Managing Student Aid in Sweden
New leadership appointed in 1977 to head Sweden's National Student Aid
Board faces a near-desperate situation. So inefficient is the agency
in processing student applications for college living expenses that
some students, strapped for cash, face the prospect of asking for
public assistance for the poor. CSN chief Billy Olsson, whose
background had been in politics, and computer expert Karl-Johan
Johansson face the task of finding a way for the agency to provide
financial assistance, within the constraints of student income
qualifications, in a timely fashion. This organizational
production/operational capacity case describes the turnaround
strategy--which they call "offensive cutback management"--successfully
implemented by Olsson and Johansson such that, by 1991, the CSN was
named one of the four best government agencies in Sweden.
Managing Student Aid in Sweden, 24pp+, (C16-92-1161.0)
