The Strategic Evolution of Skanska Company in Sweden

1997-2006 is a period of rapid development of Skanska Company, and it is also a critical period in the company's development history. The strategy of this period is very important for the future development of the company. During this period, the company's turnover has more than tripled, with an average increase of about 20%. The national market has grown from four to 1 1, and the number of employees has increased from 35,000 to 76,000.

During this period, I experienced two presidents, Clas bjork and Stuart Graham. Both of them are from Skanska (USA) Company, and they have worked closely together in the international expansion of the company. During their time in charge of Skanska, they have great continuity in strategic thinking, but there are also significant differences.

Claes Bjork joined Skanska in 197 1 and was sent to work in the United States. He is the main creator of the myth of American expansion. Because of his outstanding performance in the American market, he was promoted to the president of Skanska Company on 1997.

Claes Bjork faced the following situation after taking office: 1. Many markets still have the potential for further expansion; 2. The company's business portfolio is too scattered. In addition to the construction business, the company also operates a large number of non-core businesses such as logging, kitchen utensils, flooring and building materials, which affects the overall performance of the company;

Therefore, at the end of 1997, the senior management team (SET) headed by Claes Bjork evaluated and analyzed the current situation and strategy, and at the beginning of 1998, on the basis of continuing to reiterate the strategic principle of becoming a world-class leader in the field of construction and related services and paying attention to customers' needs, put forward a new strategic proposition: focusing on core business, namely, construction business, project development business and service. Continue to reorganize the organization; Develop new domestic market and expand internationally; Sale of non-core business

Under the guidance of the new strategy, Skanska's business has achieved crazy growth. Especially during 1998-200 1, more than 10 acquisitions were successfully made, which contributed about 30% to the company's performance growth. At the same time, due to the continuous improvement of the company's ability to provide customers with all-round services from conceptual design to construction to maintenance, the company's turnover in 200 1 year reached the highest level in history 165 billion Swedish kronor, and the international market share increased from 38% to 83%.

Scale and profit are among the best in all market segments and business units; Become a leading project developer in some areas of some national markets, such as housing, office buildings, retail and some BOT projects; The property management department has gained great value promotion. Profit maximization strategy: focus on core business; In a leading position in all national markets; Give full play to the company's brand, human resources and financial advantages; Establish a reliable risk guarantee mechanism to foresee and manage risks; Become a world-class leader in the fields of technology, safety, ethics and environment.

During the period of 1998-200 1, the company sold almost all businesses and assets not directly related to the company's core business, which provided sufficient funds for large-scale acquisitions and highlighted the competitiveness of its core business.

At the end of 2002, Claes Bjork stepped down, and Stuart Graham was elected as the new president. He took office in early 2003, becoming the first non-Swedish-born president of the company since 1 15. Stuart Graham joined Skanska Company on 1990, and successively served as the president of Slater Riszka Company and Skanska USA Company. Stuart Graham's work style is pragmatic, and he is a result-oriented person.

When Stuart Graham took office, Kanska's business scale was already very large, and it became one of the best construction companies in the world. However, the large-scale expansion has also brought some negative effects to the company. The company lacks sufficient control over the allocation of resources, and many projects suffer losses due to blind bidding without strict evaluation and research, which leads to great challenges to the company's profit prospects before and after 2002.

In this case, Stuart Graham led the company to start its strategic transformation again in 2003. In the new strategy, the company continues to reiterate the overall strategic goal of becoming the first choice of world-class leaders and customers, and also continues the goal put forward by the former president at the end of 2002 that the company should be among the best in scale and profit in major fields and markets. But in the balance between scale and profit, Stuart Graham obviously prefers profit. He expounded the following views on several occasions:

"It took us a long time and energy to build a platform to become a world-class leader. Since 1997, our performance has tripled. We already have a large market of 1 1, and our business scale is among the best. We have achieved a leading position in the field of project development and comprehensive services. We already have the scale, and now it's time to focus on realizing profits ... "

Stuart Graham named the new strategy "Exceeding Performance" or "Maximizing Profit". Stuart Graham said on various occasions that this strategy will take 4-5 years to make Skanska the most profitable construction company in the world.

The main strategic proposition of this period is to put forward four zero strategic goals, namely, to achieve zero on-site accidents, zero environmental pollution incidents and zero moral violations in the next few years, so as to achieve zero losses. Give full play to the three advantages of the company's brand, talents and financing, and strengthen risk management, sustainable development and talent training. Establish a reliable risk guarantee mechanism to foresee and manage risks; Become a world-class leader in the fields of technology, safety, ethics and environment. In the new era, Skanska will make greater efforts in customer-centered, the balance between centralization and decentralization, the development of employees and the transformation of the industry.