This book is about competitive advantage and how it is created at the company level. Our theoretical starting point is that the alignment of strategies and control systems affects the firm's chances of successfully positioning itself in its chosen area of competition. The firm is in a better position to concentrate on activities that create value for the customer if its strategies and control systems are mutually consistent and adapted to expected external demands. This book is thus a contribution to the literature that treats competitive advantage on the basis of the match between the environment and internal resources. Our ambition has been to provide additional knowledge in the area through a comprehensive discussion on co-ordination and integration of strategies and control systems.

The link between strategies and control systems and how it ultimately af fects the competitiveness of firms is an area that is attracting the atten tion of practitioners and scholars. There is a need to discuss which combi nations of strategies and control systems can be assumed to contribute to competitive strength. In this book we have chosen to highlight the role of management control and manufacturing control in this respect. For a long time these two types of control systems were regarded as more or less separate subjects of research and study. However, the differences between management control and manufacturing control are diminishing, a ten dency that we support. The book is written in this spirit of approval. The models and hypotheses advanced in the book were developed over a long period of time. They are based on research and have been published and otherwise presented in a variety of different circumstances (see, for example, Jansson et al., 2000; Kald et al., 2000; Nilsson, 1994, 1997, 2002; Rapp et al., 2000). Our colleagues have stimulated our thinking and have contributed to further refinement of the thoughts presented in the book. We would like to thank Professor Leif Appelgren, Professor Thomas Falk, Professor Nils Goran Olve, Professor Rolf Rundfelt, Professor Bengt Saven, Associate professor Vivian Vimarlund and Assistant professor Alf Westelius for their valuable comments and inspiration.

The fifth International Telework Workshop was held in Stockholm in the fall of 2000. The conference was attended by almost 100 participants from all continents of the world. It therefore covered a broad range of subjects relating to Telework. Its success was in some part due to the work of the program committee composed of Birger Rapp (General Chairman), Maarten Botterman, Geoff Dick, Gil Gordon, Ursula Huws, Paul Jackson, Peter Johnston, Patricia L. Mokhtarian, Victor de Pous, Lars Qvotrup, Wendy Spinks and Reirna Suomi. After the conference we decided to write a book on the theme "Organization and the future after 2000." Many of the participants as well as others were invited to contribute a chapter of about ten pages. The resulting book of almost 400 pages therefore provides a comprehensive overview of ongoing research in the field of Telework. Birger Rapp and Paul Jackson edited the book. The intended audience for this book spans disciplinary and professional boundaries. It primarily relates to the disciplines of Business and Management Studies, Information Management, E-commerce and E-business. In a broader sense, it relates to Sociology, Media Studies and Economics.