Strategic change and organizational learning in two 'Swedish' construction firms

Lars Huemer and Katarina Östergren

Construction Management and Economics, 2000, vol. 18, issue 6, 635-642

Abstract: The two largest construction companies in Sweden, NCC and Skanska, previously have acted according to what here is called a multi-domestic strategy. Such a strategy implies that each market is treated essentially in isolation. Due to perceived pressures for local responsiveness, the firms have focused on utilizing local knowledge and experience, while failing to obtain economies of scale and to learn from the different localities. A combination of changing perceptions of being local and a growing number of home markets makes possible a strategic approach that is inter-domestic in nature. This approach stresses the importance of learning and of coordinating the experience a construction firm achieves in many different localities. Therefore learning is seen not only as a process of adaptation to the environment, but also as an evolutionary process built on an organization's identity, which is created by both structural and individual factors. The identity of an organization helps us to understand its ability to learn.

Date: 2000
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/014461900414682 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:conmgt:v:18:y:2000:i:6:p:635-642

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RCME20

DOI: 10.1080/014461900414682

Access Statistics for this article

Construction Management and Economics is currently edited by Will Hughes

More articles in Construction Management and Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().