Analysis of the Company´s and its Subsidiaries´Operational Development Processes.

Sammanfattning: Operational development is a frequently used term within organizations nowadays. The term refers to organizations that continuously strive to achieve better results by increasing the efficiency, improve the safety, expanding the customer base etc. This study investigates what is determining if an organization is successful in operational development and what is needed in the organization on order to improve the performance in an efficient way. It also investigates how operational development should be conducted in companies consisting of a parent company and a number of subsidiaries in order to be successful. The main question of the study is whether there are any synergies in common strategies for operational development at subsidiaries or if operational development is more efficient if it is conducted separately. The study also investigates whether subsidiaries can take advantages of each others experiences of operational development by working more closely toghether with it. This is investigated through examining how learning occurs within and between organizations. The study´s aim is also to identify which factors are essential for organizations in order to succeed with development of their operation, according to theories on operational development, different quality systems and a case study at The Company."The Association`s" recommendations on gow operational development should be performed by organizations in the type of business in which The Company operates are also examined. The recommendations are examined in order to identify crucial key factors and organisational attributes for operational development. The project has been executed in cooperation with the Company and its five direct subsidiaries. As a basis for this investigation a number of qualitative interviews, a workshop and a litterature review have been performed. The results of the investigation argue in favour for the existence of synergies in subsidiaries, working in common with operational development. Cooperation may even stimulate the work with operational development in respective subsidiary. One possible strategy to work in common with operational development is to establish an operational development network where the organizations have the opportunity to discuss and exchange experiences. The litterature also shows clearly that there are great opportunities for subsidiaries to learn from each other as long as the willingness to share knowledge is present. The study also indicates that it exist at least eight key factors that affect how successful the work with operational development is in an organization. These key factors are;  management commitment, employee involvement, communication,customer orientation, process orientation, continuous improvements, cultural changes and decisions based on facts.