Agneta Sundström

Local Management Response to Corporative Restructuring: A Case Study of a Company Town

This is a case study of top management in a Swedish pulp industry at Skutskar. After decades of proactive response to change, starting in 1976 the pulp industry experienced a rapid and significant restructuring. In 1992, and after a prolonged hold on local investments, came a large-scale investment with major labor reductions, which created a local crisis. The aim of this study is to analyze how top managers of a local business plant perceive and explain their citizenship relationship to the community of the company town during a transition period from 1976 to 2007. Our study shows that too much reliance on top management cost reduction requirements and not caring, or underscoring, local social concerns created gaps and local stakeholder distrust. We discuss how prolonged distrust of the company to bear social responsibility ended up in a broken relationship between the company and the local community. Our case indicates at least two problems that must be handled for successful corporate citizenship. First, the traditional control-oriented management view is too narrow and not adjusted to todays citizenship reality, including how to handle corporate social responsibility. Second, we can see a possibility where the conceived needs on a global corporate level may lead to situations to obscure local needs and consequences.

Market and innovation orientation typology: proposition and illustrations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology based on the market orientation (MO) and innovation orientation (IO) of firms, and to illustrate the extent to which public housing companies (PHCs) fit into this framework. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study of 11 PHCs in central Sweden was conducted to classify their positions in the typology. Interviews with semi-structured and open-ended questions were used to collect the data. Findings – Four PHC types were identified by combining high and low MO and IO. This study offers insights on the importance of combining MO and IO. The overall findings show that MO and IO combination is not static and must be handled according to context. The MO-IO typology developed could be tested in a quantitative study on a larger sample of public or combined public and private housing companies. Research limitations/implications – An empirical study comparing public and private housing companies on the basis of the proposed typology in relation to...