Design engineering culture differences : Ford´s acquisition of Volvo Cars

Abstract

The cultural issues of design engineering are important in the context of any interorganizational collaboration. The objective of this article is to describe and analyze the design engineering decision-making process at Ford Motor Company. It examines the area that concerns culture in the workplace, but does so in the context of how Volvo employees understand it one year after Ford's acquisition of Volvo Cars. It is clear that there are important differences in the way of conducting decisions between the companies, at least as the engineers at Volvo understand it. These differences will have a negatively impact on the speed of the integration process and future ability to co-operate.Godkänd; 2000; 20071006 (ysko