Omvärldsanalys och dess inverkan på strategiutformandet i svenska verkstadsföretag

Sammanfattning: The ability for companies to anticipate the future and stay in the forefront of the competition is essential for successful business. The tool of Environmental Scanning is basics in the process of developing prescriptive strategies as well as vital in evolving emergent strategies. The complexity lies in gathering relevant information and transforming the information into adequate data, which can be utilised by management to optimise strategies. The purpose of this study is to scrutinise how successfully operating Swedish manufacturing companies, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange’s “Large Cap”-list, organise their Environmental Scanning actions and how this affects the development of strategies. Prior research on the subject has been used as foundation to presenting relevant theories. Recognised analytical tools such as e.g. PESTEL, Porter’s five forces and SWOT have shaped our expectations of the outcome of the study. In the chapter regarding these theories the importance of Environmental Scanning has been recognised as a part of the strategic process. Theory has been assessed and contrasted towards empirical findings based upon interviews with representatives from selected companies. These findings have revealed a tendency amongst Swedish companies to drift away from traditional theories in favour of homemade analytical tools highly adaptable for individual situation based requirements.