Advancing Manufacturing Sales Through Business Intelligence : Socio-Technical Dynamics of a Customer Portal in Organizational Control

This thesis investigates how Business Intelligence can enhance management control in the sales department of a manufacturing company, using NordicTech AB as a case study. The thesis is motivated by a recognized gap in research: how Business Intelligence tools reshape management control in manufacturing sales, particularly how formal and informal control mechanisms evolve through socio-technical interactions during BI implementation. The research is guided by two questions: What are the socio-technical enabling factors for implementing a new BI tool in amanufacturing sales department? How does BI enhance input, throughput, and output controls in a manufacturing sales department using the socio-technical enabling factors? To answer these questions, a qualitative case study methodology was applied, including semi-structured interviews, internal document analysis, and theoretical integration of ANT and Ouchi’s Theory of Organizational Control. ANT enables socio-technical exploration of how human and non-human actors interact and discovers the enabling factors for BI implementation. Ouchi’s framework is used to analyze how these enabling factors reshape management control. The results show BI tools, particularly the envisioned customer portal, can significantly improve management control by formalizing pricing strategies, automating operational workflows and increasing performance transparency. However, successful implementation requires both technical integration and cultural alignment. The thesis identifies critical enabling factors, including data quality, standardized KPIs, leadership communication and the stabilization of actor-networks. This thesis contributes to the field by offering a multidimensional framework for understanding BI implementation in sales departments, bridging organizational control theory with socio-technical dynamics. For practitioners, the findings offer actionable insights on how to design, introduce, and scale BI tools to support strategic sales operations in manufacturing firms.