TRANSLATION OF DIGITAL STRATEGY: ANALYZING SCOPE AND SCALE FROM EU GOVERNANCE TO RAIL OPERATORS IN GERMANY AND SWEDEN

Abstract

The need for digitalization is constantly growing in society, yet many industries are overlooked in this area. The purpose of this study is to investigate how digital strategies in the railway sector are transferred within three layers: EU-, national- and company. This is done by combining translation theory by Røvik (2016) and Bha-radwaj et al. (2013) with the concepts of scale and scope. The methodology used was a qualitative design that includes both a document analysis that was used on EU-, national- and company documents, combined with comparative case study where two companies from Germany and Sweden were examined. Key findings with the modes from Røviks (2016) translation are that the approach of Germany had a greater centralised structure in infrastructure projects. In contrast, Sweden had a greater em-phasis on the use of digital technologies to improve customer centred solutions. Contributions of this study is the combination of translation theory and digital strategy in the rail sector.