Aligning product development with strategy : A Case study at Saab Combat Systems Division

Sammanfattning: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of how the existing gap betweenstrategy formulation and strategy implementation can be bridged in a project-­‐based organization.  The reason for this is to contribute with an empirical example of what challenges and obstacles are associated with this gap and how these can be solved.Method: The investigation of the strategy implementation in a project-­‐based organization has been conducted as a case study. To collect the necessary empirical material, three rounds of interviews were held with relevant employees of the case company, such as the Head of Strategy, Head of Product and sales people. The interviews have been complemented by collection of documents and participation in meetings held at the case company.Findings: The findings of the case study have showed that the strategy can be implemented in three ways in a project-­‐based organization: through the organizational structure, through the executed external projects and through the portfolio management. Additionally, the findings have revealed a number of existing problems within strategy implementation. The major challenges found were achieving balance in the Balanced Scorecard, prioritization of both internal and external projects and managing a programme as a project, which were confirmed in the literature.Practical implications: This study has resulted in a description of  how  a  project-­‐based organization implements its strategy. Furthermore, this study highlights the existing challenges within this process, such as achieving balance in the Balanced Scorecard and better prioritizing the internal and external projects.Theoretical implications: This study contributes with increased insight and knowledge of how a project-­‐based organization implements strategy and thus, expands the knowledge of how the gap between strategy formulation and implementation can be decreased. Several problems highlighted in the literature associated with this gap have been verified by this study. In this way, additional theoretical implications are the proposed solutions for how these problems can be solved.