Facing the global economic crisis: the case of Swedish heavy vehicle subcontractors

This paper investigates organisational responses to the 2008 economic crisis within a group of seven subcontractors in the Swedish heavy vehicle industry. Although the firms had similar exposures to the crisis their performances varied extensively. One year after the crisis began, some firms were still encountering financial problems, yet others had orchestrated a recovery that was generating healthy cash flows. Evaluation of in-depth interviews with key organisational members and standardised financial indicators suggests that the subcontractors' performances in the crisis were determined by their ability to attain and evaluate 'deep knowledge' from stakeholders and 'wide knowledge' from other external actors. Findings demonstrate how subcontractors' performances in an economic crisis are related to the implementation of dynamic capabilities and indicate how existing research on crisis management can be extended.