Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore organizational identity as a potential process.   Design/Methodology/Approach: We applied a qualitative method and followed an inductive approach that was applied to a multiple-in-depth-case study for which we conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 members of two organizations, the Swedish consulting company REACH and the Swiss digital agency WONDROUS. Following a narrative approach, both for structuring the empirical findings, as well as conducting the analysis, we used over 16 hours of interviews to create company narratives and subsequently analyzed them in multiple steps in the fashion of a narrative analysis.   Findings: Based on our empirical findings and the empirical analysis, we developed a conceptualization, the Flux Model. We contribute to the existing body of literature by proposing that the Flux Model visualizes the dynamics of how organizational members socially construct organizational identity on the premise of their own (self-)perceptions. By presenting the different parts of the model and their multiple layers, the process of how organizational identity is continuously becoming is illustrated.   Research Limitations/Implications: The scope of our study is restricted to the two case companies in question. If our abstractions from the cases in form of the Flux Model help to better understand the process of organizing, managers become liberated to make deliberate choices about their organizations’ identities. For research this means an even tighter connection to individual psychology and a deepening of the perspective that organizational identity can not only be viewed as something companies have.   Originality/Value: Out of skepticism towards the usefulness of viewing organizational identity as a process, we applied a symbolic interpretivist perspective and allowed for the possibility that we might not find a process after all. The primary value of this study we believe to be found in the extensive presentation of empirical data, together with our narrative analysis and our conceptual contribution (the Flux Model).

Sammanfattning Titel:                                   Swot-modellen – Modellen, dess användning och användbarhet för framgångsrika företag i regionen   Nivå:                                  C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi   Författare:                         Joachim Saillard   Handledare:                       Lars Torsten Eriksson   Datum:                               2012-07-16   Bakgrund:                          Swot-modellen ger en struktur för beskrivning och analys av en organisations starka samt svaga sidor, dess externa hot och möjligheter. Modellen har funnits i cirka 50 år och nått stor spridning. Vad har forskningen om swot-modellen hittills kommit fram till? Hur ser små- och medelstora företag i Gävleregionen på modellen i sina praktiker?   Syfte:                                  Syftet med uppsatsen är att göra en state-of-the-art genomgång av forskningen om swot-modellen samt visa hur en grupp regionala små- och medelstora företag använder modellen samt kritiskt testa Framför-databasens potential som empiriskt material. Avsikten är att lägga en grund samt skapa en utgångspunkt för fortsatt forskning om modellen som verktyg för företagsutveckling i den regionala miljön.                                             Metod:                                Studien bygger på en genomgång av ett stort antal forskningsartiklar om swot-modellen. De flesta artiklar analyserar enskilda aspekter av modellen, medan några visar sig ge en översikt över olika modellstudier. Eftersom det visar sig att ytterst få studier redovisar empiriska data om modellens användning och fortsatta empiriska studier behövs, har en genomgång också gjorts av swot-kommentarer i en databas för regionala företag – det så kallade Framför-projektet som drivs av bland annat Svenskt Näringsliv, Aktiv Revision och kommunerna i Gästrikland. I databasen finns registrerade data för små- och medelstora företag, åren 2002-2012. Databasen bygger på standardiserade intervjuer där svar registrerats om swot-data. Baserade på dessa har en sekundäranalys gjorts och den empiriska genomgången har behandlats som en pilotstudie om företags beskrivning av interna faktorer.   Resultat & slutsatser:       Studien ger en analys av forskningen om swot-modellen. Den visar att antalet teoretiska studier om swot-modellen ökat, medan få empiriska studier gjorts. Den empiriska delen visar att företagen i regel är väl förtrogna med modellen, men inte alltid har aktuella värden för dess huvudkategorier. Den aktuella databasen behöver förstärkas och modellen ges en bättre koppling till aktiv implementering.    Förslag till fortsatt forskning:                           Fortsatta studier behövs om företagens strategiska beslutssituationer utifrån swot-modellen som utvärderingsverktyg, och möjligen andra kompletterande teorier/modeller.   Uppsatsens bidrag:            Studien ger en överblick över den hittillsvarande forskningen om swot-modellen, dess användning och användbarhet för olika organisationer. Eftersom förvånansvärt få empiriska studier hittills gjorts kan uppsatsens empiriska studie ses som ett särskilt forskningsbidrag.   Nyckelord:                         Swot, företag, interna faktorer det vill säga starka och svaga sidor, strategisk planering, Framför-databasen, swot-modellens dualperspektiv. / Abstract Title:                                   The swot model – the model, its usage and usefulness for successful firms in the region   Level:                                 Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration   Author:                               Joachim Saillard   Supervisor:                        Lars Torsten Eriksson   Date:                                  2012-07-16   Background:                      The swot-model provides a structure for description and analysis of an organizations strong and weak sides, its opportunities and threats. The model has existed approximately 50 years and has attained a big spread. What has the present research on swot concluded? How do small- and medium sized firms in the region of Gävle treat the model in their practices?   Aim:                                    The aim of the thesis is to do a state-of-the-art review on the research concerning the swot-model, and to show how a group of regional small- and medium sized firms use the model as well as to conduct a critical examination of the Framför-databases potential as empirical substance. The intention is to form a basis and starting point for future research, regarding to the model as a tool for business development in the regional environment.   Method:                             The study is founded on a review of a big number of research papers about the swot-model. Most of them analyze certain aspects of the model, while others seem to give a summary over different model studies. Since there has been shown to be exceedingly few studies who account for empirical data about the models use and further empirical studies is needed, a review of a database containing swot-comments – the so called Framför-project which is run by the Federation of Swedish Enterprise, Aktiv Revision and the municipalities in Gästrikland, has also been carried out. In the database there are registered data for small- and medium sized firms between the years 2002-2012. The database builds on standardized interviews of which swot-data have been registered. Based on this, secondary analysis has been carried out and the empirical review has been attended as a pilot study about firms’ descriptions of their internal factors.   Result & Conclusions:      The study provides an analyze on research concering the swot-model. It shows that the number of theoretical studies about the swot-model has increased, while few empirical studies have been carried out. The empirical part of the study shows that the firms generally are well familiar with the model, but that they don’t always have current values for its main categories. The current database needs to be strengthened and the model given a better connection to active realization.   Suggestions for future research:                 Future research is needed about the firms strategic decision situations with the swot-model as an evaluation tool as starting point, and possibly other complementing theories/models.   Contribution of the thesis:                          The thesis provides an overview over the research up until now concerning the swot-model, its use and usefulness for different organizations. Since surprisingly few present empirical studies have been carried out, the empirical study that the thesis provides can be seen as a particular research contribution.    Key words:                         Swot, firms, internal factors i.e. strong and weak sides, strategic planning, the Framför-database, swot-model dual perspective.