The essence of this study is to capture the dynamics of decision-making. The context of this study is the engineering consultant industry consolidation in South Africa over the last five years. Decision-making is a complex phenomenon and highly influenced. To understand the dynamic nature of decision-making, it is important to understand the rationale or process that was followed to derive to the decision made. This can be simplified or better understood when evaluated at the hand of a context. In South Africa, consolidation activity was relatively high during the last five years when compared to previous years – engineering consulting companies – with international groups teaming up with well-established domestic entities to create new African-focused organisational platforms. The research questions are predominantly “how” and “why” questions and this is best answered through a qualitative research approach. The research design uses a multi-case study design in that participants in this research study are employed by different engineering consultant companies. It does not follow the traditional multi-case design which determines similarities and differences between the cases or similarities and differences in the same case, but rather a view gathered on the same context from different perspectives. The participants are defined as key role players with a responsibility to make strategic, financial and/or commercial decisions in a company and individuals who directly faced decision-making in the context of this study. Data collection is primarily by means of interviews. The key findings indicate that decision-making is highly influenced and that personal disposition is a prominent influencing factor. Another finding was that industry consolidation was a global trend that could no longer be ignored in South Africa and that companies had to strategically respond to a number of key issues that they have been facing. It is clear that decisions are made in context. The continuously changing environment in which the engineering consultant industry operates means that opportunities are never static and that decision making is always dynamic. It is important to have strategic objectives and a list of expected outcomes at the start of a decision making process and to monitor and control progress constantly against these as one advance through a life cycle of events, such as a consolidation transaction. This research study concludes in a sense that the engineering consultant industry is looking forward, some recommendations to the industry and recommendations for further research. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The essence of this study is to capture the dynamics of decision-making. The context of this study is the engineering consultant industry consolidation in South Africa over the last five years. Decision-making is a complex phenomenon and highly influenced. To understand the dynamic nature of decision-making, it is important to understand the rationale or process that was followed to derive to the decision made. This can be simplified or better understood when evaluated at the hand of a context. In South Africa, consolidation activity was relatively high during the last five years when compared to previous years – engineering consulting companies – with international groups teaming up with well-established domestic entities to create new African-focused organisational platforms. The research questions are predominantly “how” and “why” questions and this is best answered through a qualitative research approach. The research design uses a multi-case study design in that participants in this research study are employed by different engineering consultant companies. It does not follow the traditional multi-case design which determines similarities and differences between the cases or similarities and differences in the same case, but rather a view gathered on the same context from different perspectives. The participants are defined as key role players with a responsibility to make strategic, financial and/or commercial decisions in a company and individuals who directly faced decision-making in the context of this study. Data collection is primarily by means of interviews. The key findings indicate that decision-making is highly influenced and that personal disposition is a prominent influencing factor. Another finding was that industry consolidation was a global trend that could no longer be ignored in South Africa and that companies had to strategically respond to a number of key issues that they have been facing. It is clear that decisions are made in context. The continuously changing environment in which the engineering consultant industry operates means that opportunities are never static and that decision making is always dynamic. It is important to have strategic objectives and a list of expected outcomes at the start of a decision making process and to monitor and control progress constantly against these as one advance through a life cycle of events, such as a consolidation transaction. This research study concludes in a sense that the engineering consultant industry is looking forward, some recommendations to the industry and recommendations for further research. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Den teknologiska utvecklingen är i ständig gång och företag arbetar hårt för att stanna i dess framkant och att vara konkurrenskraftiga. En central del i företagsverksamhet blir därmed produktutveckling. För att lyckas med sin produktutveckling förekommer det att organisationer anställer konsultfirmor för att få tillgång till dess kunskap och kompetens. Men hur ser detta samarbete ut? Vilka kunskaper bidrar konsulterna med? Vilka faktorer får denna roll att variera? Denna rapport syftar till att redogöra för den tekniska konsultens roll i produktutvecklingsprojekt, vilka faktorer som påverkar denna roll, samt hur de gör det. Rapporten är dels uppbyggd på en litteraturstudie för att skapa en teoretisk referensram angående vad den tekniska konsultrollen innebär och dess grundpelare. Fortsättningsvis är rapporten även baserad på en kvalitativ intervjustudie vilken utfördes hos tre organisationer och med fyra respondenter. Samtliga organisationer är konsultfirmor i Sverige och samtliga respondenter är tekniska konsulter inom produktutveckling och dess erfarenheter är därmed högst väsentliga för arbetet. Respondenterna fick i enskilda intervjuer berätta om sina erfarenheter och svara på frågor utformade ur rapportens forskningsfrågor. Resultaten från denna empiriska studie samt den teori som hämtades ur litteraturstudien har jämförts och analyserats. De slutsatser som framgick ur studien är att små uppdragsgivare medför en bredare roll för konsulten, stora uppdragsgivare medför en smalare roll för konsulten, uppdragsgivare efterfrågar främst tekniska kunskaper från konsulter, uppdragsgivare bestämmer nivå av autonomi samt att tät och kontinuerlig kommunikation främjar ett gott samarbete mellan interna och externa parter.

This thesis uses a case study approach and investigates how the institutional environment has an impact on decision making regarding sales within three departments at WSP Management in Sweden. With the application of neo-institutional frameworks, the study explains how decision making is constrained by the institution and the actors that make up the institutional environment, as well as how a pursuit for stability and legitimacy isolate engineering consultant companies from other sectors within the market.   The study concludes that the institutional environments inducements have created a sales structure within the departments that is solely focused on the public sector and acquiring contracts through public procurement. This sales structure is heavily imprinted within the departments and has created a culture where employees rely in department management to solely sell their services to potential customers. The success and efficiency within this institutional environment has made it that the departments key performance indicator-demands from upper the upper management are based on a sales structure that requires little or no proactive sales. The inducements within the regulative institutional environment thus has a big impact on their decision making when they are trying to maintain a financial stability in relation to the company’s upper management. With the current structure they have been placed in an institutional comfort zone in which they will be stuck within if no change is made.