969). The importance of adaptation for enterprise development has also evolved over the last several years (Chakravarthy 1982). At the beginning, the concept of adaptation was formulated as continuous, dynamic adaptation to a changing, uncertain environment as well as proper and proper management of internal interdependencies [Miles Snow 1978]. Then, Ogunmokun and Li (1999) found that full adaptation is very rare in strategic management of an enterprise. Companies very often adapt and modify only selected fragments of their business activities (Ogunmokun & Li 1999 Davis 2007). The beginning of the 21st century is a look at adaptation strategies as a factor that mobilizes an enterprise to be active in the new reality. Adaptations began to be perceived as an opportunity to use the opportunities emerging on the market and strive to gain a competitive advantage -at this point one can see the beginning of the view on adaptation as an active, anticipatory strategy. For enterprises seeking opportunities to operate on the market in a new reality and trying to take advantage of various opportunities, adaptability may become a factor of competitive advantage. In the energy sector, one example of a new reality could be action in eenergy (Satapathy 2014). The ability to adapt and the dynamics of adaptive changes that are implemented by decision makers in the enterprise shows their managerial abilities. Managers should implement the strategy to cooperate with the changing market in an effective and successful manner. In order to succeed, they should understand how changes within the organization affect its functioning and then make changes that will allow the company to

Findings
The results of the conducted surveys show that in most enterprises, both micro, small and large, the impact of legislative and political elements of Poland and the EU on strategic decisions is considerably taken into account.
At the Fig. 6 we can see the elements of the environment which play pivotal role and less important role in the decision making process.
Legal, political and international environment has in uence on decision making process and companies take under consideration those environments. From the Fig. 7 we can observe that intensity of in uence depends on company size. Figure 7 shows that power companies quite highly assess the impact of the national and EU legal and political environment on the actions taken -grades were given from 3 to 5.
Market research is a set of analyzes aimed at learning about market phenomena, factors and processes (including their genesis, current state and development trends -opportunities and threats) on the basis of which companies can formulate the most favorable current and planning decisions and build a development strategy. Market research concerns market analysis. Their goal is to learn about the situation on the market and to determine the company's share in this market and achieve knowledge about competitors. Frequency and regularity in carrying out market research regarding changes, the appearance of various occasions or the behavior of competitors are one of the conditions for rapid response and proper operation of enterprises. A quick response to emerging opportunities and threats gives the company the chance to adopt its strategy to market requirements. Due to the frequency and repeatability of market research, we can divide into two main types: continuous and periodic research.
Continuous tests are conducted on a given sample continuously for some time. Periodic examinations are carried out on a given sample every certain time in advance. In this way we can determine the degree of response to a given factor. Of the large number of energy enterprises belonging to the group of micro and small enterprises, market observations and surveys are carried out once a year (periodic research), although there is also a large group of micro enterprises which regularly monitors the market -every day and this can be considered as continuous research. There is also a group of small companies which observe the market once a week. However, large companies regularly carry out market observations once a month (Borowski 2019). Another issue related to conducting market research and observing it is the issue of nancial expenditure allocated for this purpose. After analyzing the problem, it is possible to observe differences in the frequency depending on the size of the enterprise. Large companies plan market research budgets for the next year in advance, while small enterprises make decisions depending on the availability of free funds. A small company is not able to carry out professional large market research alone because it is now a vast and highly specialized eld of knowledge, and even large companies that once had their own research departments are now also outsourcing. At most, a small company can carry out a preliminary market investigation. This point of view regarding the nancing of market research is an extension of previous research from 2019. The issue of market research and its nancing in a group of companies is shown in Fig. 8 In the group of enterprises surveyed, the nancing of market research is twice as high in large companies as in micro and medium companies, which is undoubtedly due to the high costs of the market research. Example of Expected value calculation for size (micro, small) and frequency (every day,…, less) is shown in the Table 2, while results of expected value is shown in the Table 3.  Once a year where c -column; r -row. The theoretical χ 2 distribution depending on alpha level of signi cance and degree of freedom is shown in the Table 4. In our case empirical χ 2 emp = 56,32 and is higher than theoretical χ 2 theor = 9,48, so null hypothesis was rejected. There is association in the decision process concerning the frequency of market analysis in the group micro and small enterprises.
As mentioned in the article, the chi square test informs about the existence of dependence, while the test itself does not tell us about the strength of the relationship. In order to check whether the correlation is strong or weak, a contingency factor was used. In the case of multi-divisive tables that appear in our research, the V-Cramer coe cient was used. One nal χ2 chi square based measure of association that can be used is Cramer's V. Once the χ2 chi square value has been calculated, the determination of V is relatively straightforward. This measure is de ned as contingency coe cient We can conclude that there is quite strong relationship between our variables.
Another important issue was the perception of adaptation by energy companies. The adaptation strategy is an important way of developing enterprises; however the level of perception of the signi cance of adaptation strategies depends on the size of the enterprise. The issue of adapting the enterprise to the environment is also concerning its involvement in the eld of research and development (R + D). "Research and development" actions of the companies can rely on internal or external activities.
Depending on the size of the company, there is a difference in the number of companies carrying out research on their own or by outsourcing. The research results are shown in Fig. 9.
Research results on the importance of adaptation are presented in Fig. 9 and it follows that all enterprises recognize the important role of adaptation. As the size of the enterprise changes, the approach to the importance of adaptation strategies in company development changes. For large enterprises, the adaptation strategy plays an important and crucial role, while in the group of micro-enterprises over 60% recognize the importance of adaptation.
In order to indicate the relations between size of the company and their macro and microenvironment as well as internal, external activities R + D (expanding research from 2019), the Pearson Correlation was calculated. Pearson Correlation was used in the statistical analysis of variables. The Pearson Correlation is a measure of the linear correlation between two variables x and y. Variable x in or case is the size of the company and variable y is the in uence of macro-and micro-environmental factors. A value of coe cient is between 1 and − 1, where 1 is completely positive linear correlation, 0 is no linear correlation, and − 1 is completely negative linear correlation. The Pearson Correlation Coe cient (PCC) was calculated using the following equation: where r is the correlation coe cient of x and y, denotes the mean of x, and denotes the mean of y.
The coe cient r xy ranges from − 1 to 1, and it is invariant to linear transformations of either variable.
The coe cient of Pearson correlation for 3 groups of enterprises and elements of macroenvironment are shown at the Table 5.

Adaptation In The Power Sector -Final Research Results And Conclusions
Adaptation is one of the strategies used by the company. Enterprises are implementing an adaptation strategy, which, depending on the pace and type of changes, can be considered as a four-eld matrix.
This approach distinguishes four substrategies of adaptation as a function of organizational change: tuning, rebuilding, re-orientation and restoration. Reorientation can be seen as anticipatory changes -in this type of substrategy, changes are planned on the basis of upcoming events anticipated by the company, to which it can actively prepare and anticipate. However, the other substrategies can be classi ed as reactive. These are changes introduced as a response to unforeseen events to which the company is passively adapting. In addition, depending on the pace of changes, we can distinguish gradual (incremental) changes that are designed to keep the company on the chosen course and strategic (long-term) changes that allow for a total change in the structure or direction of the company's development. These four-eld matrix is shown in the table 6. Tuning is a popular least intensive and least risky organizational change. Preventive maintenance as continuous improvement and improvement.
Rebuilding, like tuning, includes gradual changes. But here changes are a response to external events, problems and pressures.
Re-orientation is a forward and long-term change within a certain framework, the company is redirected, but it does not detach from its current structure, so certain frameworks are changed, but still retain their previous shape.
Recreation is the most risky and intense activity in which organizational changes are made under the in uence of strong competition.
After conducting the research, a qualitative development of the collected data was made, research statements were formulated and re ection and postulates related to the completed research were formulated. The formulation of conclusions has been clearly divided into (1) cognitive conclusions, which are scienti cally proven statements and are part of the state of the art of the current phenomenon in the science of management, and (2) utilitarian conclusions. Table 7 summarizes and collects the results of the research that can be generally divided into cognitive visions and utilitarian conclusions. The recommendations for energy companies are also included to the table 7. Table 7 Cognitive and utilitarian conclusions and recommendations cognitive conclusions

Conclusion
The adaptation strategy is used among enterprises in the regulated sector. Independent variables determine the choice of adaptation strategies.
Regulations and the technological environment enforce innovation of power companies.
Financial outlays are needed in power companies to implement new, innovative and expensive technologies Legal and political factors (both national and EU) determine the activities of power companies (in each group: small, medium and large).
Depending on the size of the company, the intensity of adaptation to the requirements of the environment changes.
Power companies apply passive adaptation strategies and as they increase their position on the market, they begin to implement an active adaptation strategy.
Energy companies regularly make the market research to recognize the environment -partners and competitors, as well as their strategy, resources and offers.
Market research depends on size of the companies (financial aspects of the research) utilitarian conclusions Electricity companies should develop the R&D sphere.
Power companies should implement innovations because they allow to follow market requirements and adopt to them.
Electrometric enterprises should implement new business models and observe market trends.
Electricity companies should go in the direction of energy integration with other industries, especially with the IT industry.
Startups have a significant role to play in increasing the innovativeness of power companies.

Recommendations
Energy companies and energy global system will need to adopt to impacts of ecology environment and related policies. Appropriate reactions and made (applied) at the right time, i.e. the ability to adapt to upcoming challenges will be crucial for energy security and reliability of energy supply Energy companies should analyze issues related to the exploration and extraction of exhaustible energy resources: coal, oil, gas and uranium and consider the potential of renewable energy resources such as hydropower, wind and sun. It is related to the development of new, innovative technologies regarding conventional and renewable energy sources

Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate -Not applicable Consent for publication -Not applicable

Availability of data and materials -Available
Competing interests -the author declare that they have no competing interests Funding -grant from Nature/Springer Authors' contributions -P.B is one author