Edward Elgar Publishing Management in Scandinavia: Culture, Context and Change

This book contributes to the expanding field of cross-cultural and comparative management, and addresses the issue of whether the main Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Norway and Sweden - exhibit such similarities in management style and practice as to constitute a country cluster. It is based on a qualitative, interview-driven study of managers in companies matched by industry in the three countries and seeks to contextualise the research findings in a general discussion of the Scandinavian countries, showing their intertwined histories and similar institutions and values. The book argues that the central values of these managers are equality, informality, decency, and conflict avoidance; it shows that the behaviour of Scandinavian managers is inspired by these values and that they can be attributed to national culture and not to the peculiarities of any particular industry. Management in Scandinavia will be of interest to students and teachers of international management, as well as practitioners of business and management. Review 'Unconventional, rich of facts and stimulating perspectives. Readable and entertaining at the same time as being thought-provoking. A synoptic view of Scandinavia which combines industrial diversity and common culture of three countries.' -- Arndt Sorge, University of Groningen, The Netherlands'A very useful in-depth study of Scandinavian management.' – Malcolm Warner, Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK About the Author Jette Schramm-Nielsen, Scandinavia Middle-East Business Consultancy (Smec), Denmark, Peter Lawrence, Emeritus Professor of International Management, Loughborough University, UK and Karl Henrik Sivesind, Ph.D, Senior Researcher, Institute for Social Research, Norway