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- Edvardsson, Bo, et al.
(author)
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'The IKEA Saga' : Service Culture and Service Strategy
- 2002
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In: Service Industries Journal. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0264-2069 .- 1743-9507. ; 22:4, s. 153-186
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Not much attention has been devoted to the relationship between service culture and service strategy, including services marketing strategy. The assumption that service culture drives service strategy has not been empirically examined. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the strategic role that service culture and service strategy have for business development in a long-term perspective. The empirical basis for our discussion comes from IKEA, the largest retail furniture firm in the world. Our results clearly show the importance of a strong and dynamic service culture for market and business success
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- Lindblom, Ted, et al.
(author)
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Cross-Border Bank Mergers and Acquisitions in the EU
- 2002
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In: Service Industries Journal. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0264-2069 .- 1743-9507. ; 22:4, s. 41-72
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Beginning at the end of the 1990s the banking industry entered into a new phase of consolidation. The US market is experiencing an increasing number of inter-state bank mergers and acquisitions, whereas cross-border mergers between banks in different countries are becoming ever more common in the EU. This paper examines the motives and gains from large cross-border bank mergers by using what has been called a 'balanced scorecard approach'. It assesses firm performance by using both financial and non-financial (strategic) variables. The paper is explorative and covers a select literature review of bank mergers and acquisitions in general and an analysis of the Nordbanken-Merita merger based on the balanced scorecards approach in particular. It is shown that the balanced scorecard may be a very useful technique to analyse the complexity of large cross-border bank mergers and thereby it adds to our over-all understanding of bank mergers across borders. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the growth strategy behind the merger of the two banks may be organised within the framework of a balanced scorecard highlighting the strategic fit between them. Our findings imply that the strategic fit was of a complementary nature. The banks were completing each other rather well in the different perspectives of the model. The success of the merger will therefore very much depend on the capability of cross-utilising the different characteristics and strengths of the merging banks.
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- Sundin, Elisabeth
(author)
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Gender-determined Jobs and Job-rotation - Problems and Possibilities
- 2001
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In: The Service Industries Journal. - 0264-2069. ; 21:3, s. 87-112
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of the article is to discuss and analyse the strategy for quality introduced by a Swedish daily-ware retailer and especially what role organisational rationality, irrationality and gender plays for some aspects of this strategy. The strategy was motivated by the intense competition. One of its key components was work rotation in the stores. Six out of 90 stores were studied. In five of these work rotation was selective: the most female-labelled duty, cashier work, and the most male-labelled, butchering, were excluded. In the sixth store the work rotation was total. Before analysing the results, the national, sector and company contexts are presented. The analytical tools and concepts are drawn from different feminist organisational researchers. The main conclusions are that decisions made by top managers are necessary but not sufficient to create changes in organisations. The importance of middle management is emphasised although it is obvious that power is present everywhere. These findings indicate that there is not one all-embracing decision behind the outcomes but rather many small decisions made by both women and men on all hierarchical levels. The outcome also suggests that economic rationalities are weaker than gender rationalities, an outcome which ought to influence organisational theories.
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