The change from mere product supply to customer solutions, integrated and customized offerings (including e.g. products, software and services), has been argued to be a route to success in the 21st century. However, current literature offers little support for leaders who must manage the customer solutions business’ need for bridging the diverging business logics of products and consulting. The thesis addresses this organizational challenge and aims for an understanding of the phenomenon corporate consulting, consulting businesses in product-based organizations. More specifically, the author investigates whether, and if so how, corporate consulting can be a general way of providing customer solutions. The author was formerly a marketing director of just such a corporate consultancy, and has remained a part-time employee throughout the research project. An in-depth study from within the organization enabled the collection of a rich set of longitudinal empirical data through self-ethnography and insider action research. It also led to a marked emphasis on aspects relevant to both academy and industry. A subsequent broader study into other corporate consultancies helped to generalize the findings further. The thesis investigates corporate consulting using two levels of analysis. The subsequent findings indicate firstly that, within the consulting unit, the simultaneous existence of consulting logic and product logic can lead to dual organizational identities (a consultant- and a staff identity) in corporate consultancies. The importance of managing these identities through conscious rhetoric is emphasized. Secondly, on an overall company level, the relation between the product business and the consulting business is in focus. The main conclusion here is that, despite a consulting unit’s responsibility for customized offerings, customer-orientation cannot be delegated to corporate consultancies in order to enable the traditional product business to carry on with “business as usual.” In a customer solutions business, top management must, instead, infuse a general customer-orientation into the whole organization, and the corporate consultancy must be handled as an integral part, rather than a mere extension for customization. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2003</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Iunis Citrangulo de Paula.pdf: 1128127 bytes, checksum: e68440296bb2124e7bfb68ede484ef39 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-11 / In the current economy, with both the information speed and the hypercompetition among the companies, it is necessary to analyze and understand new strategic alternatives to place organizations into this new environment. The traditional trade-off cost vs. differentiation diffused by Porter (1986) needs to be reevaluated to fit to this new market reality and taking into consideration the complexity of some new emerging strategic deals. This dissertation addresses theories about the competitive strategy based on a case study of Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN). This strategic analysis is made based on Porter s (1986) model and using the Delta Model proposed by Hax & Wild II (2001), applied as an alternative to the Porter s one. From a review of the literature over both models and also from the CSN s case analysis, this study presents the possibility to excel on Porter s trade-off in the strategic formulation, going deeper in the actions, combining costs vs. differentiation, taken by the Company. Based on the identification and consideration of the decisions made by the top management of the company, which lead CSN to present competitive advantage and, during these last years of privatization, has been enabling economic returns over the competitors and the interest of many investors. This dissertation discuss the consistence and effectiveness on Porter s (1986) generic competitive strategy proposal, and that it is possible to go further on the proposed trade off and think about combined strategies / Na atual economia, a velocidade das informações e hiper-competição entre empresas, torna-se necessário analisar e compreender novas alternativas estratégicas para posicionar as organizações diante deste novo cenário. O tradicional trade off custos versus diferenciação difundido por Michael E. Porter (1986) precisa ser reavaliado para esta nova realidade de mercado e da complexidade de alguns dos novos arranjos estratégicos emergentes. Esta dissertação discute teorias sobre estratégia competitiva a partir de um estudo de caso na Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN). Esta análise estratégica é feita a partir do modelo de Porter (1986) e utilizando o Modelo Delta proposto por Hax & Wilde II (2001), aplicado como alternativa ao modelo porteriano. Este estudo fará uma revisão da literatura sobre ambos os modelos e da análise do caso da CSN, apresentando a possibilidade de superação do trade-off porteriano na formulação estratégica ao se aprofundar no detalhamento das ações que combinam custos versus diferenciação tomadas pela Empresa. Estará identificando e refletindo sobre as ações e mudanças tomadas pela alta administração da empresa que levaram a CSN a apresentar vantagem competitiva, que nestes últimos anos após privatização da empresa tem proporcionado retornos econômicos acima da concorrência e o desejo de muitos investidores. Esta dissertação discute a consistência e validade na proposta de estratégias competitivas genéricas de Porter (1986), e que é possível ir além do trade off proposto e pensar em estratégias combinadas