Based on previous research readiness for strategic change has found to impact employee commitment and flexibility positively, by increasing the willingness to embrace and adapt changes faster. However, the relationship has mainly been investigated within the health care industry or from a national perspective, but lacks empirical research taking organizational culture into account. This study aims to investigate the relationship between readiness for strategic change, employee commitment and flexibility, with organizational culture as a moderating factor. The survey was conducted at an organization belonging to a multinational company including participants in four different countries. The results only showed partial support for the investigated relationship, and significant differentials between areas was also found to be present. A main finding was the major impact by organizational culture for employee commitment and flexibility at the presence of strategic changes.

<p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2003</p>

The study builds on the belief that change has become a normal state of affairs in business life, and that one highly contemporary actor – the private equity firm – has evolved to become specialized in change through repetitively changing its portfolio firms in its quest to generate value. The quest of reshaping a portfolio firm in order to optimize its strategic position, profitability, and financial structure in order to generate value has consequently been this study’s starting point. This dissertation presents how sensemaking, which is about the interplay of action and interpretation, changes over time and how it affects the strategic change of a portfolio firm. By studying and directly observing the communication and interaction between the portfolio firms’s CEO, board, and management team in real-time during a prolonged period when change occurs at a revolutionary pace, this dissertation seeks to examine the development and influence of this sensemaking. The study demonstrates how certain traits of private equity firms influence the timeline, risk profile, and governance of strategic change, how the presence of an idiosyncratic language influences the strategic change by transcending one mindset into a diametrically opposed ditto, and how the materialization of a mental iron cage affects the boundaries of the potential changes as well as adaptations and worldviews. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2012. I publikationen felaktigt: How changes in managers' sensemaking influences a strategic change</p>

There is much literature covering strategic change under different circumstances but very little concerning how companies act strategically under sudden and radical changes to market conditions. Based on three different events (the terrorist attack in the USA September 11th 2001, the Tjernobyl accident April 26th 1986 and the Islamic revolution in Iran 1979) with such radical changes as a result we chose three companies that were affected (SAS, Asea Atom and Atlas Copco). The result of the events that were studied in this thesis is extremely unusual to their character. The events themselves were sudden and of a temporary nature but the results were long term changes of market conditions. Through personal interviews the authors have tried to establish how the companies have perceived the events and how the top management has strategically handled the situation. It seems like the interpretation of the importance the event will have on the company's future has been the basis for what measures that where taken. Furthermore, the authors have, after having compared the actions of the companies with some already established theories concerning strategic change, been able to see that the existing theories cannotcompletely explain the actions of the companies and reactions under such extreme conditions. The time aspect and the resistance to change are factors that are affected by the radical changes of market conditions, since the planning of the changes takes place under a very compressed period of time, and the resistance to change that becomes unusually low within the company.

In business today efforts are being taken in order to grow, while some firms slowly grow organically others decide to perform a merger or an acquisition (M&amp;A). Firms performing M&amp;As have a high failure rate and many times this is caused by a poorly handled post-acquisition process. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have, according to researchers, not the same ambition to grow compared to large firms, and the research area concerning the post-acquisition process is often from a large firm perspective. However, SMEs do perform M&amp;As as well and therefore it is in our interest to investigate the post-acquisition process in SMEs and see how the post-acquisition process is performed in these firms. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the post-acquisition process in SMEs, this to highlight the SME characteristics in a post-acquisition process. Our methodological approach in this study is hermeneutic. To collect empirical information we performed an interview study, where semi-structured interviews with the managing director or a member of the management team in four SMEs have been conducted. A model for analyzing has been constructed, which helped us to process the empirical information from a hermeneutic perspective. The reason why the studied firms performed a M&amp;A was to get access to a new customer base and to strengthen their market positions. The focus in the post-acquisition process has been on external value creation since the customers are highly valuated, and this can be related to the uncertain financial and environmental situation that SMEs experience. All firms in the study have chosen a high level of integration, though the planning in the firms has not been that extensive as the post-acquisition literature suggests. Further, several elements within the human resource area have been neglected in their planning, despite this three of the firms experienced a limited amount of resistance to change and this ought to be related to their SME characteristics. The employees are willing to follow the direction stated by the managing director, who has a high influence on the organization’s culture. In the firms we studied the centralization of power is one important element and the acquiring firms have preferred a unicultural organization, and in most cases a congruence con-cerning culture have occurred.

Sedan 2001 har skivindustrin förlorat en tredjedel av sin totala försäljning och framtiden för musikkonsumering är näst intill dagligen debatterad i media. På ena sidan finner man förespråkare för fri nedladdning och fildelning över Internet, medan den andra sidan består av artister och skivbolag som förklarar att man inte kan klara sig utan intäkter för musiken som produceras. Ett försenat lagförslag, ämnat att träda i kraft i juli 2005, som skulle förbjuda nedladdning av otillåtet material på Internet behandlas just nu av riksdagen. Framtiden är oviss, men det råder inga tvivel om att musikindustrin just nu undergår stora förändringar. Syftet och avsikten med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur stora skivbolag i Sverige hanterar de omvärldsförändringar som skett till följd av nedladdning över Internet. Vårt fokus ligger på strategiska val, aktiviteter och organisatoriska förändingar som implementeras av ledningsgrupperna på respektive företag. Vi har använt oss av tidigare studier och teorier inom strategi och change management som en plattform för att analysera företagens aktiviteter och inställning till nedladdningsfeno-menet sedan problemet identifierades. På deras respektive huvudkontor i Stockholm intervjuade vi representanter från de tre största skivbolagen i Sverige; EMI, Universal Music och Sony BMG. Datan som samlades in baserades på de frågor vi formulerat med hänvisningar till olika delar av managementteorin som behandlar diskontinuerlig förändring. En slutsats som vi dragit är att skivbolagen reagerat för sent för att till fullo ta tillvara på möjligheterna som musikdistribution over Internet trots allt besitter. Anledningarna är många, men deras relativt statiska strukturer och det faktum att man varit fast i gamla mönster är en stor del av förklaringen. Trots att man från skivbolagens sida reagerade ganska sent på förändringen så har man nu hunnit i kapp utvecklingen avsevärt och efter att ha tagit många strategiska steg på rätt väg är man nu till en större utsträckning förberedd att möta framtida behov. Den här uppsatsen innehåller mer detaljer och specifika element av deras strategiska respons, bland annat personalbyten, tydligare omvärldsanalyser och strategiförändringar. / Since 2001 the recording industry has lost a third of its total sales and the future of music consumption is almost daily debated in media. On one side there are voices proclaiming free downloading and music sharing over the Internet and on the other side there are artists and record companies explaining that they need the revenues to survive. A currently delayed law proposal to illegalise unauthorized downloading, planned to be implemented from July 2005, is being considered by the Parliament. The future outcome is uncertain, but the music industry is currently and unquestionably experiencing big change. The purpose and intention with this thesis is to examine how major record companies in Sweden are managing the environmental change, imposed by downloading over the Internet, focusing on strategic choices, actions and organizational change implemented by subsidiary level top management. We have used previous research and theories within the area of strategy and change management as a platform for analyzing what approach these companies have to this phenomenon and also what measures have been implemented since the problem was first recognized. In Stockholm we met with representatives from the three largest record companies in Sweden; EMI Sweden, Universal Music and Sony BMG. Our data was collected from these interviews, which were based on our questions referring to different parts of the management process when experiencing big change. One conclusion we have drawn is that the reaction from the recording industry has been too slow in order to fully capitalize on the possibilities in music distribution over the Internet. The reasons for this are many, but their relatively static structure and the fact that they have been caught up in old patterns are certainly part of the explanation. However, even though the record companies were somewhat slow from the beginning, they have now caught up substantially and since many of the measures suggested by previous research have been implemented, they are now to a larger extent equipped to meet the future needs. This thesis contains more specific elements on what responses to downloading the record companies are currently working with, such as restaffing procedures, rethinking the operational environment and reshaping strategies.

This is a dissertation (consisting of two volumes) dealing with industrial marketing change processes. The study explores a key theoretical and practical problem in industrial marketing; how to create major organizational marketing change in large and complex industrial companies. The study focuses on the interplay between longitudinal, strategic changes in marketing operations and the moving contexts in which they emerge. On theoretical and empirical grounds a number of perspectives on industrial marketing change processes become apparent. In the analysis of a set of focal marketing change episodes, several structural-contextual and temporal focuses are featured. Marketing change episodes are viewed as embedded in a set of concurrent change processes. They are also part of marketing system transitions, building on, while breaking with, the structures of prior changes, moving towards new states of functioning. Marketing change episodes are also viewed as embedded in more long-term, historical processes of change. Putting in focus the industrial marketing change processes, the study embraces the idea of an inseparable relationship between change and stability. The study of the dynamic interplay between marketing change agency and moving contexts concludes with a set of theoretical and managerial issues. The empirical part of the study describes a set of marketing organization changes in Pharmacia Biotech AB between 1989 and 1993. These reorganization processes are the focus of a historical study of the company covering the period 1959-1995, including a prologue starting in the 1930s. This volume complements a separate case study volume entitled "The Emergence and Change of Pharmacia Biotech 1959-1995 - The Power of the Slow Flow and the Drama of Great Events". / Utgör jämte författarens: The emergence and change of Pharmacia Biotech 1959-1995 diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

<b>Inledning</b> Lokala dagstidningar har varit en naturlig del av vårt moderna samhälle i många årtionden och de flesta av oss tar därför den lokala tidningens framtid för given. Lokaltidningar har dock problem med att attrahera nya, speciellt yngre, prenumeranter. Detta samtidigt som denna grupp spenderar mer tid uppkopplad till internet, eller med andra former av ny media. Lokaltidningen har varit dödsdömd flera gånger då ett nytt media har introducerats men, som vi vet, överlevt. Skillnaden denna gång är att alternativet är gratis. Ny media växer generellt mycket snabbt. Vissa lokala tidningar följer den tekniska utvecklingen och har lanserat en nätupplaga som del av sin långsiktiga strategi, medan andra har valt att endast fokusera på papperstidningen. <b>Syfte</b> Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och analysera vilka ledningsbeslut och strategier lokala tidningar implementerar idag för att möta konkurrensen från ny media. Syfte är dessutom att undersöka och analysera vad de borde göra i framtiden. <b>Metod</b> Vi har, för att uppfylla syftet, genomfört en kvantitativ, telefonbaserad, undersökning med ett standardiserat frågeformulär. Vi har intervjuat 30 utav Sveriges 36, till upplagan största, lokala tidningar, jämt spridda över landet. <b>Slutsatser</b> Mer än två tredjedelar av all lokala dagstidningar representerade i vår undersökning har förlorat prenumeranter sen 2000 och nästan tre fjärdedelar tror att dessa inte kommer att återkomma i framtiden. 90 % av dagstidningarna upplever press på deras största kund, annonsörerna, och 66 % upplever press på prenumeranterna, på grund av internet. 87 % av våra respondenter har en webbupplaga av sin dagstidning. Trots att respondenterna uppger pris som den största anledningen till det minskande antalet prenumeranter, tar 32 % redan betalt för delar av sin webbupplaga, och 80 % utav de som inte tar betalt idag, har för avsikt att göra det inom fem år. En stor majoritet av respondenterna har, trots den negativa trenden, en positiv inställning till framtiden. Omvandlingen från traditionell lokal dagstidning till ett modernt media hus tycks vara nyckeln till framgång i framtiden. / <b>Introduction</b> Local newspapers have been a natural part of a modern society for many decades and most thus take the printed local newspapers’ future for granted. Local newspapers do however have problems attracting new, especially younger, subscribers. At the same time this group spends more time online and with other forms of new media. The local newspaper has been domed several times a new media has entered the market but as we know always survived. The difference this time is that the alternative is free. New media is generally gaining ground very rapidly. Some local newspapers follow the technical evolution by launching web-editions of their newspaper as part of their long-term strategy, while others decide only to focus on the printed edition. <b>Purpose</b> The purpose of this thesis is to research and analyse what managerial choices and strategies local newspapers are implementing today to meet the competition from new types of media. The purpose is furthermore to research and analyse what they ought to do in the future. <b>Method</b> We have, to fulfil the purpose, conducted a quantitative, telephone based, research with a standardised questionnaire. We have interviewed 30 out of Sweden’s 36, based on circulation, largest local newspapers, geographically spread all over Sweden. <b>Conclusions</b> More than two third of all local newspapers represented in our research have lost subscribers since 2000 and almost three quarters believe that these subscribers will not come back in the future. 90 % of the newspapers experience pressure on their biggest customer, advertisers, and 66 % experience pressure on subscribers, because of internet. 87 % of our respondents have an online edition of their newspaper. Even though the respondents state that the biggest reason for future decrease in subscription is price, 32 % already charge a fee for parts of their web-edition and 80 % of those respondents who do not charge anything today, state that they will charge within five years. A large majority of the respondents have, despite the negative trend, a positive attitude towards the future. The transformation from a traditional local newspaper to a modern media house appears to be the key to success in the future.

Globalization has among other tendencies led to the emergence of new ways of doing business. One of the ways for organizations to meet the demands of a new competitive landscape has been through management accounting change, a field which has become increasingly popular in research. This paper builds on that research and seeks to investigate the case of the implementation of a new management accounting system in a Swedish company which was triggered by strategic change. Commonality through the interactive approach is by some researchers seen as a key to successful change. This approach is contrasted to the importance of symbolic constructs and change recipients’ cognitive effort to understand the meaning of change for which Framing theory is applied. The paper comes to the conclusion that both approaches are necessary in a change process, and shows further that their usage will depend on the process’ timeframe and change recipients’ position in the organization.

<p>In business today efforts are being taken in order to grow, while some firms slowly grow organically others decide to perform a merger or an acquisition (M&A). Firms performing M&As have a high failure rate and many times this is caused by a poorly handled post-acquisition process. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have, according to researchers, not the same ambition to grow compared to large firms, and the research area concerning the post-acquisition process is often from a large firm perspective. However, SMEs do perform M&As as well and therefore it is in our interest to investigate the post-acquisition process in SMEs and see how the post-acquisition process is performed in these firms.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the post-acquisition process in SMEs, this to highlight the SME characteristics in a post-acquisition process.</p><p>Our methodological approach in this study is hermeneutic. To collect empirical information we performed an interview study, where semi-structured interviews with the managing director or a member of the management team in four SMEs have been conducted. A model for analyzing has been constructed, which helped us to process the empirical information from a hermeneutic perspective.</p><p>The reason why the studied firms performed a M&A was to get access to a new customer base and to strengthen their market positions. The focus in the post-acquisition process has been on external value creation since the customers are highly valuated, and this can be related to the uncertain financial and environmental situation that SMEs experience. All firms in the study have chosen a high level of integration, though the planning in the firms has not been that extensive as the post-acquisition literature suggests. Further, several elements within the human resource area have been neglected in their planning, despite this three of the firms experienced a limited amount of resistance to change and this ought to be related to their SME characteristics. The employees are willing to follow the direction stated by the managing director, who has a high influence on the organization’s culture. In the firms we studied the centralization of power is one important element and the acquiring firms have preferred a unicultural organization, and in most cases a congruence con-cerning culture have occurred.</p>