<p>The organisational forms of companies have undergone a transformation from a hierarchal structure towards a network based form. The network form has proven to be the best structure for the current competitive environment. With technological advancements in almost every area it has become almost impossible to produce everything “in-house” and still stay competitive. This has caused an increase in the degree of outsourcing parts of the value chain to suppliers. Therefore, the competition has now moved from between companies to between entire value chains. For a manufacturing company, with a large part of the value chain outsourced to suppliers the task of setting up production in a new market brings forth new questions such as: is it possible to move an entire value chain to a new country? The purpose of this thesis is to explore what factors influence the construction of a strategic network of suppliers of a manufacturing company when entering a new market. The purpose was divided into two research questions: How is the internationalisation process performed in a strategic network situation and what factors influence the construction of a supplier structure in a world based on networks? Three multinational companies with a large part of their value chain outsourced to suppliers were chosen for interviews: Ericsson, Scania and Volvo Truck Corporation.</p><p>The internationalisation process of a manufacturing company is conducted as follows: the first step is the decision to enter a new market followed by a rather quick set up of a production plant. In this initial phase of the establishment, everything or almost everything is imported which is possible due to a global network of suppliers. The last step depends on the strategic objective with the establishment, either importing will continue or a complete organisation will be established in the country. A complete organisation is in this aspect when the company makes large investments inthe market and starts constructing a supplier network, surrounding sales and marketing functions. Factors influencing the internationalising process are: degree of networking, the type and structure of the network surrounding the company; level of knowledge, the accumulated experience of operating in foreign markets; type of market, the characteristics of the market and degree of commitment i.e. will an entire organisation be built up or will importing suffice.</p>

The organisational forms of companies have undergone a transformation from a hierarchal structure towards a network based form. The network form has proven to be the best structure for the current competitive environment. With technological advancements in almost every area it has become almost impossible to produce everything “in-house” and still stay competitive. This has caused an increase in the degree of outsourcing parts of the value chain to suppliers. Therefore, the competition has now moved from between companies to between entire value chains. For a manufacturing company, with a large part of the value chain outsourced to suppliers the task of setting up production in a new market brings forth new questions such as: is it possible to move an entire value chain to a new country? The purpose of this thesis is to explore what factors influence the construction of a strategic network of suppliers of a manufacturing company when entering a new market. The purpose was divided into two research questions: How is the internationalisation process performed in a strategic network situation and what factors influence the construction of a supplier structure in a world based on networks? Three multinational companies with a large part of their value chain outsourced to suppliers were chosen for interviews: Ericsson, Scania and Volvo Truck Corporation. The internationalisation process of a manufacturing company is conducted as follows: the first step is the decision to enter a new market followed by a rather quick set up of a production plant. In this initial phase of the establishment, everything or almost everything is imported which is possible due to a global network of suppliers. The last step depends on the strategic objective with the establishment, either importing will continue or a complete organisation will be established in the country. A complete organisation is in this aspect when the company makes large investments inthe market and starts constructing a supplier network, surrounding sales and marketing functions. Factors influencing the internationalising process are: degree of networking, the type and structure of the network surrounding the company; level of knowledge, the accumulated experience of operating in foreign markets; type of market, the characteristics of the market and degree of commitment i.e. will an entire organisation be built up or will importing suffice.

In instances where many universities offer off-campus programs in a single locale, a supplier network exists. These supplier networks, or higher education centers (HECs) are beneficial to students and regions where the programs are delivered (Baus, 2007; Peterson, 2007). Few empirical studies have focused on consortium educational environments, such as HECs and most studies of off-campus education have taken an outsider-looking-in approach. One window into the world of HECs is to examine the professional lives of administrators who work in the HEC environment. Professional life can be explored by eliciting data about work, relationships and rewards (Hirt, 2006; Hirt et al., 2006; Hirt et al., 2004).The purpose of this case study was to examine the professional lives of administrators who work at a HEC. Data collection included engaging the participants in four exercises where they created social artifacts. Diagrams, graphs, concept maps and drawings are complementary additions to the traditional interview and encourage contributions from interviewees that might not otherwise be obtained (Crilly, Blackwell, & Clarkson, 2006; Enger, 1998). Data from the social artifacts were used to customize the semi-structured interview protocol. Findings indicate that those who work at HECs define their work, in large part, by those who benefit from that work: students, communities, and member institutions. The organizational dynamics that drive the work of HEC administrators are competition, collaboration and balance. HEC professionals view their primary role as being the face of their institution or the Center in the local community. They describe their work as a culminating experience that is both rewarding and challenging. At the core of this work are the relationships that HEC professionals establish and sustain with others. These relationships are defined by resource coordination, advocacy, and appreciation. Findings suggest that institutions would benefit from engaging in greater reciprocity with HEC professionals to include expertise reciprocity, relationship reciprocity, and resource reciprocity. In general, professional life at HECs is rich, varied, challenging, but rewarding. / Ph. D.

Media ger oss närmast dagligen information om uppköp mellan större företag. Detta visar på att företagsuppköp är ett vanligt inslag i dagens affärsliv. Tidigare studier som behandlar ämnet uppköp fokuserar i huvudsak på de integrerande företagen. Det är viktigt att inte bara studera de integrerande företagen utan att även lyfta blicken och undersöka leverantörerna bakom. Vi antar i denna uppsats att leverantörer till det uppköpta företaget kommer att påverkas och även reagera på ett uppköp. Om en slutproduktstillverkare köper upp en konkurrent kan en effekt bli att hälften av leverantörerna blir överflödiga medan de kvarvarande får producera desto mer. Detta pekar på att förändringen påverkar relationen mellan företag, men också att koncentrationen av företag ger färre möjligheter till affärsrelationer. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur relationen mellan köpare och leverantör förändras när köparen blir uppköpt av en konkurrent samt hur leverantören agerar för att få en så positiv effekt som möjligt av uppköpet. Företeelsen som undersöks involverar uppköpande företag, uppköpt företag och leverantörer till det uppköpta företaget. Antalet inblandade parter gör företeelsen komplex. För att erhålla så korrekt information som möjligt har vi valt en explorativ undersökning och en kvalitativ metod. Ansatsen är en fallstudie och fallet är från småhustillverkarbranschen, Hjältevadshus uppköp av Modulenthus. Informationsinsamlingen har gjorts genom intervjuer, både med integrerande företagen och med leverantörerna. Det är viktigt för leverantören att ha förståelse för sin position i leverantörsnätverket, för att förstå relationsförändringar som en konsekvens av ett uppköp. Det är viktigt att veta eftersom det avgör hur enkelt eller komplicerat det är att bli utbytt. Typen av produkt, graden av kompexitet, eller tjänst som leverantören erbjuder spelar en betydande roll för effekten ett uppköp kan ha på leverantören. Typen av köpare-leverantörsrelation är också betydande för att förstå relationsförändringarna vid ett uppköp. Relationens grad av styrka och karaktär bestämmer om en förändring kommer att inträffa som en följd av uppköpet. Koncentrationstrenden genom uppköp minskar antalet företag på marknaden. Om inte leverantören ser ett uppköp som en möjlighet och är aktiv i förändringsprocessen, är risken stor att det uppköpande företaget istället kommer att använda redan etablerade leverantörer med en utvecklad relation till uppköparen. Genom att begränsa köparens handlingsmöjligheter ökar leverantören sin makt. Ett alternativ för leverantören är att få tillverka en större andel av köparens behov, vilket ökar leverantörens makt i den enskilda relationen. Det är svårt att utveckla alternativ till en köpare som köper en stor andel av leverantörens totala produktion. En möjlighet är att de andra köparna ökar sina inköp, men troligtvis måste leverantören finna nya, stora köpare om en stor produktionsandel ska omplaceras. / The media provides us almost daily with information regarding acquisitions between large companies. This indicates that acquisitions of companies play a frequent role in today’s business life.  Earlier studies on acquisitions focus mainly on the integrated companies. It is important not only to study the integrated companies, but to also cast an eye at the suppliers of the acquired companies. In this thesis we assume that the suppliers of an acquired company will be affected by the acquisition and that they also will react upon it. If an end-product manufacturer acquires a competitor one effect could be that half of the suppliers are made redundant, while the ones left will have to produce a lot more. This indicates that the change affects the relations between companies, but also that the concentration of companies gives fewer possibilities to initiate business relations. The aim of the thesis is to investigate how the relationship between a buyer and a supplier changes due to the buyer being acquired by one of its competitors. The aim is also to investigate which measures that are taken by the supplier to gain as positive effects as possible from the acquisition.  The occurrence being investigated involves an acquiring company, a company being acquired and suppliers of the acquired company. The number of parties involved makes the occurrence complex. To get as accurate information as possible we have chosen an exploratory study and a qualitative method.  The approach in the thesis is a case study and the case is taken from the house manufacturing industry, namely Hjältevadshus’ acquisition of Modulenthus. The information has been gathered through interviews with the integrated companies as well as with the suppliers. It is important for the supplier to have an understanding of its position in the network of suppliers, in order to understand which relationship changes that can occur due to an acquisition. The reason why it is important is because it determines how easy or how hard it is to be replaced.  The type of product, the degree of complexity, or what kind of service the supplier offers plays a significant part in how the supplier might be affected by the acquisition. It is also important to understand the relationship between the buyer and the supplier in order to understand relationship changes due to the acquisition. The relationship’s degree of strength and character decides whether a change will occur as a result of the acquisition. The trend of concentrating through acquisitions decreases the number of companies in the market. If a supplier does not look upon an acquisition as a possibility and plays an active part in the process of change, there is a major risk that the acquiring company will use established suppliers, with a well-developed relationship with the acquiring company, instead. By limiting the buyer’s possibilities for actions, the supplier increases its power. An alternative for the supplier is to get the opportunity to manufacture a larger part of the buyer’s needs, which increases the supplier’s power in that particular relationship. It is difficult for the supplier to develop alternatives to a buyer that used to purchase a large proportion of the supplier’s total production. One possibility is that the other buyers increase their purchases, but most likely the supplier will be forced to find new, large buyers if a major part of the production has to be relocated.