A Scenario Analysis of Nissan Diesel’s Purchasing Department Integration into Volvo 3P

Sammanfattning: Problem Discussion: Nissan Diesel became a part of the Volvo Group in the end of March, 2007. A year has passed and the integration process is making progress but it is perceived to lack some momentum. Our sponsor would like to understand if there are any potential barriers to the integration process. (Haspeslagh, et al., 1991) and (Pablo, 1994) presents two different sets of determinants that can be used to decide the level of integration; “difference in organizational culture” and “strategic task” (Pablo, 1994) and “Need for Organizational Autonomy” and ”Need for Strategic Interdependence” (Haspeslagh, et al., 1991). These two different sets inspire us to study differences within organizational culture and strategies and how these discrepancies might affect the integration. Purpose: Our purpose is divided in two parts. The first part is relating to the integration of Nissan Diesel’s purchasing department into Volvo 3P. The second part is concerning integration in a context outside Nissan Diesel and Volvo: (1) The purpose of this thesis is to construct possible scenarios of the integration process due to differences within the organizational culture and strategic task between Nissan Diesel purchasing department and Volvo 3P. Furthermore, the purpose is to identify challenges that could be seen as potential barriers to a successful integration and desired scenario. (2) The purpose is to develop a new framework that can be used in mergers and acquisitions. The aim of the framework is to create an awareness of how an outcome of integration can vary depending on how the integration is managed depending on differences in organizational culture and strategic task. Method: A qualitative method has been used in this study. Data has mainly been collected through interviews but literature studies have been made as well. The working process has followed eight steps inspired by O´Brien’s method of scenario analysis. Conclusions: In this thesis we have focused on differences in organizational culture and strategic task since it is proved that these two elements have major impact on integration. Therefore we have created an Integration Scenario Analysis. The purpose of this framework is to create an awareness of how an outcome of integration can vary depending on how the integration is managed depending on differences in organizational culture and strategic task When it comes to culture differences the goal should be to create a new culture. This is a long term project that needs support from all levels within the organization. Within in the strategic task the challenges is to show the employees at Nissan Diesel why they should change their way of working. Misunderstandings and different opinions are easily created when two organizations use the same word as quality and cost but their definition differs. Therefore, we believe it is important to define a common language. When this has been done it should be easier to show on best practice, e.g. through benchmarks. We believe that the perceived lack of momentum of the integration may be the result of insufficient support from top management at Volvo and Nissan Diesel. Another crucial problem is that there have not been created a new Nissan Diesel profile. Nissan Diesel is no longer going to be a traditional Japanese truck manufacture; it is going to be a part of a large global organization. Key words: Volvo 3P, Nissan Diesel, purchasing, integration, organizational culture, strategic task, scenario analysis, culture web.