This article explores the role of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in retailers’ corporate strategy and is based on reviewing multiple qualitative case studies of companies in the Swedish food retail sector. The article proposes that the role of logistics for what is referred to in this paper as modern retailers is twofold: to create profitability and to support growth and market expansion. International modern retailers are empirically compared with similar companies in the Swedish market. The dominating Swedish food retailers have taken command in the food supply chain but are primarily concerned with traditional logistics roles in cost cutting. This role is perfectly fine as long as the strategic intent of the companies is focused on market retention and not on geographical expansion and/or new marketing or store concepts. We argue that the success of modern retailers in terms of growth rate, profitability, and market expansion is explained to a large extent by the role of logistics in corporate strategy—when the role for supporting growth and increasing customer value from high-performance supply capabilities is a driver for market expansion. However, in many of our cases the traditional logistics roles of cutting costs and lead-times is still the dominating pattern that limits the possibility of expanding into new markets. Better knowledge of logistics’ role in retail corporate strategy can help companies develop and improve their strategic intent as well as redefine the role of logistics.

This book aims to provide an illustration of the diversity that characterises contemporary Nordic research in the field of retail. The book draws on a large variety of methods, describes a variety of retail sectors and covers a large number of retail phenomena. The book is suitable for researchers, graduate students and professionals who want to learn more about contemporary retailing research

Den här rapporten sammanfattar ett forskningsprojekt, Logistik i svensk handel, som har pågått under perioden juli 2009 t.o.m. februari 2011 och som är finansierat av Handelns Utvecklingsråd.

En utgångspunkt och hypotes för projektet var att det finns avgörande branschmässiga skillnader i sättet att arbeta med logistikfrågor. En hypotes som har testats mot empirin, vilket har lett till slutsatsen att logistiken endast i begränsad omfattning är branschspecifik och att branschtillhörighet inte är den avgörande faktorn för hur logistiken utformas för handelsföretag. En viktigare faktor, är hur butikerna drivs visavi centrala enheter, hur integrationen ser ut mellan logistikstrategi och inköps- respektive marknadsstrategi, samt hur systemgränserna för logistiken definieras.

Genom hela arbetet har vi jämfört den logistikbild vi har sett med en ”ideal bild”, i form av logistiken i internationell ”mega-retailing”, vilket idag representerar ”best practice” inom logistik och där logistiken är en integrerad del av företagens affärsmodell och ett direkt stöd för företagets lönsamhet och tillväxt. Den jämförelsen visar att det är mycket stora skillnader i logistikkompetens och mognad mellan olika företag och att logistik inom många handelsföretag fortfarande är ett område med stor förbättringspotential.

Förutom den här rapporten har projektet genererat en lång rad akademiska artiklar som är publicerade i journaler och/eller har presenterats på konferenser och seminarier. Vi har varit i kontakt med ett stort antal, kollegor, företag och forskare i Sverige och andra länder för att samla material. Ett stort tack till alla de som har bidragit med material till projektet.

Ett speciellt tack till Andreas Hedlund på Handelns Utvecklingsråd, som förutom finansiellt stöd har backat upp projektet med seminarier arrangerade av Handelns utvecklingsråd.

Linköping i Maj 2011

Mats Abrahamsson   Jakob Rehme   Erik Sandberg

In order to successfully move "from products to solutions", companies need to redesign their business model. Nevertheless, service oriented BMs in product-centric firms are under-investigated in the literature: very few works develop a scheme of analysis of such BMs. To provide a first step into closing this gap, we propose a new framework to describe service-oriented BMs, pointing out the main BM components and related PSS characteristics. Thus, the proposed framework aims to help companies to take into account the relevant elements that need to be designed to successfully implement a service-oriented BM and thus guide strategic decisions. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The discussion about business models has gained considerable attention in the last decade. Business model frameworks have been developed in the literature as management methods helping companies to comprehend and analyse their current business logic and guide the deployment of new strategies. In response to calls for a deeper understanding of the application of a business model approach to product-service systems (PSS), this study develops a two-level hierarchical framework that (i) includes a set of components with pertinent, second-order variables to take into account when undergoing the shift from products to solutions; (ii) supports industrial companies, especially SMEs, in designing their future business model and in consistently planning the actions needed to implement it. The framework was applied and refined within real-life settings. The application to KINE - a robot solutions supplier - shows how key challenges faced by servitization firms may be thoroughly addressed through the adoption of a business model perspective.

Universitet och högskolor bidrar till samhällsutvecklingen genom att forskningsbaserad kunskap tillämpas av olika aktörer i samhället. För att möta dagens och morgondagens samhällsutmaningar utgör således kunskapsutbyte och samverkan mellan lärosäten och samhället en värdefull möjlighet. Att ha starka relationer med samhällets aktörer identifieras också som viktigt i utvecklingen av ett internationellt starkt lärosäte.

Samverkan i högre utbildning främjar samhällets förändringsförmåga och stärker utbildningens kvalitet, men samverkan förbereder också studenterna för ett livslångt lärande och underlättar övergången mellan utbildning och arbetsliv. Ett lärosäte i nära samverkan med aktörer i samhället är ett relevant lärosäte, det vill säga ett lärosäte som är till nytta för sin omvärld och för sina medarbetare och studenter.

Ett grundläggande problem vad gäller möjligheterna att integrera samverkan i akademisk utbildning står att finna i statens fördelning av medel till lärosätena. De statliga medlen utgår nämligen i två separata anslag, ett vardera för de båda huvuduppdragen utbildning och forskning. Samverkan kan sägas ingå i bägge uppdragen. Till skillnad från forskningssamverkan finns det för utbildningssamverkan ingen särskild uppföljning och inte heller några ekonomiska incitament. Utvärdering av forskning och utbildning bör således breddas så att kvalitetsstärkande samverkansinslag också inkluderas i resursfördelningsprinciperna. Statens bristande strukturer för fördelning och uppföljning återspeglas i hur lärosätena fördelar resurser till och följer upp samverkan: lärare ges sällan resurser (i form av särskild tid) för att på ett pedagogiskt genomtänkt sätt kunna inkludera samverkansinslag i undervisningen; samverkan är sällan meriterande eller lönegrundande; och den utbildningssamverkan som bedrivs följs sällan upp – varken på institutions-, fakultets- eller lärosätesnivå. Samma sak kan sägas gälla på nationell nivå – det samverkande lärosätet erhåller inga extra anslag och det bestraffas ej heller för försummelse av detsamma. Att göra samverkan till en integrerad del av utbildningen innebär att samverkan bör ingå i de pedagogiska modeller som lärare använder för att leda studenternas kunskapsutveckling mot de mål som finns angivna i kurs- och utbildningsplaner. Det betyder också att arbetet med samverkan bör inkluderas i processer för styrning, planering och uppföljning av utbildning och undervisning på såväl kurs- och programnivå som på institutions-, fakultets- och lärosätesnivå. Att göra samverkan till en integrerad del av utbildningen är att sträva mot att externa aktörer ska bli en självklar del i den dagliga verksamheten – för studenter såväl som för medarbetare och för de organisationer man samverkar med. För att svenska lärosäten ska ges en realistisk möjlighet att göra samverkan till en integrerad del av utbildningsverksamheten krävs det framför allt följande:

• att politiker och departement utformar ett fördelningssystem där framgångsrika samverkansinsatser inom utbildningen leder till en förstärkning av resursbasen på lärosätena;
• att lärosätesledningar tar tydlig ställning för samverkansfrågan i sina strategiska styrdokument och att samverkan införs i lärosätenas kvalitetssäkringssystem för utbildning, samt att lärosätena inför system för att styra och följa upp samverkan i utbildningen på lärosätesövergripande nivå;
• att ledningen för fakulteter, institutioner eller motsvarande omsätter lärosätets strategiska åtaganden i handlingsplaner och lokala styrdokument samt utformar system för dokumentation, styrning och uppföljning av samverkan i utbildningsprogram;
• att lärare samt kurs- och programansvariga inför samverkan i utbildningens styrande dokument (t.ex. kurs- och utbildningsplaner) samt i den ordinarie undervisningsverksamheten.

Dessutom bör lärosätena – både gemensamt men också vart och ett för sig – införa system och karriärvägar där medarbetares insatser i det vardagliga samverkansarbetet uppmärksammas och belönas.

Mot bakgrund av detta kan man konstatera att det är angeläget att lärosätenas strategiska arbete avseende utveckling och uppföljning av samverkan i utbildningen vidareutvecklas. Men, med vilka verktyg, var i verksamheten och på vilka sätt?

I följande skrift samlas erfarenheter och goda exempel gjorda inom ramen för ett flerårigt lärosätesövergripande samarbetsprojekt, Samverkanssäkrade utbildningsprogram, där utgångspunkten har varit att identifiera strategier och metoder för att integrera samverkan i utbildningsprogram. Målet har varit att undersöka och beskriva hur samverkan kan vara ett medel som bidrar till att stärka utbildningens kvalitet och relevans, samt ge förslag på hur vägen till samverkanssäkrad utbildning kan se ut.

Den centrala slutsatsen är att samverkan, när den är en integrerad del av utbildningen, bidrar till kvalitet och säkerställer att utbildningen blir till nytta för samhället. Det finns också andra vinster med att bedriva ett systematiskt samverkansarbete, till exempel att det leder till pedagogisk utveckling för undervisande personal, att det ökar förutsättningarna för ett utmaningsbaserat lärande med studenten i centrum, att det underlättar övergången från studier till arbetsliv, och att det möjliggör fördjupade relationer med den värld lärosätet finns i. Resan mot samverkanssäkrad utbildning är, med andra ord, mödan väl värd.

Universitet och högskolor bidrar till samhällsutvecklingen genom att forskningsbaserad kunskap tillämpas av olika aktörer i samhället. För att möta dagens och morgondagens samhällsutmaningar utgör således kunskapsutbyte och samverkan mellan lärosäten och samhället en värdefull möjlighet. Att ha starka relationer med samhällets aktörer identifieras också som viktigt i utvecklingen av ett internationellt starkt lärosäte.

Samverkan i högre utbildning främjar samhällets förändringsförmåga och stärker utbildningens kvalitet, men samverkan förbereder också studenterna för ett livslångt lärande och underlättar övergången mellan utbildning och arbetsliv. Ett lärosäte i nära samverkan med aktörer i samhället är ett relevant lärosäte, det vill säga ett lärosäte som är till nytta för sin omvärld och för sina medarbetare och studenter.

Ett grundläggande problem vad gäller möjligheterna att integrera samverkan i akademisk utbildning står att finna i statens fördelning av medel till lärosätena. De statliga medlen utgår nämligen i två separata anslag, ett vardera för de båda huvuduppdragen utbildning och forskning. Samverkan kan sägas ingå i bägge uppdragen. Till skillnad från forskningssamverkan finns det för utbildningssamverkan ingen särskild uppföljning och inte heller några ekonomiska incitament. Utvärdering av forskning och utbildning bör således breddas så att kvalitetsstärkande samverkansinslag också inkluderas i resursfördelningsprinciperna. Statens bristande strukturer för fördelning och uppföljning återspeglas i hur lärosätena fördelar resurser till och följer upp samverkan: lärare ges sällan resurser (i form av särskild tid) för att på ett pedagogiskt genomtänkt sätt kunna inkludera samverkansinslag i undervisningen; samverkan är sällan meriterande eller lönegrundande; och den utbildningssamverkan som bedrivs följs sällan upp – varken på institutions-, fakultets- eller lärosätesnivå. Samma sak kan sägas gälla på nationell nivå – det samverkande lärosätet erhåller inga extra anslag och det bestraffas ej heller för försummelse av detsamma. Att göra samverkan till en integrerad del av utbildningen innebär att samverkan bör ingå i de pedagogiska modeller som lärare använder för att leda studenternas kunskapsutveckling mot de mål som finns angivna i kurs- och utbildningsplaner. Det betyder också att arbetet med samverkan bör inkluderas i processer för styrning, planering och uppföljning av utbildning och undervisning på såväl kurs- och programnivå som på institutions-, fakultets- och lärosätesnivå. Att göra samverkan till en integrerad del av utbildningen är att sträva mot att externa aktörer ska bli en självklar del i den dagliga verksamheten – för studenter såväl som för medarbetare och för de organisationer man samverkar med. För att svenska lärosäten ska ges en realistisk möjlighet att göra samverkan till en integrerad del av utbildningsverksamheten krävs det framför allt följande:

• att politiker och departement utformar ett fördelningssystem där framgångsrika samverkansinsatser inom utbildningen leder till en förstärkning av resursbasen på lärosätena;
• att lärosätesledningar tar tydlig ställning för samverkansfrågan i sina strategiska styrdokument och att samverkan införs i lärosätenas kvalitetssäkringssystem för utbildning, samt att lärosätena inför system för att styra och följa upp samverkan i utbildningen på lärosätesövergripande nivå;
• att ledningen för fakulteter, institutioner eller motsvarande omsätter lärosätets strategiska åtaganden i handlingsplaner och lokala styrdokument samt utformar system för dokumentation, styrning och uppföljning av samverkan i utbildningsprogram;
• att lärare samt kurs- och programansvariga inför samverkan i utbildningens styrande dokument (t.ex. kurs- och utbildningsplaner) samt i den ordinarie undervisningsverksamheten.

Dessutom bör lärosätena – både gemensamt men också vart och ett för sig – införa system och karriärvägar där medarbetares insatser i det vardagliga samverkansarbetet uppmärksammas och belönas.

Mot bakgrund av detta kan man konstatera att det är angeläget att lärosätenas strategiska arbete avseende utveckling och uppföljning av samverkan i utbildningen vidareutvecklas. Men, med vilka verktyg, var i verksamheten och på vilka sätt?

I följande skrift samlas erfarenheter och goda exempel gjorda inom ramen för ett flerårigt lärosätesövergripande samarbetsprojekt, Samverkanssäkrade utbildningsprogram, där utgångspunkten har varit att identifiera strategier och metoder för att integrera samverkan i utbildningsprogram. Målet har varit att undersöka och beskriva hur samverkan kan vara ett medel som bidrar till att stärka utbildningens kvalitet och relevans, samt ge förslag på hur vägen till samverkanssäkrad utbildning kan se ut.

Den centrala slutsatsen är att samverkan, när den är en integrerad del av utbildningen, bidrar till kvalitet och säkerställer att utbildningen blir till nytta för samhället. Det finns också andra vinster med att bedriva ett systematiskt samverkansarbete, till exempel att det leder till pedagogisk utveckling för undervisande personal, att det ökar förutsättningarna för ett utmaningsbaserat lärande med studenten i centrum, att det underlättar övergången från studier till arbetsliv, och att det möjliggör fördjupade relationer med den värld lärosätet finns i. Resan mot samverkanssäkrad utbildning är, med andra ord, mödan väl värd.

Purpose: Companies engage in business relationships for a variety of reasons, including specialization, product development, and building competitive networks. Research has demonstrated that mergers and acquisitions (Mandamp;As) may challenge ongoing business relationships. The purpose of this article is to investigate whether and how competition authorities consider business relationships when evaluating Mandamp;As. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanMethodology: The article uses the documentation from 450 Mandamp;As reported to the Swedish competition authority to capture the way in which an authority evaluates Mandamp;As. The Swedish competition authority evaluation corresponds to other national and international evaluation procedures. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanFindings: The findings indicate that the competition authorities neglect an important aspect of business life, namely companies forming business relationships. The competition authorities evaluate Mandamp;As on the basis of risk for price increases, and consequently disregard such issues as heterogeneity in demand and offerings, and values built into existing business relationships. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanOriginality/Value/Contribution: The article contributes to research on business relationships through exploring how a public authority deals with such relationships. It also contributes to research on mergers and acquisitions through examining how these activities are evaluated by competition authorities. Furthermore, the article contributes to competition research by reflecting on competition law concerning Mandamp;A regulations in relation to business relationships.

Based on a questionnaire focusing on the existence of various types of relation and sent to the Örnsköldsvik Industrial Group in 1987 and 1998, an effort to capture the dynamics is made. After a statistical analysis of the data obtained, it can be concluded that the structure of the industry has changed only marginally but that the companies that have been members of the industrial group for many years do have more relations with each other. These relations both relate to buyer-seller relationships as co-operation.

This article emphasise the importance of coordination in Third Party Logistics (TPL) and describes how coordination can be managed. This is inspired by Key Account Management (KAM) literature and supported by empirical evidence. Buyers of TPL services currently perceive KAM as focusing on making sales and on negotiating contracts. This article proposes that KAM may have a material impact on TPL relationships and that this function can be developed further, primarily by having a coordination role. The article contains a coordination model based on both internal and external coordination of activities within a dyad, divided into operational, functional, geographic, and development coordination. The model explains how these types of coordination can integrate functions and contents in different alliance phases to build successful TPL relationships. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Independent store managers—who constitute a substantial portion of the retailing sector—often have limited resources with which to practice the formalized, data-driven pricing processes prescribed in the literature. On that basis, this article addresses how independent convenience store managers arrive at prices and whether their practices are effective. To begin with, 33 interviews with independent convenience store managers identified six common beliefs and ten practices underlying managers’ intuitive decision making. Based on point-of-sale survey data from 1,504 customers of two convenience store chains at petrol stations, a second study compared market-oriented managerial beliefs with actual customer price perceptions and buying behaviors. The combined insights from these studies reveal that managers base their pricing decisions on beliefs that are only partially accurate and suggests how managers might benefit by altering their price-setting practices.

This research investigates the dynamic effects that the creation and implementation of business solutions have on the supplier’s network position and identity. The study is based on publicly available data from websites and industry reports, as well as interviews with key decision makers in industrial firms and their networks. It contributes to business marketing literature by modelling the dynamic changes that organisational networks experience when organisational actors interact to create and implement business solutions. It focuses on the concepts of network position and network identity.

Previous research on the creation and implementation of business solutions find that this is a highly interactive process that reshapes markets, introduces new actors, and makes redundant other actors to the focal company network. Overall, the wider business environment where organisational actors operate is affected. Dynamic changes on the network level occur despite the parties' intentions and are also difficult to predict. Nevertheless, the effects on the shape of the network become quite apparent, and affect the parties' rights and obligations as perceived by other organizations; that is, the changes on the network shape affect organizations’ network position. As the process of creation of business solutions evolves, both customer and supplier find themselves interacting with new companies and organisations. This change requires the learning of new norms and rules, and creates opportunities to develop new skills. The introduction of new parties onto the network changes the set of resources and capabilities that the supplier can access and thus make available to their customers. Customers, then, construe the supplier’s network identity differently, eventually more capable than the network identity of competitors, which may create and lead to sustained competitive advantage of the supplier. To conclude, this paper portrays how the network identity changes as a consequence of the parties’ interaction in creating and developing business solutions.

This research investigates the dynamic effects that the creation and implementation of business solutions have on the supplier’s network position and identity. The study is based on publicly available data from websites and industry reports, as well as interviews with key decision makers in industrial firms and their networks. It contributes to business marketing literature by modelling the dynamic changes that organisational networks experience when organisational actors interact to create and implement business solutions. It focuses on the concepts of network position and network identity.

Previous research on the creation and implementation of business solutions find that this is a highly interactive process that reshapes markets, introduces new actors, and makes redundant other actors to the focal company network. Overall, the wider business environment where organisational actors operate is affected. Dynamic changes on the network level occur despite the parties' intentions and are also difficult to predict. Nevertheless, the effects on the shape of the network become quite apparent, and affect the parties' rights and obligations as perceived by other organizations; that is, the changes on the network shape affect organizations’ network position. As the process of creation of business solutions evolves, both customer and supplier find themselves interacting with new companies and organisations. This change requires the learning of new norms and rules, and creates opportunities to develop new skills. The introduction of new parties onto the network changes the set of resources and capabilities that the supplier can access and thus make available to their customers. Customers, then, construe the supplier’s network identity differently, eventually more capable than the network identity of competitors, which may create and lead to sustained competitive advantage of the supplier. To conclude, this paper portrays how the network identity changes as a consequence of the parties’ interaction in creating and developing business solutions.

A broad, dynamic network perspective on solution processes remains scarce. This article presents the process of developing and implementing customer solutions and its effects on the wider business environment by investigating customers and suppliers in the global mining industry (Australia, Chile, and Sweden), analyzing the deployment of a new customer solution, and assessing the changes to the competitive environment and focal firms' relationships with other customers and suppliers. It shows that the forces that drive customer and supplier interests and motivation to co-develop customer solutions may change over time, thus redefining the aim and scope of solutions and creating failure risks. Customers present problems; suppliers respond, on the basis of not only the feasibility of the customer-specific solution but also of their evaluation of future solutions in a broader market; then suppliers aim to standardize successful solutions across markets. Customers want close supplier relationships and unique solutions but also like standardized and repeatable solutions, so they can share development costs with competitors and expose the supplier to competition to avoid lock-in effects. From a network perspective, a novel solution can have a market-shaping effect and evoke reactions from other actors who want to enhance their market position. However, these changes are not necessarily deliberate, and the dynamics that market introductions of solutions trigger may be difficult to predict.

The purchasing strategies in the construction industry have been considered by many writers in construction management as short-term and arms-length. However, a different picture is portrayed in the manufacturing industry, where the purchasing strategies are mostly long-term to secure supply for production. Industrialized building is at the crossroad between construction and manufacturing, which raises the question of what purchasing strategies are applied. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Kraljic model (1983) can be applied in an industrialized housing factory. The purchasing strategies were studied through interviews with the CEO of a timber housing manufacturer in northern Sweden. Industrialized housing manufacturers can take advantage of standardized construction systems and secure production flows that eliminate waste and improve quality. Evidence proves that long-term relationships similar to those in the manufacturing industry also exist in the construction industry regarding factory production. The analysis of these strategies suggests that the total product offer, including logistic services, plays an important role in choosing supplier.

Many writers in construction management have been considered purchasing strategies in the construction industry as short-term and arms-length. However, a different picture is portrayed in the manufacturing industry, where purchasing strategies are often long-term to secure supply for production. Industrialized building is at crossroads between construction and manufacturing, which raises the question of what purchasing strategies are applied. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Kraljic model (1983) can be applied in industrialized housing. The purchasing strategies were studied through interviews with three top managers at three different timber-housing manufacturers in northern Sweden. Industrialized housing manufacturers can take advantage of standardized construction systems and secure production flows that eliminate waste and improve quality. Evidence proves that long-term relationships similar to those in the manufacturing industry also exist in the construction industry regarding factory production. An analysis of these strategies suggests that the total product offer in terms of customization, including logistic services, plays an important role in choosing a supplier to satisfy the needs of efficient production. A new model is developed regarding the effectiveness of the purchasing strategies on the production process, where products are classified according to value-in-production instead of their monetary value.

Product/Service System (PSS) is a different way of fulfilling customer needs by providing a bundle of products and services. PSS is by nature an interdisciplinary field of research that needs collaboration across disciplines. This research paper investigates how much interdisciplinary research has been carried in terms of insights used between two important disciplines, namely, Engineering Design and Industrial Marketing. The results show that few insights have been used across disciplines which shows a gap for further research.

This study develops and tests a model of information search in complex buying. We incorporate three categories of influences of organizational, personal and situational factors that affect information searching efforts. A sample of 96 of the largest Brazilian firms reported their use of the various influences in the decision to purchase integrated business management systems. Findings show that formalization of the organization is a key driver of information search efforts. Situational characteristics of importance, novelty and bargaining power increased the level of information search. Also, conformity of the purchasing agent and organizational centralization reduce information search efforts among the sampled Brazilian firms.

”Vi måste vara mer proaktiva” är en fras som säkerligen har dragits på många strategimöten. I såväl internationaliserade jättar som lokala småföretag, tjänsteföretag likväl som tillverkande industrier, har det i styrelserum, ledningsmöten, pratats om behovet att vara mer proaktiv. Det uppenbara är att proaktivitet ses som något positivt, något som kan hjälpa företaget bli bättre, mer konkurrenskraftigt, och så vidare. Men vad menar man egentligen med att vara proaktiv i det här sammanhanget? Och hur påverkar det egentligen företags prestationsförmåga? Harald Brege vid Linköpings Universitet har studerat proaktivitet och hur företag kan använda det för att öka effektiviteten på sina marknadsstrategier, d.v.s. deras strategier för att skapa kundvärde.

Proaktivitet är en nyckel som kan låsa upp möjligheter för företag att bli bättre på att hantera en föränderlig och komplex omvärld och stärka sin konkurrenskraft. Slår man upp ordet ”proaktiv” i SAOL får man veta att det betyder förebyggande eller förutseende, men för att kunna användas som ett verktyg för strategiutveckling behövs en mer användbar definition än så. Ur ett strategiskt perspektiv så har proaktivitet tre huvudsakliga komponenter: att vara långsiktig, att ta initiativet och att driva förändring. Det viktigaste för ett proaktivt företag är att inte vara passiva och vänta på att något händer som tvingar dem till förändring eller att bara reaktivt agera på det som finns i omvärlden. Istället så blickar man framåt, identifierar de potentiella sätt som en situation kan utvecklas på och tar sedan initiativet och agerar för att förändra situationen så att den passar företaget bättre.

Dock så räcker det inte bara att bli proaktiv och så får man stora vinster på direkten. För att proaktiviteten ska bli framgångsrik så måste ett företag dels arbeta för att skaffa en grundlig förståelse av sin omgivning, dels se till de olika delarna i deras marknadsstrategi hänger ihop och arbetar mot samma mål. Är strategin otydlig eller om företaget håller på med saker de inte har insikt i så är proaktivitet istället sannolikt att ge dåliga resultat.

Genom att arbeta för att förstå sina kunder på djupet så kan proaktiva företag snabbt komma med lösningar till behov, inklusive behov som kanske inte ens kunderna själva hade identifierat. Genom att aktivt arbeta med att förändra kunders uppfattning av vad en leverantör ska göra för dem och att påverka politiker och andra intressenter så kan proaktiva företag forma sina marknader för att bättre passa dem. Genom att driva produktutveckling som fokuserar på morgondagens produkter och att testa nya möjligheter, inte bara småförbättringar av samma gamla produkter, så kan proaktiva företag skapa innovativa nya erbjudanden som vänder upp och ner på marknaden. Dessa tre exempel belyser de tre generiska proaktiva marknadsstrategier som har identifierats: kundengagemang, marknadsformande, och innovationsledarskap.

How can firms become more successful and achieve higher business performance? How can they manage more complex and dynamic markets and maintain a high competitiveness? The answer is: through a more proactive approach to managing the market and creating customer value. This thesis explores proactive market strategies, which are firm’s proactive strategies for creating, communicating, and delivering superior value to their customers, thereby achieving superior business performance. Prior literature in market orientation has touched the area of proactiveness in firms’ approach to the market, but never properly defines proactiveness and lacks a clear connection to actual firm activities. Thus, in order to better understand how firms can gain the performance benefits from proactiveness, this thesis sets out to explore what proactiveness in a market-strategic context entails and what proactive activities firms perform in implementing their proactive market strategies.

The research is based on two papers, each detailing one of the two complementary branches of the research. The first paper presents the conceptual work, focusing on a typology of marketoriented strategic behaviors, which are important for understanding how firms can gain the potential performance benefits of market orientation and how they can achieve behavioral fit among their activities. The second paper presents the empirical work, focusing on the qualitative case study performed and the themes of proactiveness that emerged from it. These papers are then synthesized into a holistic view of proactive market strategies in the thesis.

The thesis finds that proactiveness at the firm level in a marketing context means a firm is future-oriented, initiative-taking, change-inducing, and creative. With a basis in this definition and the extensive literature on market orientation, the thesis presents conceptual developments that are important for understanding proactiveness in market strategy, such as a framework for understanding market strategies through firm activities and one for identifying and categorizing different types of proactive activities. Furthermore, the thesis gives more detailed descriptions of the case firms and how their proactive activities help them achieve success.

This results in a thorough exploration of proactive market strategies, which contributes to the marketing and strategic management literatures by clearly defining proactiveness, conceptualizing and describing proactive market strategies, and delineating proactive firm activities to better understand how firms are being proactive. In doing so, the thesis provides interesting directions for future research and presents interesting implications for managerial practice.  

Proactivity is an important driver of firm performance and for the creation of customer value on business-to-business markets. It is however not entirely clear what it is proactive firms actually do to achieve success. By investigating proactive firms' market strategies, i.e. the sets of activities they perform in order to create superior customer value, a holistic overview of the activities involved in proactive market strategies is provided. Through a case study of five proactive firms, proactive activities are identified. Using three strategic orientations—customer, competition, and innovation orientation—unique proactivity profiles are created, reflecting the patterns in the identified proactive activities. Through these profiles, three overarching proactive market strategies are forwarded: market shaping, customer engagement, and innovation leadership. These are proposed to act as generic proactive market strategies, representing coordinated proactive activities driven by multiple strategic orientations and aimed at creating customer value. These generic strategies help us understand of the role of proactivity in crafting high-performing market strategies by representing different routes to success.

Being proactive in the approach to the market has been linked to higher business performance. It is still relatively unclear, however, exactly what market activities that a firm perform in order to achieve this proactivity. The goal of this research is to explore how successful proactive firms use proactiveness in their market strategies in order to achieve higher business performance. By using a qualitative case study approach, this study takes a starting point in five successfully proactive Swedish firms and how they develop their proactive market strategies. Findings indicate three proactive themes seen in the firms; proactiveness through customer engagement, through market shaping, and through innovation leadership. The main contributions of the study are (1) a description of how firms use proactiveness to achieve success, (2) a starting point for more detailed studies of proactiveness, and (3) insight for managers as to how to apply proactiveness in their firms.

Recent research shows that firms implementing market orientation often exhibit above average business performance (Kumar et al., 2011). The core of the market orientation concept is the idea that firms create superior business performance by focusing on delivering superior customer value (Narver & Slater, 1990), which requires extensive gathering, as well as organizational dissemination, of market intelligence. However, the market environments for most firms are becoming increasingly more complex, through e.g. globalization, shorter product life-cycles, faster imitation cycles, and more fickle customers, just to mention a few influencing factors. Day (2011) describes the need for firms to become more vigilant and develop so-called adaptive capabilities, which refers to becoming better at discovering market developments earlier and being better prepared to respond and adapt to them, i.e. becoming more proactive in managing the market. Thus, market orientation in a more competitive environment must be complemented by even more refined, and proactive, approaches to the market, mirroring results by Frösén et al. (2016), who find that market orientation is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for high business performance. This points towards the need for an extended view of market orientation and proactiveness.

Proactiveness in itself is, however, not a magic bullet for managing increasing market complexity and improving business performance; for example, Chan (2006) demonstrates how the performance of proactive actions is heavily moderated by the degree of awareness of the situation, which also is indicated by Day’s (2011) focus on the need for vigilance and organizational learning. Thus, firms must find the appropriate way to be proactive in order to match their situation, likely requiring different capabilities for different firms.

This paper uses a contingency approach to investigate key factors, both internal and external, as firms reach for proactivity as a way to drive performance. The research is based on qualitative case studies of a number of Swedish firms in highly competitive environments that have been employing proactive market strategies to successfully improve business performance. The cases will be used to identify key factors, such as capabilities and business practices that have been important for these firms in becoming successful in their proactive approaches, and to identify the key challenges they have faced in doing so. The aim is to explore in what ways increased proactiveness in the market strategy of a firm can be used to improve business performance, and to investigate what factors have been deciding in enabling the firm to achieve such success.

The preliminary analyses point toward two things in particular. First, the need for a clear, long-term strategy that provides guidance for managers and salespersons regarding how to work towards future goals, including the need for a well-developed market sensing. Second, the need to build good, long-term relationships, not only with customers, but also with potential customers and various institutional actors is emphasized.

Research into market orientation and market shaping shows the potential of proactive firm behavior in achieving superior firm performance. However, these rely on an implicit definition of proactivity, making it difficult to understand the exact role of proactivity in strengthening performance. This study will investigate the role of proactivity in enabling superior firm performance through firms’ market strategies, i.e. understanding how proactive market strategies create success. First, proactivity is delineated into three proactive characteristics: being future-oriented, taking the initiative, and creating change, thus providing a more nuanced view. By using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, this study then will investigate the configurations of different forms of proactivity and market strategies that consistently lead to high performance. Thus, the study will provide a starting point for future studies into the impact of proactivity in strategic marketing.

Purpose To successfully create customer value, firms must use coherent market strategies and perform value-creating activities that enable them to develop solutions to customers needs. However, as firms exhibit differences in how they approach value creation, their market strategies will also differ. These differences among market strategies can be described through different combinations of proactivity and responsiveness, representing each firms value-creation logic. This study aims to increase understanding of how firms can improve the effectiveness of their market strategies by considering their associated value-creation logics. Design/methodology/approach The authors conceptualize market strategies as coherent sets of value-creating activities. While the types of activities within a market strategy are driven by a firms strategic orientations, how these activities are performed is influenced by its value-creation logic. With this as the foundation, the authors develop a conceptual typology of archetypal market strategies based on the different value-creation logics that influence them. Findings The authors propose four distinct market strategies - habitual, visionary, adaptive and ambidextrous - representing unique ways in which value-creation logics influence the formation of market strategies. Furthermore, the authors highlight the need for activities to reflect consistent value-creation logics to create coherent market strategies and the authors provide an exploration of the activities that enable firms to implement different types of market strategies. Originality/value The typology expands the concept of market strategy, introducing the idea of a value-creation logic of proactivity and responsiveness, and thus demonstrating the need for more in-depth consideration of the value-creating activities that constitute market strategies to better understand how firms can create superior customer value.

Modern firms increase their digitalization to improve their potential to create customer value. However, as firms become increasingly digitalized, their business models become increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure for support. Business models can be perceived as systems of activities aimed at creating and capturing value, and these activities are often distributed over business model networks, containing a focal firm and all suppliers, partners, etc. they need to perform the core activities in the business model. Digitalization not only increases the potential value creation of the business model network, but also increases reliance on digital infrastructure, such as the Internet, thereby exposing the network to a set of technical actors involved in supporting this infrastructure. Deregulation of net neutrality opens the door for such technical actors to start taking a larger role in the business model network as they seek to capture a larger share of the value their infrastructure helps support. In this paper, we explore the possible effects deregulation of net neutrality can have on the business models of digitalized firms. We find that the level of interdependency among business model network actors and technical actors leads to different outcomes, and that this interdependency is largely based on the level of digitalization in the firm and the concentration of the market for Internet services in a particular location. This exploration can be used as the foundation for policy development as well as business development to manage or prepare for new market conditions.

This paper explores how B2B firms can manage the value creation process at multi-actor touchpoints in the customer journey. We argue that B2B firms can benefit from opening up their touchpoints to multi-actor interactions between the customer, firm, partners and other customers, answering recent calls for broadening the scope of customer journeys to also include such multi-actor touchpoints. In our research we perceive the value creating process as the actors, activities and resources involved in the emergence of value through the customer journey. An ecosystem perspective is adopted to increase understanding of how firms can enhance the value creating process through the B2B customer journey. By empirically examining an industrial ecosystem, our tentative findings point towards the importance of balancing the number of touchpoints as well as designing touchpoints depending on the customer’s needs and requirements to manage the value creation process. 

  As a consequence of increased outsourcing, companies become more and more virtual organisations and dependent upon external sources to reach their strategic objectives. Here, lacking supplier performance or commitment can result in failure of the outsourcing programme that significantly risks the financial results of the outsourcing company. Consequently, when outsourcing it is important to assure that the supplier performs as expected. This study uses a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) perspective for investigating performance measurements in outsourcing. The results illustrate the importance of a process perspective when outsourcing (securing volume, high quality at the right time). Formulating a BSC for a supplier, an outsourcing company could better control/steer the supplier on an output/performance level.

Svenska industriföretag rustar idag för en ständigt ökad konkurrens, vanligtvis genom att pressa kostnaderna och anpassa sig till lägre internationella prisnivåer. Samtidigt arbetar man på att knyta kunderna närmare till sig, med ett djupare engagemang i kundernas verksamheter. Om man lyckas inträffar det paradoxala att istället för att bli utkonkurrerad av företag från lågkostnadsländer, så förstärks positionerna hos kunder och mera generellt på marknaden. En fördjupad relation uppnås genom att erbjuda en mer heltäckande lösning, ett helhetserbjudande som integreras som en viktig del i kundens verksamhet. Företagets affärsmodell styrs in mot att tjäna pengar på en redan installerad kundbas, genom att under hela erbjudandets livscykel tillföra kompletterande erbjudanden som utgår från att effektivisera kundens affärs- och produktionsprocesser. Dessa utvecklade affärsrelationer kräver en väsentligt bredare coh djupare interaktion med kunderna. Det blir viktigt för företaget att på djupet förstå kundens verksamhet och affär. Detta blir en nödvändighet för att kunna skapa och utveckla attraktiva kunderbjudanden.   

The scope of this article is a longitudinal strategic group study with a special focus on the strategic group-performance relationship. The empirical context is the Swedish Furniture Industry, a very heterogeneous industry well suited for this type of "middle-ground study" between industry and firm levels. The research questions are finding suitable strategic dimensions to use when in a next step splitting up into different strategic groups followed by an analysis of the strategic group-performance relationship. Finally, an explanatory approach is taken with the purpose of increasing our understanding of performance differences between strategic groups. The empirical investigation is a total population study of 143 companies (micro companies excluded) and the period of analysis is 2004 up to 2017. Empirical data consist of yearly income statements, public statistics, results from two questionnaires and multiple (firm) case descriptions. The explanatory part is of a qualitative nature and points out the major differences between the strategic groups regarding environmental forces and competitive advantage. Nine strategic groups are identified and stable performance differences between groups are noted which are mainly related to different demand conditions between three customer sectors - household, institutional and B2B - but also to the mix of micro product/customer segments within these sectors.

The scope of this article is an inter-industry study of the Swedish Wood Manufacturing Sector (WMS), examined from the perspective of the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm in the theoretical field of Industrial Organization. The four research questions are: (1) identify the industries within the sector, (2) construct a contextually adapted SCP model and form the basis for hypotheses of relationships between the different variables in the model, (3) establish quantitative correlations between the variables, and finally (4) present a basically qualitative, explanatory interpretive analysis. The empirical investigation is a total population study of 311 firms. Nine industries are identified, and an SCP model is presented including four explanatory variables - exposure to international competition, value-added scope, domestic demand growth potential and (domestic industry) seller concentration - and two performance variables - industry profitability (ROA) and industry growth. The combined qualitative and quantitative explanatory analysis identifies some important relationships in the SCP model. The most prominent findings are the strong negative relationships between exposure to international competition and industry profitability and industry growth. Another finding is that strong positive relationships are found between the degree of value-added scope and industry profitability and industry growth.

This paper investigates how a model for the outsourcing decision can be developed when customer and suppliers are working on a transaction orientated basis. Linked to this is that there is a stated need in literature for more research to develop models that can provide managerial guidance how much organisations should outsource and under which circumstances mixed strategies can be suitable (i.e. combining parallel production and outsourcing). The research has used a case study approach, and it was based on two leading European companies in the floor and window industries. The study identifies some main advantages and reasons for combing outsourcing with in-house parallel production. Finally, a model is formulated that will assist a company when considering outsourcing strategies.