Making the Transition from a Multi-domestic to a Glocal Strategy

The immediate purpose of this paper is to assess the progress Rieber & Søn had made with the initial phase  of a project aimed at significantly integrating its international puchasing operations. This purchasing project is part of broader project of transformation at Rieber & Søn, “Program Future“, that commenced in the autumn of 2008 and that is set to run until March 2011. The focus is on the project’s expert “category” teams who are charged with the task of developing the knowledge base for the realization of an integrated but locally sensitive purchasing strategy. In addition this paper has an additional, broader purpose, namely to treat Rieber & Søn as an example of a loosely integrated, locally responsive MNE that is attempting to become considerably more integrated while not losing its ability to respond to localized needs. One key finding is that while the category teams, despite resource-deficiencies, had made substantial progress in identifying potential savings, integrating these in the wider organization remained a challenge.