The Rise and Fall of Lean in Nordea: From Infection to Cure

Abstract: Lean production is one of the most influential and popular management ideas in the last decade, spreading from its japanese origin in Toyota to business that is far from assembly lines and manufacturing in both form and context. One of those businesses are the financial sector, in which the large scandinavian bank Nordea operate. With this dissertation we study the development of Lean within Nordea since its first launch more than a decade ago and takes a pragmatic institutionalist perspective on the downfall of one of the most influential organizational ideas in recent time.