The aim of this thesis is to explore the diversification of a major oil company into the. petrochemical business and then through thorough analysis to recommend the appropriate corporate strategies to be followed by the petrochemical subsidiary of such a company in the 1980's and the 1990's. The petrochemical industry has undergone great changes during the last decade. In the early 1970's it entered a new era of maturity, however due to the misplannings of the late 1960's extending to the early 1970's the industry was suddenly faced with significant overcapacity which has persisted to the present date and is expected to last well into the 1980's. The 1974 oil crisis caused a further decline in the growth of demand, hence exacerbating the situation. During the seventies the industry has had to operate under increasing material prices, unlike the past, which when coupled with the problem of overcapacity and the resulting deterioration of prices, has caused considerable decline in the financial ability of the companies to finance their capital expenditure programmes through internal cash generation (which was the case in the industry's 'golden era'). This situation is threatening the long term viability and survival of the petrochemical businesses. A System Dynamics model for a hypothetical petrochemical subsidiary of a major oil company has been constructed which embodies all the policies inherent in such a system. The dynamic behaviour of the model closely resembles that expected from the real system such as the declining financial ability, which is mostly due to the inflationary conditions. Through thorough analysis, the impact of varying inflation level on the performance of the system was explored, and the need for adopting suitable accounting policies which would take account of the replacement costs of assets, during periods of high inflation, was proposed. The adoption of a number of policies led to a certain degree of improvement in the financial performance of the system, and these are recommended concerning the corporate strategy of the company for the next two decades. Finally it was discovered that due to the low level of growth of demand (compared to the past), the large economic sizes of the petrochemical plants and the market share consensus, the companies will have to go into joint ventures in the future.

<p>How do firms decide which corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative to take on and when? The extant research has not been able to give definitive answers to these questions. As a result, despite CSR being an integral part of doing business today, many executives remain unsure about integrating CSR considerations into core strategy and decision makings. CSR is often considered in silos and not in conjunction with core corporate activities.  The three empirical essays in this dissertation seek to understand the role of CSR in corporate strategy, particularly in strategic alliance and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) contexts, and identify means through which CSR can be integrated into core strategic decision making. </p> <p><br></p> <p>The first essay, titled “Honor by Association: Does a Partner’s CSR Matter in Strategic Alliances?” investigates the role of partner’s CSR in strategic alliances, i.e. whether CSR of a partner affects the focal firm’s value creation from the alliance. Drawing on the stakeholders-based view of strategic alliances and advancing relational capabilities perspective on CSR, I argue and provide evidence that, faced with information asymmetry and collaborative challenges, a focal firm can rely on CSR performance of the partner to make judgements about value creation potentials from the alliance.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The second essay, titled “CSR Learning: Does a Firm’s CSR Influence Its Partner’s CSR?”, extends my first essay and puts forth the notion of CSR-learning through CSR knowledge and capabilities transfer in strategic alliances. A central argument is that the extent of CSR engagements and practices of a firm has an impact on those of its partner(s) in an on-going alliance. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Last but not least, the third essay is co-authored with Professor Ozmel and is titled “CSR in M&A: Does Relativity Matter?" This study examines the impact of relative CSR, <em>defined as the extent to which a target’s CSR resources and capabilities are superior to those of the acquirer</em>, on an acquiring firm’s value creation from M&A.  We contend that relative CSR matters in M&A as acquiring firms can gain access to superior CSR resources and capabilities to unlock relational and non-market synergies, resulting in additional value creation.</p>

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research report entailed an investigation into the impact of the historical evolution of SABMiller's corporate strategy on its global expansion, particularly into emerging markets. To this end, the demands of a rapidly changing global world on strategy and the relevance and growing importance of emerging markets to organisations were explored. This entailed amongst others an examination of the considerations when expanding into emerging markets, their characteristics and challenges posed. It was found that in the modern business world, which is characterised by speed, uncertainty and turbulence, strategy implementation and evaluation are as important as strategy formulation. It is vital that an organisation is flexible enough to change its strategic course if necessary and is able to set stretch objectives in order to become more inventive and exhibit more urgency in improving its performance. Today's dynamic environment requires a revitalised approach to strategic thinking and organisations may have to develop new strategic capabilities and cultivate strategic resilience in order to successfully navigate the challenges they face. Increased turbulence and uncertainty are not only characteristics of the global business environment, but in many cases these circumstances are exacerbated in emerging markets. Emerging markets may very well require of organisations to be even more innovative and expand their strategic capabilities, but it was also shown that these markets are becoming increasingly important to organisations. The reasons for a shift in perspectives on emerging markets are varied, including that these markets are no longer regarded as posing an unacceptably high risk, that they offer large markets with high population growth figures and that they often record much higher economic growth figures than mature and saturated markets in developed countries. Data confirms that the economic output of emerging markets as a percentage of global output is steadily increasing, their share of world export is growing and they are major oil consumers. The fast growth of these markets, combined with the potential offered by their size, have led to forecasts that a key group of emerging markets will become the drivers of organisational growth in the foreseeable future. An overview of the factors to be taken into consideration when expanding into emerging markets as well as the implications of expansion shows that organisations are required to be creative and re-assess their own strengths and weaknesses in order to expand their strategic capabilities to be in line with the proposed expansion. Based on a literature review and an examination of case studies of the experiences of organisations which have expanded into emerging markets, a number of findings were made regarding important aspects to concentrate on, best practices and mistakes to avoid when entering emerging markets. This model for success was applied to SABMiller in order to extract lessons learnt from the company's expansion into emerging markets. An analysis of SABMiller's history, its global expansion and its strategy helped provide a picture of how the company evolved and how it thinks and operates. It was found that by the end of the 1980s the company had developed a number of core competencies and strategic capabilities in South Africa that were geared towards expansion in emerging markets. These capabilities included that it understood conditions in emerging markets and was able to deliver high quality and low cost products under particular conditions. Its managers had a "can do"-attitude and the ability to deal with diverse cultures. A number of findings were made on the basis of the analysis of interviews conducted with senior managers at SAB Miller that can be used as general lessons for expansion into emerging markets. These can be grouped into the four themes also used to model the recommendations for success in emerging markets drawn from literature and case studies. Firstly, from an operational point of view, SABMiller developed a number of best practices for operational excellence that were implemented during its expansion. These practices did, however, not become codified or prescriptive to the extent that they restrict local managers and could not be adapted to local circumstances. The best practices were rather used to create an environment which encouraged a quest for the achievement of excellence in collaboration with local expertise. The company gave its managers support in terms of expertise, but also allowed them freedom of action and allowed them to translate best practices into the correct application for a particular context. SABMiller was hungry for opportunities, willing to make mistakes and learn lessons and its business model was flexible enough to allow it to operate under emerging market conditions that presented obstacles to many Western organisations. Secondly, in terms of finances and resources, the company found that even though there might be less information or data available about local markets, it was able to analyse the information with its own tools and based on its own experiences, which made it more valuable. SABMilier also did not apply a generalised approach to emerging markets, but recognised the potential of smaller markets. It was willing to apply custom-made approaches to local markets and was able to craft fit for purpose-solutions based on an understanding that the underlying economic fundamentals underlying emerging markets are different to those in Western markets. It applied financial rigour and built a reputation as an ethical operator focussed on growing sustainable businesses, yet its managers were still comfortable with making gut-feel decisions because they had a good understanding of commercial relationships and economic fundamentals. Thirdly, as far as management lessons were concerned, SABMiller developed a nimble and efficient operating model that gave its leaders the necessary flexibility to make fast strategic moves. The company went looking for opportunities in emerging markets, rather than having a business model that required a market which had to be big enough to sustain a Western way of working. In addition to this, its multi-dimensional approach to operating and setting targets enabled it to seize opportunities where others couldn't, as it was willing to act as local operators, be joint-venture partners or even minority stakeholders. Its view of the beer business as a local business and its practice of executing everything it did in a locally relevant way is a thread that runs through the company's entire approach, regardless of which market it operates in. Fourthly, its leadership and people can be highlighted as one of the most important factors in SABMiller's successful expansion into emerging markets. The company's top leadership displayed exceptional intellectual and emotional intelligence and an absolute commitment to its expansion. The corporate culture, which emphasises personal responsibility, decentralisation, empowerment and a commitment to fair and sustainable business, can be regarded as critical to the company's success. In emerging markets, partnerships with local operators were built on shared learning and experiences, humility and friendship. The senior managers at SABMiller deployed in these markets instilled trust and credibility and were able to navigate difficult circumstances with sensitivity and diplomacy. SABMiller's employees also displayed a number of traits referred to as the South African DNA. These include resourcefulness, tenacity, a pioneering spirit, the inability to see problems, an ability to look for ingenious solutions and a flair for working with diverse people. As the company had recruited against these traits, it had an abundance of creative, inventive and very determined employees in its arsenal when it started to expand, and the skills of its people gave SABMiller one of its most enduring advantages. Based on the research findings, a number of recommendations are made for the further development of organisational tools and methods, as well as further study and investigation. These include that processes be developed to help organisations re-align or expand their strategic capabilities to be in line with an expansion into emerging markets and that the alignment of strategy with emerging markets be studied further. It is also recommended that more research be done to explore the conditions in emerging markets in order to broaden the field of knowledge on experiences in emerging markets. The characteristics and abilities that are necessary for an organisation to remain locally relevant should be investigated further. Finally, the link between the emerging market roots of an organisation and its actions upon expanding should be studied more extensively in order to extract and quantify lessons and best practices. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorsingsverslag het 'n ondersoek behels na die impak van die historiese evolusie van SABMilier se korporatiewe strategie op die maatskappy se globale uitbreiding, spesifiek in ontluikende markte. Met die doel in gedagte is die vereistes wat 'n snel veranderende globale wereld aan strategie stel en die relevansie en toenemende belangrikheid van ontluikende markte vir organisasies bestudeer. Dit het onder andere 'n studie van die faktore wat in ag geneem moet word wanneer uitgebrei word na ontluikende markte, hul karaktereienskappe en die uitdagings in die markte ingesluit. Daar is bevind dat die implementering van strategie in die moderne sakewereld, wat gekenmerk word deur spoed, onsekerheid en ontstuimigheid, net so belangrik is soos die formulering van strategie. Dit is noodsaaklik dat 'n organisasie soepel genoeg is om, indien nodig, sy strategiese koers te verander. Die organisasie moet ook in staat wees om grensverskuiwende doelwitte te stel sodat hy meer innoverend kan word en sy prestasie met meer dringendheid verbeter. Die hedendaagse dinamiese omgewing vereis 'n hersiene benadering tot strategiese denke en dit mag nodig wees vir organisasies om nuwe strategiese vaardighede en strategiese veerkragtigheid te ontwikkel om hulle in staat te stel om uitdagings te bowe te kom. Meer ontstuimigheid en onsekerheid is nie net kenmerkend van die globale sakeomgewing nie, maar is ook in baie gevalle in 'n erger graad in ontluikende markte teenwoordig. Dit mag vir organisasies nodig wees om in ontluikende markte selfs meer innoverend te wees en hulle strategiese vaardighede uit te brei, maar selfs te midde van die uitdagings word ontluikende markte vir organisasies al hoe meer belangrik. Daar is 'n verskeidenheid redes vir die verandering in persepsies oor ontluikende markte, insluitend dat die markte nie meer beskou word as markte wat onaanvaarbare hoe risiko's inhou nie. Verder bied ontluikende lande groot markte met snelgroeiende bevolkingsyfers en baie vinniger ekonomiese groei as die volwasse en versadigde ekonomiee in ontwikkelde lande. Data bevestig verder dat die ekonomiese uitset van ontluikende markte as 'n persentasie van globale uitset besig is om te styg, dat hulle aandeel van wereldwye uitvoer toeneem en dat hulle groot verbruikers van olie is. Die vinnige groei in die markte, gesien saam met die potensiaal opgesluit in hul grootte, het gelei tot vooruitskattings dat 'n sleutelgroep ontluikende lande in die afsienbare toekoms die enjins van organisatoriese groei gaan word. 'n Oorsig van die faktore wat in ag geneem moet word wanneer uitgebrei word na ontluikende markte en die implikasies van uitbreiding dui daarop dat organisasies kreatief te werk sal moet gaan en hul eie sterkpunte en swakhede sal moet heroorweeg om te sorg dat hulle strategiese vermoens in pas is met die beoogde uitbreiding. Op grond van 'n literatuurstudie en 'n ontleding van gevallestudies is 'n aantal bevindings gemaak aangaande belangrike aspekte waarop gefokus moet word, beste praktyke en foute wat vermy moet word wanneer uitgebrei word na ontluikende markte. Die model vir sukses is op SABMiller toegepas met die oog daarop om lesse te kan leer uit die maatskappy se uitbreiding. 'n Ontleding van SABMiller se geskiedenis, die maatskappy se globale uitbreiding en sy strategie het bygedra daartoe om 'n prentjie te skets van hoe die maatskappy ontwikkel het, hoe hy dink en hoe hy te werk gaan. Daar is bevind dat die maatskappy teen die einde van die 1980s in Suid-Afrika 'n aantal strategiese vermoens en sleutelbevoegdhede ontwikkel het wat hom goed geposisioneer het vir uitbreiding na ontluikende markte. Die vermoens het ingesluit dat die maatskappy omstandighede in ontluikende markte goed verstaan het en in staat was om onder die besondere omstandighede produkte van hoe kwaliteit en teen 'n lae koste te lewer. Die maatskappy se bestuurders het 'n houding gehad dat alles moontlik is en kon met diverse kulture saamwerk. 'n Aantal bevindings wat gebruik kan word as algemene lesse vir uitbreiding na ontluikende markte is gemaak op grond van 'n ontleding van onderhoude wat gevoer is met senior bestuurders van SABMiller. Die bevindings kan in vier temas gegroepeer word wat ooreenstem met die model vir sukses wat ontwikkel is op grond van die literatuurstudie en ontleding van gevallestudies. Eerstens, uit 'n operasionele oogpunt gesien, het SABMiller 'n aantal beste praktyke vir operasionele uitnemendheid ontwikkel wat toegepas is in die uitbreidingsproses. Die praktyke is egter nie tot so 'n mate gekodifiseer of voorskriftelik gemaak dat dit plaaslike bestuurders aan bande gele het nie. Die beste praktyke is gebruik om 'n omgewing te skep wat die behaling van uitnemendheid in samehang met plaaslike kenners aangemoedig het. Die maatskappy het sy bestuurders die nodige ondersteuning in terme van kennis gegee, maar hulle ook die vryheid gegee om beste praktyke op die mees toepaslike manier vir die plaaslike omstandighede toe te pas. SABMiller was honger vir geleenthede en bereid om foute te maak, en die maatskappy se sakemodel was soepel genoeg dat hy kon funksioneer onder omstandighede in ontluikende markte wat vir baie Westerse organisasies 'n struikelblok was. Tweedens, in terme van finansies en hulpbronne, het die maatskappy gevind dat daar wel minder inligting beskikbaar was oor plaaslike markte, maar hy kon sy eie vaardighede en kennis gebruik om die inligting te ontleed, wat dit meer waardevol gemaak het. SABMiller het ook nie 'n veralgemenende benadering tot ontluikende markte gehad nie, en hy kon die potensiaal in kleiner markte raaksien. Die maatskappy was bereid om doelgemaakte benaderings tot plaaslike markte te gebruik en spesifieke oplossings vir bepaalde omstandighede te ontwikkel. Die oplossings was gegrond op 'n begrip dat die onderliggende ekonomiese beginsels in ontluikende markte verskil van die in Westerse markte. Derdens, wat lesse ten opsigte van bestuursvaardighede aanbetref, het SABMiller 'n rats, snelvoetige en doeltreffende bedryfsmodel ontwikkel wat die nodige ruimte geskep het vir sy leiers om vinnige strategiese skuiwe te kan maak. Die maatskappy het vir geleenthede in ontluikende markte gaan soek, in teenstelling met Westerse organisasies wat net hul sake in markte kon bedryf wat groot genoeg was om hulle Westerse werkswyse te ondersteun. Verder het die maatskappy 'n meerdimensionele werkswyse en benadering tot die stel van doelwitte, wat beteken dat hy geleenthede kon aangryp waar ander dit nie kon doen nie. Dit is onder andere moontlik gemaak omdat hy bereid was om as 'n plaaslike operateur, gesamentlike ondernemingsvennoot of selfs minderheidsaandeelhouer te werk. Vierdens kan sy leierskap en mense uitgelig word as een van die mees belangrike faktore wat bygedra het tot SABMilier se suksesvolle uitbreiding na ontluikende markte. Die maatskappy se top-bestuurslui het uitsonderlike inlellektuele en emosionele intelligensie aan die dag gele en was absoluut verbind tot die uitbreiding. Die korporatiewe kultuur, wat klem lê op persoonlike verantwoordelikheid, bemagtiging en 'n toewyding tot regverdige en volhoubare sakepraktyke, kan beskou word as 'n sleutelfaktor in die maatskappy se sukses. In ontluikende markte is vennootskappe gegrond op gedeelde ervaring en lesse wat geleer is, nederigheid en vriendskap. Die senior bestuurders wat SABMilier na ontluikende markte gestuur het was geloofwaardig en het vertroue ingeboesem, en hulle kon moeilike omstandighede met die nodige sensitiwiteit en diplomasie hanteer. SABMiller se werknemers het ook 'n aantal eienskappe aan die dag gele wat beskryf word as 'n Suid-Afrikaanse DNS. Die eienskappe het ingesluit vindingrykheid, deursettingsvermoe, 'n ontdekkingsgees, die onvermoe om probleme te sien, die vermoe om vernuftige oplossings te vind en 'n besondere aanleg om met uiteenlopende mense te werk. Die maatskappy het ook werknemers met die soort profiele gewerf, en het hy het dus ten tye van sy uitbreiding 'n arsenaal kreatiewe, innoverende en uiters vasbeslote werknemers gehad as een van sy mees blywende voordele. Op grond van die bevindings in die verslag word 'n aantal aanbevelings gemaak ten opsigte van die ontwikkeling van hulpbronne vir maatskappye en areas wat verder ondersoek en bestudeer kan word. Dit sluit in dat prosesse ontwikkel word om organisasies te help om hul strategiese vaardighede aan te pas by uitbreiding na ontluikende markte en dat die rig van strategie op ontluikende markte verder ondersoek word. Dit word ook aanbeveel dat verdere navorsing gedoen word oor die omstandighede in ontluikende markte om die kennisveld oor organisasies se ervarings in ontluikende markte uit te brei. In die laaste instansie moet die eienskappe en vaardighede wat organisasies nodig het om plaaslik relevant te bly, verder bestudeer word. Die verband tussen die historiese wortels van 'n organisasie in 'n ontluikende mark en die organisasie se optrede wanneer hy uitbrei moet ook verder ondersoek word om lesse en beste praktyke te formuleer.

One of the proxies for the success of a corporate strategy is firm performance. This is because “performance is a surrogate for the alignment between an organization’s internal processes (strategy, structure, etc) and the external environment.”1 Business excellence therefore hangs together with the attainment of such an alignment. It is two of the processes that support such an alignment between customer and supplier that are the subject of this paper. The processes in question are so called “Key Account Management” (KAM) and competitive intelligence (CI). [... aus der Einleitung] 1 Subramanian R., IsHak S., Competitor Analysis Practices of US Companies, 1998, S.13

<p>Background</p><p>Strategy forms an inevitable part of a company’s existence, whether explicitly formulated or implicitly acted on. Today, there are many ways to find information about companies and their strategic directions, for example in the non-financial sections of annual reports. However, the future actions and strategic choices tend not to be spoken of explicitly or in terms of strategy concepts or typologies. Thus, the presentation of strategies in annual reports may differ in terminology from the conceptions and notions as presented in strategy concepts. This implies a challenging base for analysis and will inevitably create an interesting situation if one wants to map out a company’s strategic direction with these reports as basis. Annual reports could also possibly constitute a cross-over between the theoretical realm and the business world, which might allow the drawing of parallels between theoretical concepts and espoused strategic actions.</p><p>Purpose</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overall image of strategy in the heavy electrical engineering industry in the time period of 1987 to 2002, using the non-financial information in annual reports as the single source for identifying and classifying companies in terms of strategy.</p><p>Mode of procedure</p><p>Annual reports from four large companies in the heavy electrical engineering industry have been studied with a grounded approach of textual analysis. The case study was conducted with an inductive starting point, and covered a vast amount of empirical material. Key features of strategic directions, on the corporate and business level, were derived from the empirical material as well as from strategy literature, and these features then served as base for further analysis and conclusions.</p><p>Results</p><p>All four studied companies displayed different strategic phases on the two levels. However, inconsistency and a multitude of comments sometimes obstructed the identification of distinct phases. On an inter-company level, the European companies tended to have more features in common than the American ones. Furthermore, specific characteristics have been identified for each company. Finally, each of the four case companies was classified in terms of generic strategies. The classification of the companies showed that a multitude of strategic typologies was applicable during the studied time period, some recurrently and others in unique periods.</p>

Background Strategy forms an inevitable part of a company’s existence, whether explicitly formulated or implicitly acted on. Today, there are many ways to find information about companies and their strategic directions, for example in the non-financial sections of annual reports. However, the future actions and strategic choices tend not to be spoken of explicitly or in terms of strategy concepts or typologies. Thus, the presentation of strategies in annual reports may differ in terminology from the conceptions and notions as presented in strategy concepts. This implies a challenging base for analysis and will inevitably create an interesting situation if one wants to map out a company’s strategic direction with these reports as basis. Annual reports could also possibly constitute a cross-over between the theoretical realm and the business world, which might allow the drawing of parallels between theoretical concepts and espoused strategic actions. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overall image of strategy in the heavy electrical engineering industry in the time period of 1987 to 2002, using the non-financial information in annual reports as the single source for identifying and classifying companies in terms of strategy. Mode of procedure Annual reports from four large companies in the heavy electrical engineering industry have been studied with a grounded approach of textual analysis. The case study was conducted with an inductive starting point, and covered a vast amount of empirical material. Key features of strategic directions, on the corporate and business level, were derived from the empirical material as well as from strategy literature, and these features then served as base for further analysis and conclusions. Results All four studied companies displayed different strategic phases on the two levels. However, inconsistency and a multitude of comments sometimes obstructed the identification of distinct phases. On an inter-company level, the European companies tended to have more features in common than the American ones. Furthermore, specific characteristics have been identified for each company. Finally, each of the four case companies was classified in terms of generic strategies. The classification of the companies showed that a multitude of strategic typologies was applicable during the studied time period, some recurrently and others in unique periods.

This research project explores the increasingly popular phenomena of companies striving to harmonize and align their business which is called a “One Company”-vision. The project is carried out on behalf of the global IT and management consultancy company, Logica. It is a case study at Saab AB, the Swedish aerospace-and defense-company, regarding corporate strategy. In this research project, the concept of parenting style is related as one important ingredient of One Company and it is considered to be the starting point for implementation of strategy. Implementation of strategy is further illustrated with the help of a tentative model. This model puts strategy in the center of the organization and then intends to align the whole company through strategic congruence and integrated control in order to implement the chosen strategy. If the whole organization is not committed, it will be very difficult to complete the journey to become One Company. The purpose of this research project is to develop a perspective of a One Company concept and to investigate the implementation of this concept at Saab AB. To further explain the purpose and to deepen the understanding of the One Company concept, the following research questions have been addressed: How does Saab AB, a large Swedish multi-business organization, strive to become One Company? What are (if any) the critical success factors in Saab’s journey to become One Saab? What are (if any) the areas of improvement for Saab, according to the developed perspective of the One Company concept? In order to accomplish the purpose, interviews have been performed with corporate level management. Moreover, gaps have been filled with empirical findings from a dissertation that investigated Saab’s competitive advantage in relation to strategic congruence and integrated control. The results show that for Saab AB, the One Company vision started as a market initiative to create a common brand for what used to be a conglomerate. The One Saab strategy has led to many changes for Saab AB, regarding organizational structure, work methods and follow-up processes. It has affected all business areas and all functions. Human Resource and Finance are functions that have already been harmonized. Current changes concern consolidation of IT and implementation of a global management system. The global management system was launched this year (2011) and it will lead to many more changes within the company before it is fully implemented. This system will help bring the company closer to become One Saab. The conclusion is that Saab AB has come a long way but today it is a synergic corporation and not yet One Company, as the concept is described in this thesis.

重塑組織文化以改進公司績效:一個關於洪都拉斯小型電腦軟體公司的研究 / Organizational culture is made up of values, norms beliefs and attitudes that are commonly transmitted through stories, myths, and language that people in an organization use. These do not necessarily match the expectation of the managers of a business or the written policies. Yet, culture is so powerful that individuals follow it without thinking and has an impact on company’s performance. For that reason, this thesis looks into the current organizational culture and improvement opportunities for a small software company in Honduras: SAF Soluciones. It is a family-run business started by my father. I have worked in it for 10 years and have had both operational and managerial roles. First, two organizational culture model are presented: the levels of culture by Schein (2004) and the cultural traits by Dennison (1990). These provide the theoretical context to later asses SAF Soluciones’ culture and finally provide a practical framework to improve it.

This graduation thesis is concerned with managment of company called R. Braun Internat Spedition ltd., which is carrying business in logistics, between 2004 and 2006. Thesis deals with its contemporary economic problems and proposes some possibilities how to improve business results in future too. Common analytic proceedings evaluating managment of studied company were used in this dissertation. All the results of analyses were used immediate advancements and modification of R. Braun Internat Spedition ltd. corporate strategy.

Bakgrund och problem: Ett företags konkurrenskraft och överlevnadsförmåga hänger i mångt och mycket ihop med hur väl de kan förändra sig. Som ett verktyg för att hantera en föränderlig omvärld behöver företag därmed kunna förändra sin strategi, både på övergripande och detaljnivå. För att fatta rätt beslut behöver företag tänka på många aspekter, det blir därmed av största vikt för företag att se till vilket beslutsunderlag de använder vid beslut om strategiska förändringar. Som ett led i detta finns det en roll som ekonomistyrningen kan spela för företag när underlaget ska samlas in och användas. Syfte: Denna studies syfte är att öka kunskapen om på vilka grunder företag tar beslut om strategiska förändringar. Detta ska ske genom att redogöra för vilken typ av information som används som beslutsunderlag, samt vilken roll ekonomistyrning har vid, dessa beslut. Metod: Som forskningsmetod har en fallstudie med ett huvudföretag, Visma SPCS, valts. Utöver fallföretaget finns även två stycken referensföretag medverkande, i form av IKEA Kalmar samt ett anonymt företag, benämnt som Företag C. De intervjuer som hålls med företagen är av semi-strukturerad art, via antingen direkta intervjuer eller via telefon. Slutsats: Det som företagen anser vara viktigast när beslut om strategisk förändring ska fattas är att företaget har rätt historisk information för att kunna skapa sig en förståelse om företagets framtid, där olika information är olika viktig vid olika situationer. Allt som sker ska också vara med ett fokus mot företagets kunder, vilket påverkar vilket underlag som företagen lägger vikt vid. Ekonomistyrningen kan sägas spela en roll i att den ger underlag till företagen, baserat på vad företaget presterar, men att de även kan involvera sina medarbetare och använda ekonomistyrningen mer interaktivt. / Background and problem: A company’s competitiveness and survivability is in many ways connected to their ability to change. As a tool to handle an ever-changing world, companies needs to be able to change their business strategy, both overall and on detail level. To be able to make the right decisions, companies needs to consider many aspects, it will therefore be of most importance that companies look at which basis of decisions they use in times of strategic strategic change. As a part in this, a company’s management control system could play a part in the way that this information is gathered and used. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge about the reasons that companies make strategic changes, by explaining what kind of information companies use when they decide on strategic change, as well as the part that the company’s management control system plays in these situations.  Method: As research method a case study was chosen, with one main case in Visma SPCS, as well as two other cases in IKEA Kalmar and the anonymous Företag C. The interviews are semi structured, via either telephone or in person. Conclusion: The thing that these companies think is most important when making decisions about strategic change is that the have an understanding about their situation and their future. Everything that the companies do should be with focus on their customers, and that affects the information they use when making these strategic decisions. Their management control system both plays a part as feedback, to see how the company’s performing, as well as involving the employees in the company’s strategic work.