Volvo – A Force for Fordist Retrenchment or Innovation in the Automobile Industry?

Abstract

The article deals with the question: What does the ‘Volvo model’ stand for’? Two car assembly plants within the Volvo Car Corporation are the main exponents of the ‘Volvo model’, namely the Kalmar and Uddevalla plants, which were innovative and successful. There has been an open atmosphere to new ideas in the company at the top level and innovative ideas were stimulated at Kalmar and Uddevalla. However, simultaneously there was no strategy for spreading the innovations within the company, and resistance to the new ideas within the other operative units was strong. Therefore the diffusion of internal, Volvo-generated innovations was taken on solely by individuals or groups of individuals who were already committed to the ideas. In the Volvo TWR joint venture Autonova AB, the principles of the Reflective Production System, once developed within the Volvo Uddevalla plant, are being further developed. So, Volvo still has a joker left in the pack…