ABSTRACT
Over the last 7 years, the Swedish economy entered a state of increased turbulence and decreased solidity. Despite the recovery during 1996 and 1997, the outlook for the Swedish economy was still gloomy, while the export industry reached record volumes. Though the manufacturing sector reduced employment by some 250.000 people during the period from 1991 to 1993, total output could again reach record levels from 1993 and onwards. The prime reason being an annual productivity development that never dropped below 5% and reached 13.1% in 1994 (Dagens Industri, 1996). In the midst of the turbulence of the early 1990s, a majority of Swedish industrial manufacturers embarked on a change route, aiming towards increased competitiveness and flexibility. The main driver for this transformation was time-based, i.e. reduction of lead-times in several aspects together with organisational redesign (Berger and Lindberg, 1997).
Competitive development, organisation and people management
