The fast moving global market has pushed the companies into becoming more and more global and today some companies are even born in the global world. These companies that operate on many markets at the same time are referred to as born global. This study attempts to connect the context of a born global company to the topic of innovation. Literature explains that a company’s level of innovation is related to their competitive advantage in the industry or sector. This thesis concentrates on the trading sector and tries to evaluate how the internal environment of a born global company influences the development of processes of innovation, whereas internal factors are evaluated the organizational structure, strategy and culture. Since this study is an explorative research on how certain internal factors can be of influence on the process of innovation in a company, we have chosen to conduct a qualitative single case study, for which we have addressed ourselves to the born global trading company The Bufab Group, a worldwide trader of fasteners and small parts. The Group has its head quarter in Värnamo, Sweden and has around 35 sister companies around the world. Our empirical findings show how this trading company uses its structure, strategy and culture to influence their processes of innovation. The six innovations that have been developed in the last five years and that are a result of the ongoing process of innovation are the implementation of an automated warehouse, realizing a universal ERP system, employing the EDICOM software, using the concept of a HUB-system, introducing an Educational Manager and the introduction of a Global Account Team. For the reason that the study is a single case study this research cannot provide any general conclusions for the sector of trading. However, our in-depth study of the Bufab Group as a born global trading company has taught us that their structure, strategy and culture show to have a positive effect on the processes of innovation. Firstly it shows how the born global context is of influence on the internal factors of the organizations. Secondly, it shows how a company that has one centralised strategy for the whole group with a relatively centralised decision making system can still manage to maintain a rather low hierarchical structure with short communication lines and an open and transparent culture. Lastly, all of these forces together have managed to enhance good communication, knowledge sharing and the creation of ideas that have been of influence on the enablement of the process of innovation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-15554 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Hensbergen, Marleen, Georgievska, Ana |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för ekonomi och teknik (SET), Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för ekonomi och teknik (SET) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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