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Linking Strategy and Inter-organizational Relationships: The Case of Volvo and Scania

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Strategy, Control and Competitive Advantage

Part of the book series: Management for Professionals ((MANAGPROF))

Abstract

Strategic congruence and integrated control to improve strategy continuously are seen as one of the ways towards creating competitive advantage and is the central theme of this book (Nilsson et al. 2011; Nilsson and Rapp 2005). This chapter extends the discussion in Chap. 4 in this volume, presenting Scania as an example of how strategic awareness and priorities are conveyed by the integrated management controls of the organization. The example of Scania is further explored in a discussion on how different strategies adopted by two companies result in different control systems for managing inter-organizational supplier relationships. Scania’s truck manufacturing is compared to Volvo’s truck business, which has also demonstrated sustainable management control systems and a strong culture of strategic planning and performance controls leading to goal achievement.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vilnius, Lithuania

    Zita Ambrutytė

Authors
  1. Zita Ambrutytė
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Correspondence to Zita Ambrutytė .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University Economic Information Systems, Linköping, Sweden

    Erik Jannesson

  2. Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Fredrik Nilsson

  3. Institute for Management of Innovation and Technology, Gothenburg, Ljusterö, Sweden

    Birger Rapp

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Ambrutytė, Z. (2014). Linking Strategy and Inter-organizational Relationships: The Case of Volvo and Scania. In: Jannesson, E., Nilsson, F., Rapp, B. (eds) Strategy, Control and Competitive Advantage. Management for Professionals. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39134-7_7

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