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World Humanism pp 63–80Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage: The Case of IKEA

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Part of the book series: Humanism in Business Series ((HUBUS))

Abstract

I recently co-authored an article with stakeholder theorist R. Edward Freeman in which we introduce the concept of ‘Scandinavian cooperative advantage’ to the field of strategic management (Strand and Freeman, forthcoming). Scandinavian cooperative advantage refers to the general tendency of companies in a Scandinavian context to implement a value creating strategy based on cooperating with their stakeholders that results in superior value creation. Unlike with the concept of competitive advantage (Porter 1980, 1985) that emphasizes competition between stakeholders, a fundamental component of achieving a cooperative advantage is the adoption of a ‘cooperative strategic posture’ in which a company’s stakeholders are initially considered as potential cooperation partners with whom to create value.

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Authors
  1. Robert Strand
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Supply Chain Management — Procurement and Logistics, EBS Business School, Germany

    Shiban Khan

  2. Goethe Business School, Frankfurt, Germany

    Wolfgang Amann

Copyright information

© 2013 Robert Strand

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Strand, R. (2013). Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage: The Case of IKEA. In: Khan, S., Amann, W. (eds) World Humanism. Humanism in Business Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137378491_5

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