Strategic renewal in the Swedish industry

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the project was to study how strategic renewal within Swedish and foreign-owned manufacturing companies in Sweden is affected by being included in global value chains. We collected a large empirical material, incl. company interviews, which generally show that the renewal has not been negatively affected. This is an interesting, important observation to understand the dynamics of the manufacturing industry in Sweden, in addition, our collected data and the business contacts we have built up can be valuable in future studies.

Expected results and effects

Our results show that strategic renewal within manufacturing companies in Sweden generally does not appear to be adversely affected if these firms are included in global value chains, either among Swedish or foreign-owned companies. This is an interesting, important observation to understand the dynamics of the manufacturing industry in Sweden and can be an important part of shaping Swedish innovation policy where maintaining international contacts and collaboration is essential.

Planned approach and implementation

The study was based on empirical data from over 50 Swedish and foreign-owned engineering firms in Sweden. 24 interviews were made at medium-sized firms, selected because they could be presumed to be subject to strong conversion pressure. The Swedish and foreign-owned firms were compared in terms of their strategic renewal efforts and whether this was affected as a result of the firms´ operations being included in global value chains. We found small differences between Swedish and foreign-owned firms, and it was generally not to the disadvantage of being included in global value chains.