Dragon News - No. 4, 2012

M e m b e r M ag a z i n e fo r t h e Sw e d i s h C h a m b e rs o f Co mm e rc e i n H o n g Ko n g a n d C h i n a

No.04

2012

6

Frédéric Cho China as No 1 – what will that mean?

20

Jan Roos Making Chinese roads more safe

28

Viktoria Li First ever female on the job

– that’s where it happens …

As growth in other parts of China starts to slow, the western region is starting to flourish, and the Chengdu-Chongqing area is becoming a major engine of the Chinese economy.

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Editorial management, design and printing Bamboo Business Communications Ltd Tel: +852 2838 4553 Fax: +852 2873 3329 www.bambooinasia.com bamboo@bambooinasia.com Art director: Johnny Chan Designer: Victor Dai English editor: Chris Taylor Cover photo: iStockphoto INQUIRIES Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Room 2503, 25/F, BEA Harbour View Centre 56, Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2525 0349 E-mail: chamber@swedcham.com.hk Web: www.swedcham.com.hk General Manager: Eva Karlberg Finance & Administration Manager: Maria Tornving Interns: Elin Bornefalk, Lovisa Wallenberg

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CONTENTS 6 Opinion: Frédéric Cho 8 Snippets 10 Cover story:

‘Go West’ – that’s where it happens …

20 Executive talk: Jan Roos

20

22 Young Professional interview: Jim Rosengren

28 Feature: Viktoria Li 30 Feature: Traffic safety

28

31 Chamber news 32 Chamber activities in Hong Kong 34 Chamber activities in Beijing 36 Chamber activities in Shanghai

50

38 New members 48 After hours 50 The chamber and I: Göran Larsén Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

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4 Editorial

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The Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and China

DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 3

Jon Hicks/Corbis/Scanpix

EDITORIAL

When it’s time to do business, we’re exceptionally open.

Mats Harborn Chairman Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

Ulf Ohrling Chairman Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

All eyes to the west Dear Reader, One thing that is striking about China and too often overlooked is that major Chinese cities do not have the shanty towns you so often see in places such as India, parts of Africa and in Brazil. This is quite an achievement, and can partly be ascribed to another Chinese success that deserves much more recognition: namely, a functional regional development policy.

Many countries fail in their regional development policies. The result is relatively few developed regions and massive immigration from other parts of the country, filling the outskirts of the more developed cities with overcrowded slum areas. A further explanation is of course the not-so-human hukou system and the lodging of migrant workers in dormitories.

Can China effectively expand its wealth to the inner and westerly regions? We may need to go back in China’s history to find the answer. One clue comes from the fact that the capital of China’s first dynasty, the Qin, was Chang’an, not far from today’s Xi’an.

This is a city some 1,000 km away from the coast. Chinese civilization has never been as dependent on maritime trade as other nations that also have long coastlines. Rather, China almost shunned its coast and it was, in effect, foreigners that first built large coastal cities 4 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

such as Shanghai, Xiamen and Hong Kong.

China itself seems to have preferred landroutes such as the silk road for its contacts with the outside world. In recent times, the large-scale expansion of the railroad network has facilitated modern silk roads.

War has also played a role. During the second Sino-Japanese war, Chiang Kai-shek moved the Chinese capital in 1937 from Nanjing to Chongqing. Later, when Mao Zedong took power he also embarked on a policy to move strategic industries inland, far away from potential invasions by foreign aggressors. Chongqing became a beneficiary of this defence strategy, which further strengthened its heavy industrial base.

Another very interesting case, with a totally different background, is Chengdu. Up until 200 BC, the inhabitants of the Chengdu plain were plagued by annual flooding caused by spring ice melt-water flowing down from the mountains that march all the way to the Tibetan plateau. To combat this problem, a clever engineer named Li Bing constructed an ingenious irrigation system that was capable of siphoning off excess flood water. Constructed a mind-boggling 2,000 years ago, this massive waterworks project has protected the Chengdu basin from flooding ever since. Meanwhile, thanks to this ingenious combination of flood control and irrigation, Chengdu became the most fertile agricultural

area in China. This provided its people with a very leisurely life, and the Chengdu people are known throughout China for their ability to enjoy life and to engage in consumption. It is no wonder that IKEA, as its fourth location in China, chose Chengdu!

Today, China is investing heavily in its very far west, Xinjiang, which has been an outpost of China since the Tang dynasty.

With a geographical area of 1.66 million sq km, Xinjiang is almost four times as big as Sweden, but its capital Urumqi is farther away from any sea coast than any other major city in the world.

If you have not realised it before, China is a huge and diverse continent, and now – if you have not already – is time to seriously take a look at the development of China away from the coastal provinces. Obviously, “going west” involves certain challenges, but you risk missing out on new and interesting business opportunities unless you give it a serious consideration.

In times when costs are rising across the entire eastern seaboard, China’s inland provinces may prove fertile ground for the country to fight the competition from low-cost countries such as Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. Perhaps “The New China” will, in other words, turn out to be China itself.

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China as No 1

– what will that mean?

Photo: iStockphoto

China is closing the gap on the US and will, sometime during the coming decade, overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy. The competition between China and the US will increase, but the growing interdependence of the two economies will act as a mitigating factor, writes Frédéric Cho of Handelsbanken.

TEXT: Frédéric Cho, frederic_cho@hotmail.com

O

ne momentous event that is expected in the coming decade is that China will overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy. Naturally, given China’s huge population, the US will for a long time – perhaps always – remain a much richer country on a GDP per capita basis.

If and when China becomes No 1 in terms of GDP, what possible consequences can we expect for the world and for us? As I see it, there will not be any dramatic changes overnight. The speed and depth of change depends very much on the will and ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The big question going forward for them is whether they will continue to practice their hybrid-economy model – a so-called Scientific Socialist Market Economy with Chinese characteristics – which mixes planned-economy and market-economy elements, rather than opting for an all-out market economy model.

There are no signs that the leaders in Beijing have any intention of doing away with the privilege of running, controlling or influencing the economy (this varies depending on which sector we look at), rather than letting the economy run itself. But, in the meantime, a major challenge over the coming decade is whether China will be able to make the qualitative quantum leap from “Made in China” to “Made by China”. In other words, will innovation be state-led, or will entrepreneurs be allowed to flourish regardless of their backgrounds and influence? Or will there be combinations of the two?

Let’s start by comparing China and US in terms of a variety of parameters.

Politically, China will continue to be 6 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

governed by the CCP, while USA will continue with its democratic political system, sometimes with a Democrat as president, at other times with a Republican at the helm.

Economically, I don’t foresee any dramatic changes in China’s economic model. For sure, over time we will see more clear signs of a shift towards an economy driven by domestic consumption and innovation, but this is and will remain a gradual process. As for the US, I do not expect any fundamental changes to its capitalistic market economy model, despite all the current talk about limiting the role of the financial sector in that country.

When we turn to the currencies – the Chinese yuan (CNY) and the US dollar – as the Chinese government has stated many times, the CNY will eventually become fully

convertible. All the same, it is equally clear that China is in no hurry to make this happen. Therefore, I expect a continued incremental process of opening up its currency.

Because of this – and add to that the lingering crisis in the euro zone and moderate growth in Japan – the US dollar will remain the world’s dominant reserve currency. And also because of this, I expect China, Japan, India, Russia and other countries to keep investing in US treasuries, essentially due to a lack of other investment alternatives.

China’s capital markets will remain small in relation to its GDP, while the US presents the opposite picture, with fully, if not overdeveloped capital markets, both in terms of products as well as size to GDP. I actually think the same reasoning applies to the finanFrédéric Cho was born in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1961. He has worked with China since 1980, having studied at Peking University, 1982-84, worked and lived in Beijing, Wuxi, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong for a total of 18 years. In his career, he has worked with all parts of the Chinese financial sector, but also in media and the life sciences. Since 2009, Cho is Special Advisor, Asia Corporate Finance, at Handelsbanken Capital Markets, a job that takes him to China and Hong Kong once a month. He is also vice chairman of the Sweden-China Trade Council and has recently published a book, Kina enligt Cho (“China According to Cho”), together with Kerstin Danasten. Cho is married to Towe Cho Matre, a journalist at Sveriges Radio, and they have two daughters, aged 11 and nine.

Both countries have industrial policies with nationalistic agendas.” cial system as a whole. It is more likely than not that China will continue its habit of stepby-step reforms of the financial system while the US – given the role of the US dollar – will continue to play a dominant role globally in the financial system. Undoubtedly, domestically in China, we will see further developments in all aspects of its financial system from banking, to insurance, to investment banking, including venture capital and private equity, but this will, by and large, remain a domestic development given incremental yielding of the CNY to market forces.

What changes should we expect in other areas? Where will the jobs be created, or will all the jobs go to China? Again, when it comes to this question, I do not expect any major changes. With the world’s largest population, the labour market will remain restricted to foreigners, and the top priority will continue to be to create enough jobs for Chinese. The overarching objective will, as always, be to maintain social stability. Does this mean that all the jobs will go to China? I don’t think so.

In fact, as China continuously climbs up the value chain, the country will gradually lose jobs to other countries in Asia, and, looking ahead, to Africa, supplanting these jobs with higher value-added new ones. The US, on the other hand, will remain a much more open and flexible market for foreigners.

Having made these comparisons, why don’t we now look at whether these two countries

have anything in common? For starters, the geographical sizes of the two are similar.

Another point where I see similarities is the fact that both countries have industrial policies with nationalistic agendas. This might seem an odd observation in the case of the US, but both China and the US have a tradition of favouring their own companies to the detriment of foreign companies. China wants to promote “national champions”, while the US under Obama has focused on “buying American goods”.

Yet another common point shared by the two is that most Chinese companies, like most US companies, are and will remain focused on the domestic market. Only a minority of companies will want to venture outside of their home market. The nationalistic side of industrial policies, coupled with the growing competition between the countries, will sometimes continue to thwart attempts by Chinese companies to acquire US companies and vice-versa. Huawei’s failed bid for 3Com and Carlyle’s failed bid for Xugong Engineering are two cases that come to mind.

The last point I want to make, and one which I believe to be the most important for the rest of the world, is that the competition between China and the US will only increase going forward. Every year, China closes the gap on the US in terms of GDP, eventually, sometime over the coming decade, will overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy. China has already surpassed the

US as Africa’s largest trading partner, and is soon expected to overtake the US as South America’s largest trading partner. That is likely just the beginning.

Competition will manifest itself in various arenas. Politically, it will be in terms of influence on other regions and countries. The same is true of the quest for natural resources such as oil, gas and minerals. In the arena of soft power, we are already seeing growing competition. China is investing heavily in media, with the ambition of projecting its own image to the world and thereby challenging the US’s leading position. Certainly there are growing trade frictions between the two countries, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva is likely to become swamped by arbitration cases, launched by one country against the other. However, the growing interdependence of the two economies will act as a mitigating factor. Simply put, no party will dare to jeopardise its overall commercial interests because of specific traderelated cases.

How can we, coming from a small nation like Sweden, make the best of the situation, considering a future scenario in which looking West is as important as looking East if we want to know where the world economy is headed? We have to remember that this is nothing new. Throughout its history, Sweden has skilfully worked with the largest economies in the world – Spain, France, Germany, Great Britain, the US, Japan, and now China.

Regardless whether the future is “Made in China” or “Made by China”, let’s all make sure that we are well positioned to make the best of it! b DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 7

W e s te r n Sn i p p et s The Most Dynamic Cities of 2025

Did you know …

n With fragile growth in Europe and the United States, a shift in the economic balance to the East and the South is underway at an unprecedented pace and previously unimagined scale – and it is happening through urbanisation.

Foreign Policy magazine and the McKinsey Global Institute have put together a unique index of The Most Dynamic Cities of 2025, with Foreign Policy commenting: “We think these 75 cities will make the greatest contribution to the global economy in the coming years.

Put together, they are likely to supply more than 30 per cent of all GDP growth between now and 2025. They are the world’s economic engines.”

The list makes fascinating reading. There are 29 Chinese cities among the 75, with six among the top 10, and Shanghai on top. According to the list, Tianjin (ranked as No 3) will be more dynamic than New York (7), while Chongqing (8) will surpass Tokyo (10) and Wuhan (11) will rank higher than Los Angeles (12). Chengdu (16) will be more dynamic than London (21) and Xi’an (24) will rank higher than both Paris (26) and Hong Kong (30).

Stockholm is not among the 75 cities.

These are the 20 most dynamic cities according to the magazine: 1) Shanghai, 2) Beijing, 3) Tianjin, 4) São Paulo, 5) Guangzhou, 6) Shenzhen, 7) New York, 8) Chongqing, 9) Moscow, 10) Tokyo, 11) Wuhan, 12) Los Angeles, 13) Foshan, 14) Istanbul, 15) Nanjing, 16) Chengdu, 17) Hangzhou, 18) Dongguan, 19) Singapore, and 20) Shenyang.

n … that your iPad may well have been built in Chengdu?

The Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn has been assembling Apple’s iPad in Chengdu for 18 months, and has now 80,000 workers employed in the city as it escapes surging wage costs in the Pearl River Delta. Corporate tax in Chengdu is just 15 per cent, rather than 25 per cent. The first two years of profits are tax-free, and the next three years are at half the rate.

n The authorities in Chengdu want to turn the capital of Sichuan’s province into a financial centre.

Money is pouring into the region under the “Go West” policy of tax breaks for firms that set up operations in western China “We want more British financial firms here in Chengdu,” said Ren Ruihong, head of Chengdu’s financial committee, to the British newspaper The Telegraph. “We want banks, insurance companies, private equity, and fund managers. We are turning Chengdu into the most open financial sector in China, and our main focus is on links to Britain and Dubai.”

8 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

n The historical network of trading routes to China from Europe, through North Africa and the Arabic peninsula was known as the Silk Road. This once so important historical route declined when maritime trade increased. However, recently there have been renewed efforts to revive the continental link through the construction of the Eurasian Land Bridge railway, allowing goods to be transported from China, through Kazakhstan and Russia to Germany.

The landlocked cities of Chongqing and Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, have clinched agreements with German railway operators to use the Eurasian Land Bridge. Containers from these cities can now reach Europe by rail via Xinjiang province in just around two weeks, compared with the five or six weeks it normally takes to send goods by sea.

However, one headache for the rail container operators is the empty space on return trips to China. As a result, both the Chengdu and Chongqing governments are encouraging imports from Europe and the Americas so that more Western products can be consumed in Southwest China. The catch: they want the West to loosen up their export restrictions against China.

QUOTE

Open invitation from Chengdu

The new Silk Road

“If [migrant workers] continue to move to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, it will be a disaster for China. The huge pressure on resources and the environment faced by China can also be attributed to unbalanced population distribution. The rapid development of the west may alleviate this problem.”

Chen Yao, a professor of regional economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

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Stephen Chan Head of Corporate Banking Hong Kong Branch

Jimmy Bjennmyr Senior Account Manager Hong Kong Branch

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Infrastructure a key to success n Over the past five years, China’s western provincial economies have expanded by an average of 13.6 per cent per year, and have seen some 365,000 km of highways and 8,000 km of rail built over that time, according to official data.

In the 12th Five-Year Plan, the government makes it clear that infrastructure development is key to the success of the region. The central government wants to more adequately integrate western China into the national transportation network by connecting it directly with the east coast.

At the same time, international passages that connect Northeast Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia are going to be built in the coming years, according to the newsletter China Briefing.

By 2015, Xinjiang will be more connected with the rest of China. By then, the western cities of Chengdu, Xi’an, Lanzhou, Urumqi and Kunming will serve as major container stations for goods crisscrossing their way across Asia on rail.

Furthermore, highways will be built to bridge Beijing with Kunming, and Shanghai with Chengdu by 2015.

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‘Go West’

– that’s where it happens ...

Photo: iStockphoto

W

As growth in other parts of China starts to slow, the western region is starting to flourish, and the Chengdu-Chongqing area is becoming a major engine of the Chinese economy.

Text: Jan Hökerberg, Bamboo, jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com

10 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

hen China’s State Council approved the 12th Five-Year Plan for the western region in February 2012, it stated that the rapidly expanding Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone should take priority in terms of development.

The Chengdu-Chongqing area is already regarded as one of the country’s top industrial bases, and Beijing hopes it will become the “fourth pole” to boost China’s economic growth, following the Bohai Bay, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions.

In 2000, the Chinese government launched its “Go West” strategy to develop and modernise the western region and to address inequalities between China’s under-developed western hinterlands and its wealthier coastal provinces. The country’s vast western region makes up 56 per cent of China’s area, but just 23 per cent of its population.

The western region is made up of six provinces – Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan, one municipality – Chongqing, and three autonomous regions – Ningxia, Tibet and Xinjiang.

After a slow start at first, development was boosted in 2008, by the government’s 4-billion-yuan stimulus package in response to the global financial crisis combined with

a growing influx of foreign-owned companies fleeing East. In 2010, the Go West programme was extended for a further 10year period.

In 2011, Chengdu became the first city in Southwest China to host 200 Fortune Global 500 companies.

The companies were attracted by a number of factors, including growth potential, tax incentives, low-cost land lease, newly built infrastructure – highways, railways and airports – and lower operational costs. For example, the minimum wage in a first-tier municipality in Sichuan province, such as Chengdu, is around 30 per cent lower than in Shanghai. In a fourth-tier municipality, the wage difference compared to Shanghai is 55 per cent.

However, it is expected that incomes in the western region will grow even faster than that of the national average over the next few years, as this is a specific objective of the 12th Five-Year Plan.

When Finnair opened its route between Helsinki and Chongqing four times per week in May 2012, it was a logical step in the airline’s Asian strategy, which is to open new routes where there is growth.

“GDP growth in Chongqing was 17 per cent in 2011 compared to China’s 9.2 per

cent,” says Robert Gustavsson, Finnair’s head of Chongqing and Western China.

“Finnair is the first intercontinental airline to fly between Europe and Chongqing. The route has already exceeded our expectations,” he says. “We have also seen that trade between Chongqing and Europe has increased. Among other things, it is now, for the first time, even possible to get directly imported Norwegian salmon in Chongqing …”

Finnair has been very much welcomed

by Chongqing since a direct route to and from Europe provides the city with a certain status it did not previously have. After the removal of Bo Xilai as party chief in Chongqing in March 2012, the local authorities ensured Finnair that nothing would change, and that they would be able to continue with business as usual.

Greater Chongqing has an area about the size of Austria and is home to 28 million people, according to a 2010 population census. Some 9 million people live in the city of Chongqing proper.

The influx of foreigners remains small.

Only around 2,000 foreigners - whereof 200 westerners – live in the city, and most of them work at Ford, Hewlett-Packard or Dell – the leading foreign employers.

When Finnair made its feasibility study,

DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 11

the airline also looked at nearby Chengdu as an alternative, but concluded that Chongqing was the better choice.

“Even if Chengdu develops very fast, we believe that Chongqing will develop even faster. A new gigantic industrial park, the Two Rivers New Zone, is under construction and will be similar to TEDA in Tianjin, or to the Pudong New Area in Shanghai.

The position Chongqing has in China [as a central government, direct-controlled municipality] will also benefit the city,” says Gustavsson.

Together with Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, Chongqing has the status of a municipality, which puts it at a higher level than a regular city, directly under the national Chinese government in Beijing. It has, effectively, a higher political status than the provinces.

Another advantage that Chongqing had for the airline was that Finnair would become the first intercontinental airline to operate there, while in Chengdu the Dutch airline KLM has operated a route to and from Amsterdam since 2006.

Finnair employs five people at the sales office, four at the airport and 18 as cabin crew.

“The opportunities in Chongqing are enormous,” says Gustavsson. “It feels like the whole city is under construction and everybody wants to do business.”

Another of the few expatriates in Chongqing, Torbjörn Sternsjö, agrees: “To live and work in this city reminds me of when I first came to Shanghai some 13 years ago. It is very dynamic.”

Sternsjö is the chief executive officer of Sapa Chalco Aluminium Products (SCAP), a 50/50 joint venture between China’s largest aluminium company, the Aluminium Corporation of China Limited (Chalco), and the Norwegian-owned Sapa Group, which is the world’s leading producer of extruded aluminium profiles.

The joint venture will cover all three product

To live and work in this city [Chongqing] reminds me of when I first came to Shanghai some 13 years ago.”

Torbjörn Sternsjö, Sapa Chalco Aluminium Products

12 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

It feels like the whole city [Chongqing] is under construction and everybody wants to do business.”

Robert Gustavsson, Finnair

This is Chongqing

Finnair’s Robert Gustavsson believes that Chongqing will develop even faster than Chengdu.

Torbjörn Sternsjö of Sapa Chalco (left) has in Chongqing met many influential Chinese politicians, for example Ma Kai, SecretaryGeneral of the State Council.

Chongqing is one of China’s four province-level municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai are the others), with an area of 82,400 sq km and a population of 28 million.

The Yangtze River passes through the city and Chongqing’s container port is China’s largest inland shipping port.

Chongqing is China’s largest motorcycle production base and third largest automotive production base.

Chongqing is also the nation’s centre for manufacturing of conventional weapons. Except for aircraft and spacecraft, Chongqing is the only city in China that can independently produce combat weaponry for the Chinese military, including submarines, missiles, laser weapons and tanks.

Foreign-funded enterprises in Chongqing are mainly automotive and electronics producers. In 2006, Volvo Car Corporation commenced manufacturing in Chongqing, in a factory owned by the Chinese joint venture Changan Ford Mazda.

Swedish or Swedish-related companies in Chongqing include ABB, Assab Tooling, AstraZeneca, Crawford Door, Ericsson, H&M, Sapa, Seco Tools and Volvo Car.

Van Hoang of the Swedish Trade Council is impressed by the fast development in Chengdu.

segments that presently exist on the Chinese rollingstock market: high-speed trains, metros and lightrail vehicles, and freight cars. The company will offer significantly lighter weight extrusions than the competition, leading to lighter trains.

Sternsjö has been working in Chongqing since 2011 to set up the joint venture, which today has some 60 employees. When the factory is ready for production in the summer of 2013, it will have up to 200 employees.

“To find local operators is not a problem, but to find specialists is more difficult, since most of the railway industry is located in the eastern or northeastern parts of China,” he says.

The main reason the joint venture chose Chongqing as a location was that it was recommended by Chalco, which already has a large extrusion press at the Southwest Aluminium (SWA) plant in the city.

Chongqing’s political status was clearly part of the decision since Chalco is a state-owned company.

“There are many political heavyweight names that have a Chongqing connection and we have felt it clearly that the local authorities want to make it as easy as possible for us,” says Sternsjö.

The head of the Swedish Trade Council’s (STC’s) Shanghai office, Van Hoang, shares Gustavsson’s and Sternsjö’s feeling about the dynamism of western China. In February 2012, the STC opened an office

DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 13

4

now takes only 16 days for in Chengdu, which is two the goods to travel by a newly hours away from Chongqing constructed Eurasian rail link by high-speed train. from either of the two cities “There is so much activto Duisburg in Germany, or ity going on, it feels like Chengdu-Chongqing half a day by air.

Shanghai at the end of the can become the The devastating Sichuan 1990s,” he says, feeling the “fourth pole” to boost earthquake on 12 May 2008 same way about Chengdu China’s economic has also played a big role that Sternsjö feels about growth, following in developing the area. The Chongqing. the Bohai Bay, the earthquake left several counThe STC looked at Yangtze River Delta ties in ruins, killed around Chongqing as well because it and the Pearl River 70,000 people and left 4.8 is seen as the economic hub Delta regions. million homeless. The city of of Central China.

Chengdu also suffered, with “But Chengdu is more several of its counties badly hit. More than developed and has a broader mix of indus34,000 km of roads and 135 bridges were tries, while Chongqing is dominated by damaged by the earthquake. big companies in the automotive and However, over the past four years, heavy industries,” says Hoang.

Sichuan has made tremendous recovery efforts. Most of the more than 40,000 Both Chengdu and Chongqing projects for reconstruction and rehabilitaare improving their logistics’ routes to tion were completed within a two-year Europe. While it used to take 35-40 days period. In total, around RMB950 billion for cargoes to be shipped to Europe, first was invested for reconstruction. by the Yangtze River and then by sea, it

[Chengdu] is one of the fastest developing cities in China. We see a great potential here.”

Yvonne Yin, IKEA

This is Chengdu With 14 million permanent residents, Chengdu is China’s fourth biggest city after Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing.

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province and has nicknames such as The Hibiscus City and The Brocade City.

It has been a city of renown in China for around 2,000 years.

Chengdu is a major tourist destination that promotes some famous attractions. such as the Panda Research Centre, the world’s largest breeding centre for giant pandas.

Chengdu is a centre for logistics, finance, IT, telecommunications, the automotive, and the outsourcing industries.

It has a good reputation for science and technology and has attracted hundreds of the world’s largest companies.

Chengdu is the biggest finance centre in western China, with 10 international trading banks, and the city has an annual GDP growth of around 15 per cent.

Geely-owned Volvo Car is building a factory in Chengdu that will be inaugurated in 2013.

Other Swedish, or Swedish-related, companies in Chengdu include ABB, AstraZeneca, Eastwei MSL, Ericsson, Green Fortune, Hexagon, H&M, IKEA, Munters, Oriflame, Roxtec, Scandinavian Furniture and Tetra Pak.

In 2006, IKEA opened a store in Chengdu.

14 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

Chengdu city had to redesign and rebuild most of its major and branch roads, thus forming a new modern transportation net. Urban railways connecting Chengdu and nearby cities were also constructed.

So far, most of the Swedish companies that have established themselves in Chengdu are big multinational corporations.

In 2006, Sweden’s IKEA, the world’s biggest home-furnishings retailer, opened a store in Chengdu. It was the company’s first Chinese store outside Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

“The Chengdu market is very important for IKEA,” says Yvonne Yin, commercial PR manager at IKEA in Shanghai. “It is one of the fastest developing cities in China.

We see great potential from a commercial perspective.”

According to Yin, an IKEA store is under construction in Chongqing, but the company has not yet announced an opening date.

But Yin also points out that IKEA has not taken a specific decision to develop into western China. Rather, the company wants to expand to second-tier cities countrywide, which it is in the process of carrying out.

After opening stores in Beijing and Shanghai, IKEA established itself in Guangzhou in 2005, Chengdu in 2006, Shenzhen and Nanjing in 2008, Dalian in 2009, Shenyang in 2010 and a second store in Shanghai 2011. This year it has opened stores in Tianjin and Wuxi.

“We have 11 stores in 10 cities in China. Ningbo is on its way and so is a third store in Shanghai and a second in Beijing,” says Yin. IKEA employs between 300 and 400 people in each store and Yin says that hiring local people is not a big problem.

“We want to create a good environment for the employees in which they will be able to change, move to other departments and develop themselves. When we open a new store, we normally move experienced staff from other stores so they can coach the new ones,” says Yin. Another Swedish retail giant, the H&M fashion clothing chain, is well established in China, with more than 100 stores countrywide. Three of them are located in Chengdu, another three in Chongqing, and two are in Xi’an, in Shaanxi province.

“All those cities are great markets for H&M, because of their locations, strong economy, consumption strength, great

16 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

The secret of success

H&M’s Lex Keijser sees strong development potential in Chengdu, Chongqing and Xi’an.

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Vinge has Swedish lawyers and Chinese legal consultants based in Shanghai, Hong Kong and in Vinge’s offices in Sweden.

For more than 20 years Vinge has assisted clients in their business activities in China and has advised foreign clients in all matters regarding trade and investments between Sweden and China.

All those cities [Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an] are great markets for H&M.” Lex Keijser, H&M development potential, long history, rich culture, and of course the great fashion sense of the consumers,” says Lex Keijser, country manager of H&M Greater China & Singapore.

“In coordination with our global strategy, every store we open is located in the city’s so-called ‘golden business circle’, and all stores must meet our standards after

a series of marketing investigations and preparations,” he adds.

But Western China is not only a place for the big multinationals. The Swedish agriculture engineering and design company Green Fortune, which conceives and maintains vertical greening systems, has chosen Chengdu as its third location in China

STOCKHOLM

GOTHENBURG

MALMO

HELSINGBORG

BRUSSELS

HONG KONG

SHANGHAI

Driven This is Xi’an

PHOTO: Graft Lab Architects

One of Green Fortune’s “plantwall* projects in Chengdu.

I had never thought it was possible to find architecture of that quality level in this part of China.”

Antoine Blancher, Green Fortune

after Beijing and Shanghai. Green Fortune has operations in 16 countries, mostly in Europe but, along with China, also in Japan and Dubai. Its “plantwalls” can be seen in the China offices of several Swedish companies and organisations such as LKAB, Volvo, the Swedish Trade Council and the Consulate General of Sweden in Shanghai.

“When we were contacted by a Chinese real estate developer in Chengdu, I was, in the beginning, sceptical … because they wanted such an advanced design. It was a big size project with a high level of complexity,” says Antoine Blancher, partner of Green Fortune and responsible for its operation in China.

“Then we went to Chengdu and were very surprised. The buildings we saw were amazing, with modern, inventive and beautiful shapes. I had never thought it was possible to find architecture of that quality level in this part of China,” he says.

When the contract with the real estate

18 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

developer was signed, Blancher contacted other architects in the city and was involved in more projects – for example, a showroom in Chongqing for young designer clothing, and a coffee-shop chain that operates in both Chengdu and Chongqing.

Green Fortune’s concept is to develop the seeds in its own laboratory and greenhouses and let the plants grow where the customer is. “In that sense, Chengdu is perfect for plants because of the weather conditions there,” says Blancher.

China’s western region is seen by some as the major engine of the Chinese economy in the future due to its abundant natural resources, a huge talent pool and immense market potential.

With higher living costs in the coastal regions, cities in the west are now trying to attract migrant workers to return home.

Even though wages are lower, they have higher standards of living when they return

Xi’an, also known as Chang’an in ancient times, is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, with a history of more than 3,000 years. For more than 1,100 years – from 221 BCE to 904 AD – Xi’an was the capital, and the political, economic and cultural centre of China.

The city is one of China’s most popular tourist destinations, featuring many historical monuments and a plethora of nearby ancient ruins and tombs, such as the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and the Terracotta Warriors.

Today, Xi’an is the capital of Shaanxi province and has a population of 8 million. It is a major base of research, higher education, defence industry and high technology in central and western China. Xi’an is also one of China’s most important aerospace and aviation industrial, machinery manufacturing and textile industrial centres.

From 2006 to 2010, Xi’an’s GDP grew 15 by per cent per year.

Swedish or Swedish-related companies in Xi’an include ABB, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Getinge, Hexagon, H&M, Seco Tools, Tetra Pak and Xi’an Silver Bus (Volvo).

as the costs are much lower.

In national surveys, both Chengdu and Chongqing have been ranked among the top 10 liveable cities in China.

In March 2012, The Economist magazine and Citigroup released their index of the world’s most competitive cities.

In terms of “urban competitiveness”, a category in which the report placed most weight on economic growth, Chengdu ranked 12th in the world. The report also put Chengdu on a list of cities that have a clean environment, along with Zurich, Vienna and Singapore, ranking it eighth worldwide and first among Chinese cities.

In 2010, Chongqing was rated by Forbes magazine as one of the next decade’s fastest-growing cities.

It has also been “proved” that people are happy to live in western China. In recent years, Chengdu has frequently been ranked on top on the list of – China’s happiest cities ... b

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Since moving to Beijing in 2006, Jan Roos has developed Car-O-Liner & Josam’s automotive business in China, making it the company’s second biggest market in the world.

Text: Jan Hökerberg, Bamboo, jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com

It is definitely possible to sell high-quality products here [in China].”

“I want to build, and it has to move forward rather quickly otherwise I get inpatient,” says Jan Roos of Car-O-Liner and Josam.

E

ven though he has more than 20 years experience in Asia, Jan Roos does not see himself as “an old China hand”.

“No, you could probably describe me better as a former tour guide who happened to come to Asia, liked it and wanted to be there,” he says with a smile …

Roos was born in 1963 and grew up in Arboga, a small town with a long history in central Sweden – Sweden’s first ever legislative council opened there back in 1435.

After graduating as an electrical and telecommunications engineer in 1983, Roos worked for a software company in Stockholm for a few years, but also spent some time as a tour guide to Greece and to ski resorts in Europe.

“I like skiing, and it was a great opportunity to be able to ski while you’re working,” he says.

In 1987, Roos got an offer from an American software company called Betronics, which he helped to set up a business in South-East Asia and later in mainland China.

“For many years I travelled from Sweden to the US, Europe and Asia. Hong Kong was the Asian hub and the company had an apartment in Discovery Bay on Lantau Island, from where I took the ferry each morning since there was no bridge at that time. I enjoyed the time in Hong Kong and used to surf a lot. I think my surfboard is still there somewhere in the clubhouse,” says Roos.

He had met Karin, also from Arboga, and they married in 1989, and one year later their first son, Jesper, was born. In 1994, his brother Jonathan was born.

In 1993, Roos started his own consultancy and the family moved home to Arboga.

But six years later he was contacted by Kungsörs Plast, a company with a long tradition, dating back to the 19th century. In the 1950s, it became a world leader for exports of plastic clothes pegs, and the company also invented the first piercing screw cap for aluminium foil tubes for food, including the Swedish favourite Kalles Kaviar. In the 1990s, the company

introduced the first polyethylene pipe for petrol stations and soon became the world market leader in petrol piping.

Roos was hired as sales director with responsibilities for China and helped to set up a subsidiary in Beijing to serve clients such as Sinopec, PetroChina, ExxonMobil and BP.

is where we step in and provide high quality academy training of the OEM’s repair technicians as well as collision repair equipment.”

The other company that Roos represents in China is Josam, which develops wheelalignment systems and frame-straightening equipment for heavy vehicles, such as trucks, buses and even airplanes. Scania, Volvo, MAN In 2006, Roos decided to take on another challenge as managing director for the and Airbus are some of the customers.

Swedish-based company Alignment Systems “Josam’s systems ensure that the wheels’ AB’s wholly-owned subsidiary Car-O-Liner & and the axles’ toe-in adjustment is correct and Josam Alignment Systems (Beijing) Co, Ltd. aligned. This minimises the wear and tear of the “I had been in China many times, but now I tires, and makes the vehicles more safe and stable could finally settle here with my family,” says Roos. on the road and more fuel-efficient,” says Roos.

When Roos took over Car-O-Liner, it was Car-O-Liner and Josam are represented a small company with turnover of just around in more than 70 countries around the world 4 million yuan. Six years later, the turnover has through distributors. China has become the grown to 150 million yuan and the company second largest market after the US. Road also has an assembly safety is a big probplant in Beijing. lem in China, which “I am not an had 96,000 deaths in administrator; I want vehicles last year and to build, and it has to millions of accidents.

Last year’s number of deaths in vehicles move forward rather Car-O-Liner has after accidents on Chinese roads. quickly otherwise I get joined hands with other inpatient,” he says.

Swedish automotive Car-O-Liner provides the car industry with companies, such as Volvo and Scania, the collision repair systems, technical development, Embassy of Sweden and other official authoriacademy education and service. Customers in ties to work together with China’s Ministry of China include Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Transport and find sustainable transportation Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volvo. solutions in China (see also page 30).

“At our Car-O-Liner Academy, techniCar-O-Liner also is also a sponsor for cians from car dealerships will learn everyWorldSkills, an organisation that provides means thing from repairing a windshield to restoring of exchange and comparison of world-class coma totally smashed car,” says Roos. petency standards in the industrial trades and Today’s cars are much more advanced than service sectors of the global economy. Car-Oyesterday’s, with different qualities of steel and Liner is a main sponsor for car repair and safety. also different materials such as aluminium and Car-O-Liner is a global market leader carbon fibre. The high technology of today’s and the company’s owner, the Danish private cars and the use of high strength steel in comequity firm Polaris, has a clear strategy for bination with other materials demands a high growth in the coming three years. knowledge on how to restore the safety of the “I like living in China, this is where things car after it has been involved in an accident. are happening, and it is definitely possible to “You can lose up to 70 per cent of the sell high-quality products here,” says Roos, safety of the car if it is not repaired according who adds that the family does not have any to the OEM specifications,” says Roos. “This plans at the moment to return to Sweden. b

96,000

Making Chinese roads more safe 20 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 21

Marketing a tennis legend As a brand director for Björn Borg China, Jim Rosengren is now launching the underwear brand in China by opening several concept stores.

Text: Alexander de Freitas, Alexander@swedishchamber.com.cn

Jim Rosengren’s job is to create brand awareness and get a foothold in Shanghai.

I

n the 1970s, Björn Borg dominated the tennis world just as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal did in the 2000s. Borg won 11 Grand Slam titles between 1974 and 1981.

He was the first player to win five consecutive Wimbledon titles (1976-1980) and he won the French Open six times. He is the only player who has won both the French Open and Wimbledon in three consecutive years. Borg, with his long hair and his die-hard attitude, was also one of the first “rock stars” of tennis.

In Sweden, Björn Borg is regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time.

In the 1990s, the Björn Borg brand was launched to market underwear products.

Today, the brand is represented in around 20 countries, with almost 60 stores and sales of around SEK1.5 billion. The product portfolio has grown to include not only underwear but also sportswear, shoes and bags.

And now, the Björn Borg brand has moved to China.

As brand director for China, Jim Rosengren has been in Shanghai for six months, opening the city’s first two Björn Borg shops; one more shop is planned.

Rosengren has been quick to adapt to the dynamic city’s tempo and has a clear vision for the future: “After creating brand awareness and getting a foothold in Shanghai, we will

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Australia – Austria – Belarus – Belgium – Brazil – Bulgaria – Canada – China – Croatia – Czech Republic – Denmark – Estonia – Finland – France – Germany – Greece – Hong Kong – Hungary – India – Indonesia – Italy – Japan – Korea – Latvia – Lithuania – Malaysia – Marocco – Netherlands – New Zealand – Norway – Philippines – Poland – Romania – Russia – Singapore – Slovakia – Slovenia – South Africa – Sweden – Switzerland – Thailand – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – United States – United Kingdom – Vietnam 22 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

Marketing is like

planting bamboo

There is a challenge in transforming underwear from a necessity product into a fashion product.”

Marketing is necessary if you want your business to grow. But marketing is like planting bamboo. In the first six years, the seedlings only grow about 12 inches high. Then suddenly in the seventh year the bamboo sprouts to six feet tall.

Björn Borg has recently opened two stores in Shanghai.

We aim to attract the growing middle class in China that is looking for strong and personal brands.” open four new concept stores next year,” he says. “We’ll also expand into other Chinese cities in 2014.”

growing middle class in China that is looking for strong and personal brands.”

Do you agree that it is a very comTell us a little about your background petitive market?

“The competition is fierce, but we do feel that and how you ended up in China.

“As long as I can remember, I’ve always Björn Borg has something unique to offer wanted to work internationally. After comand can fill a gap in the Chinese market. The pleting my business studies in challenge, which we have begun to London, I joined the beauty and cope with since day one, is to crecosmetics company L’Oréal. After ate brand curiosity and awareness.

There is also a challenge in transsix years in sales and other positions in Germany and Sweden, I decided forming underwear from a necessity The number to join Björn Borg. Before I was product into a fashion product.” of Grand Slam given the opportunity to launch the titles Björn Borg brand in China, I was in charge of What else do you find chalwon in tennis the wholesale business in Sweden.” lenging about entering the between 1974 Chinese market? and 1981.

“It is extremely important to have a What made you decide to enclear strategy and goals that everyter the Chinese market now?

“Our expansion into China is an important one within the organisation agrees upon, so step in paving the way for Björn Borg’s future we benchmark everything.” growth. After analysing the Chinese market and testing our products in various consumer And how has the reception in China studies, we believe our brand fits the Chinese been so far?

“The reception in China has been really good. market well, considering our colourful and Chinese consumers find our brand interesting trendy product design. We aim to attract the

11

24 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

In marketing, it also takes time for results to appear. Prospects need to see your name many times before they remember you and recognise your value.* Our company, Bamboo, can help you with that. It is our business is to help our clients build longterm relationships with their customers, staff and other stakeholders. * The similarity between marketing and planting bamboo was originally conceptualised by George Torok, a marketing expert and co-author of the book Secrets of Power Marketing.

Jim Rosengren in brief Name: Jim Rosengren Age: 34 Work: Brand Director China, Björn Borg Lives: The former French concession in Shanghai.

Time in China: Six months, plans to stay for three to five years.

Best thing about Shanghai: “A city with pulse, a true metropolis.”

Worst thing about Shanghai: The language barrier.

due to our colourful product design and playful store concept.”

What do you do when you’re not working?

“I try to stay in shape, go running at least a few times per week. I also socialise as much as possible; you meet people from all over the world all the time. I also enjoy my e-bike, which I drive every day. I have to be extra careful, though, since the traffic can be somewhat chaotic.” b

Bamboo Business Communications Ltd (Hong Kong) +852 2838 4553 Bamboo Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co, Ltd +86 21 6472 9173 Jan Hökerberg managing director jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com Johan Olausson sales and marketing manager johan.olausson@bambooinasia.com www.bambooinasia.com

structure is determined by the tax authority as having no “reasonable business purpose”, Chinese tax will be imposed at 10% of the capital gains.

Nordic touch with a Chinese edge what’s new shanghai

Our Chinese Banking & Finance practice has been strengthened with the addition of Ida Gao, who joins the firm after over five years with the banking & finance group at King & Wood, and Hans Abrahamsson, a senior Swedish banking lawyer, who has relocated from Sweden to join the team in Shanghai.

what’s up

hong kong

A much awaited new Companies Ordinance was recently enacted in Hong Kong. The new Ordinance will come into effect in 2014 and is aimed at enhancing corporate governance, ensure better regulation, facilitate business operations and provide a modern and easier incorporation and operation of companies. Some of the more notable reforms of the new Ordinance includes a codification of the director’s duties and responsibilities, abolishment of the Memorandum of Association, removal of par value for companies with a share capital and faster and more cost effective procedures for reducing capital.

Also to be introduced soon is the new Competition Ordinance.

The Ordinance is expected to have a significant impact on local and foreign businesses in Hong Kong by providing regulatory authorities extensive power to investigate abuse

of market power, concerted practices and anti-competitive agreements in Hong Kong and overseas. While the new law seeks to prevent companies with a substantial degree of market power to restrict, prevent or distort competition in Hong Kong, the law will not have a cross-sector merger control regime. circular 698 continues to complicate m&a transactions in china

Circular 698 is an anti-tax avoidance regulation, implemented in China in 2009. It aims at preventing overseas investors from divesting Chinese entities without paying Chinese capital gains tax in cases where the capital gains are in fact China sourced. It applies to indirect transfer of shares (i.e. where the share transfer takes place in an offshore holding company). The Circular has caused much controversy and confusion in M&A transactions ever since its implementation, and continues to do so.

The new investor should be aware of that in the case of an indirect transfer, the seller is under a reporting obligation to the Chinese tax authority if the effective tax burden imposed in the jurisdiction where the holding company is located is less than 12.5%. It is the Chinese tax authority’s final decision whether such transaction is subject to Chinese tax or not, and on which calculations the capital gains and the resulting tax shall be assessed. If the transaction due to the holding

The meaning of “reasonable business purpose”, however, remains unclear. The implementation regulations of the Enterprise Income Tax Law only clarifies that an arrangement will not be considered to have a “reasonable business purpose” if its main purpose is to reduce, exempt or defer tax. In practice, what the Circular appears to focus on is the need for the offshore holding company to have operational substance other than the mere holding of the Chinese investment. The tax authority may therefore require the offshore holding company to provide evidence that it conducts other business activities and employs staff, to support the assertion of operational substance.

If the seller does not report and the tax authority later assesses that capital gains tax is in fact payable, the tax authority will likely impose measures on the Chinese target company, as the buyer in the transaction has a withholding obligation and the buyer’s assets in China in the form of the target company may be the only subject which the tax authority can reach and exert pressure on.

Chinese tax authorities are currently actively searching for indirect transfer transactions. For a prudent buyer it is therefore very important to ensure adequate protection (in the form of holdbacks, escrow arrangements etc) to ensure that capital gains tax is not levied on the target company following closing of the transaction. lecture on ipr strategies for china at tulldagarna

The annual event Tulldagarna (Customs Days), takes place in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg. Over time they have developed into Sweden´s largest meeting place for international trade and customs matters. Last year Tulldagarna were visited by some 1,100 people in total in the three cities. Tulldagarna are primarily arranged for the purposes of allowing people in charge of everyday customs matters to meet and exchange views, update themselves on new legislation, standards and procedures, etc. including addressing both operational and strategic issues in the process. On this year´s Tulldagar in Gothenburg and Stockholm, which were attended by some 900 people in total, Thomas Lagerqvist was speaking on the topic of ”IPR Protection in China” offering his long time experience and insights into some of the major challenges that intellectual property rights owners face when venturing into China.

how to deal with cultural differences and how to have them serve to your benefits

At this year´s big China event in Stockholm, Dagens Industri´s China seminar, Ulf Ohrling, Frédéric Chó and Thomas Lagerqvist entertained a large group of attendants with their views on some of the more fundamental cultural differences that people meet in their dealings with China, differences that are deeply rooted in a strong cultural context from which many practical difficulties will subsequently be derived. The main focus was kept on those differences that are frequently and widely acknowledged as both fundamental and connected to one another, thereby appearing in many various situations and applications. The main issues that were dealt with were hierarchy, face and guanxi. The speakers also covered cultural cornerstones like trust and respect and how to turn them into an advantage in negotiations. Finally they concluded by challenging the audience to resist temptation to accept the traditional China myths and instead arm yourself with a more relevant, deeper and more nuanced look at China and China business.

with christmas and the western new year rapidly approaching, we would like to express our sincerest season’s greetings!

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telephone: +852 2526 4868

mannheimer swartling shanghai office

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Nothing herein shall be regarded as legal advice and Mannheimer Swartling assumes no responsibility for anyone acting on the information here provided.

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The diplomat

First ever female on the job Viktoria Li is the first ever Swedish female consul-general in Shanghai. She wants the consulate to be a meeting place for culture and business.

Text: Jan Hökerberg, Bamboo, jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com

I

f you go by the name of Viktoria Li in China, most people might expect to meet a Chinese-looking lady as Li is the country’s most common surname. But the new Swedish consul-general in Shanghai is a tall and elegant Western woman whose maiden name was Flodh and who grew up in the wealthy Djursholm suburb of Stockholm.

Her Chinese connection is her Shanghai-born husband, Li Li, a poet and translator who, among other things, has translated the Swedish Nobel laureate Tomas Tranströmer’s poems into Chinese. Today, he is a Swedish citizen.

Viktoria Li, here together with the children Simon and Vera, enjoys living in Shanghai.

arrived, Viktoria had met Li Li briefly at a Viktoria Li was born in 1968 and one of party and then, 10 years later, she read in the her friends and schoolmates in a parallel class newspaper that Li Li had published a book. was, coincidentally, Jörgen Halldin, Sweden’s “I bought the book, looked at the photo consul-general in Hong Kong (see interview in of him and could see that he didn’t look like Dragon News 3-2012). he did before. With the book in my hand I She got restless attending Swedish upper passed an outdoor café in Stockholm and sudsecondary school, and after a year she managed denly I saw him sitting there. We started to to get a scholarship for the United World Coltalk, exchanged phone numbers and shortly lege in Duino, Italy, where she spent two years. after that we got married,” says Li who admits After six months break in India, she began that she “immediately fell for his beauty”. studying law at Stockholm University, which Today, the couple has two children, kept her busy until she graduated with a MasSimon, 12, and Vera, seven years old. ter’s in 1993. She then studied French in Paris After five years in Rome, Li returned to and did a post-graduate degree in InternaSweden where she first worked as a deputy tional Relations at the Amsterdam School of director at the ministry’s department for interInternational Relations. national law and human rights and then as Li spent a year as a legal clerk at the the head of the Section for West Africa and Stockholm City Court, but found that she Horn of Africa. was more interested in politics and human rights. Her application to the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ training programme In 2010, another interesting job became available for Li, who applied and was was accepted and, after a year of training, she appointed head of the political section at the was sent to the Swedish embassy in Zagreb, Embassy of Sweden in Beijing.

Croatia, as a second secretary. This was in “Before, we travelled to China on a yearly 1996, shortly after the war in the former basis, visiting my husband’s relatives, but to Yugoslavia had ended. move here was something “Zagreb was not so new and exciting,” she says. physically affected by the war As head of the political as other parts of Croatia, but section, Li was responsible I learnt a lot by travelling for covering China’s domestic around,” she says.

The year when Viktoria Flodh and foreign policy, issues She also spent a year in married the Chinese poet Li Li. about human rights and Brussels, Belgium, as part of communications with media. the Swedish representation to Li was prepared to stay four years in Beithe European Union. Then, in 1999, a posijing but already after two years she got a call tion became vacant at the embassy in Rome -from the ministry’s head of human resources, the No 1 job on her wish-list. who asked if she would be interested in the “I knew it was the job for me,” says Li job as consul-general in Shanghai. whose duties at the embassy included a special “I was surprised, since I haven’t really focus on Albania. “I went to Albania 35 times worked much with promoting Sweden. But and it was very interesting to have a window even if we really enjoyed our life in Beijing, I on a country that was in social and political decided to say yes, since I was excited to see transition after having been a socialist and China from a Shanghai perspective, which is very isolated republic for a long time. Today, more business-minded,” says Li. the country is on its way to joining the European Union.”

She says that she is not a sinologist and her Mandarin skills are limited, but what she She had then married Li Li, who studied can bring from her previous job in Beijing Swedish in Beijing as a young man, and had is some understanding of how the political come to Sweden on a scholarship as early as system in China works.

1988. After the students’ uprising at Tianan“Working with promotion and trade is men Square a year later, Li Li found the idea busy but it is much easier to get access to of returning home unappealing, and managed counterparts and the work climate is more to stay in Sweden. In 1988, when he had just

1999

Working with promotion and trade is busy but it is much easier to get access to counterparts … than what I experienced during my work in Beijing.”

Before, we travelled to China on a yearly basis, visiting my husband’s relatives, but to move here was something new and exciting.” positive than what I experienced during my work in Beijing. Working and doing business in China does, however, always have a political angle too, and to be aware and always keep the whole picture in your mind is important,” says Li. In just a little more than a month she has had visits from two Swedish ministers, Anders Borg and Eva Björling, inaugurated an Ericsson factory in Nanjing and participated in cultural visits by the writer and literary historian Kjell Espmark, the author Sven Lindqvist and the singer-songwriter Sophie Zelmani.

She also decided to move the residence in Shanghai from Anfu Lu to Xiangshan Lu, close to the Fuxing Park.

“The former residence was a bit old, too big and worn out and it did not fit a family with children,” she says.

She underlines that that the Swedish Consulate General will continue to provide high quality service to the Swedish community and to those who apply for a visa. She also hopes that the consulate and the residence will be meeting places for culture and business. For 2013, when Sweden takes over as the chair of the Nordic Council, it is an extra ambition to focus on Nordic cooperation, not least in the fields of design and tourism.

She also has strong feelings about gender equality.

After all, Viktoria Li is the first ever female Swedish consul-general in Shanghai since the consulate first opened in 1863. b DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 29

Traffic safety

Magnolia Award to Erik Nelander

Seven Swedish companies are working together with China’s Ministry of Transport to find solutions for reducing road accidents in China

Photo: iStockphoto

Text: Mats Harborn, Scania, and Per Portén, Swedish Trade Council

Sino-Swedish cooperation

on the roads T

raffic safety is affected by a combination of many factors, including infrastructure, vehicles, drivers and weather conditions. In order to reach a high level of traffic safety, such as we have in Sweden, for example, the whole society needs to cooperate so that all influencing factors are managed with a view to reducing road accidents and their impact.

Working with traffic safety is not in conflict with the interests of road users. In fact, active traffic safety work improves the efficiency of getting around, and even reduces emissions.

With these observations in mind, a transportation cluster with its focus on sustainability was formed at the initiative of the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish Trade Council about a year ago. The cluster also consists of Swedish companies who all in their ways can contribute to a safer and more efficient road transportation system in China. The members are Car-O-Liner, eBuilder, LFV Aviation Consulting, Scania, SKF, Volvo Cars and Volvo Trucks.

30 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

Deaths per 100,000 motor vehicles (2011) 27.8

3.3

Sweden

China

The foundation of this cluster work is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure, Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, and her then Chinese counterpart Li Shenglin of the Ministry of Transport.

Since the signing of the memorandum, the Ministry of Transport has sent delegations to Sweden and joint seminars have been held in China to discuss traffic safety and transport efficiency.

The MoU has been translated into an action plan.

The establishment of the Volvo Shanghai Road Safety Research Institute – officially announced in May 2012 when the Minister for Enterprise, Annie Lööf, visited Shanghai – is one example of that plan becoming a reality.

The cluster companies also plan to jointly set up pilot projects in China to demonstrate Swedish concepts. In order to identify such projects the cluster will carry out a road-show to selected provinces.

The first such road-show goes to Guangxi Province at the beginning of December. Guangxi was selected because it is becoming an increasingly important hub for Chinese trade with South-East Asia.

The purpose of forming this cluster cooperation is to emphasise the need for system solutions, with many players cooperating to create first class solutions.

Therefore, the cluster has developed a joint presentation with a holistic view of traffic safety and transport efficiency, describing the challenges from society’s point of view. It is not until the challenges have been described and possible solutions presented that individual companies are introduced and given the chance to describe their individual offerings in more detail.

The cluster strongly believes that this form of cooperation will create interesting win-win business opportunities for all parties involved (see also pages 20-21). b

n In September, Erik Nelander, President of SKF China and director of the board of the Swedish chamber’s Shanghai Chapter, was awarded the prestigious Magnolia Award by the Shanghai municipal government for his significant contribution to Shanghai’s social and economic development. The award is the city’s top honour for expatriates. The timing is excellent as it coincides with the 100th anniversary of SKF’s first foray into the Chinese market.

Erik Nelander himself has been working for SKF since 1987, spending the past two-and-ahalf years in Shanghai.

“Receiving the Magnolia Award reflects not so much on me personally, as it does on the long relationship SKF has been building with Shanghai over many years,” says Nelander.

“SKF China is headquartered in Shanghai, and in addition to the existing three factories in Shanghai we are currently building a fourth factory, a global technical centre and large North-East Asia warehouse. We are also, in December, relocating our China and Asian headquarters to one of the former expo buildings on the Puxi side. All this brings investments and workplaces to Shanghai, further strengthening the city.

“Personally, I have during my time in Shanghai actively engaged with the Shanghai gov-

ernment and its district government officials on different levels, actively participating in various exchanges and events with them, and this way continuing to build on SKF’s good relations with the city. Finally, on top of the fantastic business experience in China, I find Shanghai a fascinating city, being both Chinese as well as very cosmopolitan!”

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China is glad to be able to congratulate Erik Nelander and SKF on this occasion.

Welcome, Emma! n Emma Gunterberg Sachs is joining the team at the Swedish chamber’s office in Shanghai.

Emma will work as an event coordinator.

She has an international background, as her father was an expatriate in Kuwait when she was young. She has an International Baccalaureate diploma and studied in the US, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in business administration. Emma has also studied marketing and communication at Bergh’s School of Communication in Stockholm.

She has been working with communication and marketing for the last 10 years in different positions at different companies. She is very excited to begin working at the Swedish Chamber in a truly international environment.

We are glad to welcome Emma, whom you all will meet at our events.

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SWEDEN HQ Environmental Air of Sweden AB. Mr Göran Hertzberg, M D, Ph: 0046 761 048 350, Mail: info@easab.com

www.easab.com DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 31

This is an advertisement from Swegon

Hong Kong

Europe must get its house in order n On 1 November, the Swedish banker and industrialist Jacob Wallenberg was the guest speaker at a breakfast seminar at the American Club in Hong Kong, where a record number of 105 members from the Nordic and German chambers listened to his views on the challenges and opportunities for China and Europe.

Despite the gloomy economy in Europe, the continent remains a central pillar of the world economy, said Wallenberg. He added that six of the world’s 10 most competitive countries are European and that 159 of the world’s 500 largest companies come from Europe, noting “So China still has some way to go.

“However, we cannot be complacent about the future and take for granted that the rest of the world will continue to buy from Europe at the same pace as they have done in the past,” continued Wallenberg. He added, “We have to get our own house in order”.

He pointed out that Asia today represents almost one third of global GDP, and that is expected to be 50 per cent by 2050. China has started to compete in every global market place, and is investing in European companies. China’s share of global R&D spending has increased from 9 per cent in 2008 to 14 per cent today.

“While we are witnessing the birth of an Asian century and China’s rise, Europe can still maintain the strong position we have built the last century. But we must learn to confront our own challenges and build on our strengths to stay in that race. We are running a marathon, not a 100-metres race,” said Wallenberg and quoted a Chinese proverb: “A long journey tests the strength of a horse.”

Sweden as a new culinary nation

Carl Jan Granqvist is a well-known Swedish expert on culinary arts.

32 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

n The Swedish restaurateur and TV profile, Carl Jan Granqvist, held a lunch presentation about Sweden as an emerging culinary nation on 9 November. The guests were invited to indulge in Swedish delicacies such as the most appreciated smörgåsbord, with matie and herb herrings among others, while listening to Granqvist talking about culinary arts. Granqvist is known to most Swedes as a very charismatic and passionate gastronome, a reputation that he certainly lives up to. It was a truly enjoyable lunch and we thank all our guests for joining SwedCham at the dazzling venue of Hotel Icon in Kowloon.

Creating time to excel n In today’s work environment there is just too much work, not enough time, constantly changing priorities, and a feeling that everything should have been done yesterday.

On 5 October, Christine Petersen, managing director and the founder of Time Technology, held a compelling breakfast seminar about what is the best way to work smarter and faster, not harder and longer. To achieve this, Petersen advocates the following formula: Good processes + good tools = excellent results.

A planning process must be dynamic and rigorous – allowing us to make good decisions quickly. Work is coming to us faster and in greater volume than ever before and we find ourselves constantly sorting through the work to get back in control. So here are Petersen’s tips on how to filter work using what she calls the 4 Ds: • Important and urgent: Do it now.

• Important and not urgent: Decide when, schedule as a task.

• Urgent but not important: Delegate.

• Not important or urgent: Dump.

“Always prioritise by results – which work will give the value and return on investment of time,” advises Petersen.

Applying this powerful planning and prioritisation method through Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes provides a consolidated place with high visibility of work to facilitate making good decisions quickly about what is the most important work to do.

Christine Petersen talked about how to prioritise work.

The door is open!

S

wegon, the largest wholly owned subsidiary of the Swedish investment group LATOUR, is one of the world’s leading suppliers of energy-efficient systems and solutions for ventilation and climate control in all kinds of buildings. In May 2012, the company received a business license for its newest subsidiary, Swegon Indoor Climate Systems (Shanghai) Co, Ltd in China. Now it’s all about spreading good air for Swegon China Country Manager Andreas Engström: “Being located in Shanghai allows us to cover the major domestic markets in China, namely Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in South China,” he says.

Chen Daojun, Senior Sales Manager, together with Andreas Engström, Swegon China Country Manager.

The market for indoor climate solutions in China is significant, offering many immediate and future opportunities. The Chinese government plans to make major investments in the construction industry between 2011 and 2015, and it will be a priority to reduce the environmental footprint of that investment.

Swegon’s exceptionally diverse product range comprises air distribution and waterborne indoor climate systems, airhandling units, systems for residential and demand-controlled ventilation, chillers and heat-pumps, acoustics and flow control ranges.

“With factories in Sweden, Italy, Finland and India, we stand for excellent quality and are known to be the leading company in innovative and energyefficient technology,” says Engström.

Swegon is the

result of a merger between two market leaders: PM Luft, with over 60 years of experience in ventilation, and StifabFarex, a company with 80 years experience in climate control. Together, and in Swegon, they have unique experience and know-how.

With a host of comprehensive solutions and customised components, Swegon can handle any task – from the most basic and simple to the biggest and most complex.

“Swegon has developed a variety of ‘solutions’ that combine different products in integrated packages,” says Mats Holmquist, president and CEO of Swegon. “These packages are tailored to suit the seven main markets: commercial offices, hotels, factories, shopping centres and apartments, plus schools and other public buildings,” he adds.

For more information, please contact: infoCN@swegon.com

Beijing

Raising awareness about social media n Sharing information in social media can be dangerous was the message from Lars-Åke Severin, CEO at the Swedish security consultancy firm PSU, which has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, at a chamber seminar in Beijing on 17 October.

Severin gave the audience an insight into the undisputed importance of common sense when using social media, with a clear message that we need awareness and knowledge when we share personal and corporate information. The audience got an introduction into the intelligence techniques that can be used; how a perpetrator can approach different people and family members in order to collect information and how a puzzle can be put together over time.

Case studies were shown, covering areas of information that can be collected, how it can be used by competitors and also saved and later sold in order to be used as a tool for extortion or even for political reasons.

Examples focused on the importance of knowing who you actually share information with; whether the person is someone you know, or whether the person even exists in reality.

The audience got hands on advice on how to work with prevention, such as training, policies and practical implementation.

VAT reform in Shanghai and Beijing n On the morning of 31 October, the Swedish chamber in Beijing arranged a tax seminar covering two important new tax regulations: the value-added tax (VAT) reform and cash/profit repatriation. Speakers Kit On, Sam Li and Andrew Zhu, all from the Beijing office of professional services firm Deloitte, shared their experience with some 30 participants.

The VAT reform is a hot topic these days. The speakers talked about the differences between VAT and business tax, and they then touched upon the credit mechanism of VAT. The tricky but interesting part is understanding the circulars and using them to help “save money”. These circulars act as a guide to the intricate process of determining whether you are general a VAT payer, whether you are eligible for tax exemption, and so on. At present, only Shanghai and Beijing are involved in the VAT pilot programme, but the map is expected to expand considerably over the coming years.

Due to the China-specific regulatory restrictions on particular economic activities – in particular, when it comes to taxation and foreign exchange controls – “trapped cash” issues arise. The speakers went over pros and cons of various strategies when tackling this tough problem and drew a decision tree, making it possible to select the most suitable strategy. They also talked about some common strategies and best practices. The major take-away? Communicating with the tax authorities is key.

Sam Li, Kit On and Arthur Zhu from Deloitte talked about the new VAT regulation.

Lars-Åke Severin talked about the need for awareness and knowledge when sharing personal and corporate information.

Adventurous trip to the Chinese Space City

The whole group at the exhibition room of China Academy of Space Technology.

34 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

n On 21 September, 22 members of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China had an exclusive glimpse of the secret Chinese Space City in the north-western outskirts of Beijing.

“Our Chinese people are proud of its independently developed differential satellites, launching rockets, launching sites, lunar probes and manned stations,” said Xue Jingdong from the Swedish Space Corporation’s Beijing Office as he accompanied the team to visit the space exhibition room of China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the dominant manufacturer of Chinese satellites and Shenzhou space shuttles.

In the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre, the chamber’s team of delegates saw a huge TV screen in the sprawling control room, which was showing the live-orbit-passes of Chinese space shuttle TG-1 and other satellites, controlled by its global satellite-tracking stations in a large world map.

The group was also given an introduction to China-style astronauts’ suits, their zero-gravity exercises environment in a large water tank and other flying and mission-control simulation facilities in the Chinese Astronauts’ Training Centre, where the famous Chinese astronauts Yang Liwei, Zhai Zhigan and others were trained, and where the first Chinese female astronaut Liu Yang started her journey to space on the SZ-9 shuttle.

Swedish banking in China We feel at home in the Chinese market and want you to feel the same. It’s a large and fast-growing market. As a result, more and more Scandinavian companies need banking solutions, such as cash management, financing in local and foreign currencies, trade finance and treasury solutions in China. We’ll help you – bringing our 20 years of experience of business in China. If you have the opportunity, please visit us in Shanghai where we’ve been located since 2001.

Swedbank Shanghai Citigroup Tower 601, 33 Huayuanshiqiao Rd. Shanghai, China + 86 21 386 126 00

Shanghai

Working with Swedes

Vanessa Wang talked about communicating with Swedes.

n On 10 October the Swedish chamber in Shanghai arranged a breakfast seminar for Chinese employees working for Swedish companies. Vanessa Wang from GP Strategies was the facilitator and led more than 40 participants through the seminar and workshop, presenting an overview of Swedish culture, Swedish work culture and how to effectively communicate with Swedes. The seminar was well received by the attendants, who were able to share their experiences and listen to others’ as well.

Jan Häggström is one of the leading economists in the Nordic countries.

Swedish R&D in China n More than 50 people from over 30 companies joined the Swedish Chamber of Commerce’s seminar on research and development (R&D) in China in conjunction at the Swedish Innovation Exhibition. Peter Lundin, head of R&D North-East Asia for Ericsson, spoke about the reasons for betting on R&D in China. Ericsson has over 4,500 employees in China working on R&D, and Lundin was able to share many insights about how it works.

Peter Sandberg, general manager of Tobii Technology in Suzhou, spoke about the gains for smaller companies in setting up R&D in China, and shared his experience regarding the pros and cons of doing so. He also took the opportunity to demonstrate some of the eye-tracking technology that Tobii is developing and manufacturing.

From left, Peter Sandberg (Tobii Technology), Linda Backteman (Consulate General of Sweden in Shanghai) and Peter Lundin (Ericsson).

Find one Private Banking advisor, then make sure he knows many specialists

Can Europe solve its crisis? n At a breakfast seminar on 30 October at the Le Royal Meridien in Shanghai, Handelsbanken’s chief economist Jan Häggström updated the attending members of the Swedish chamber on the economic crisis in the euro zone and what we could expect in the future. Häggström is one of the Nordic region’s leading economists, and attendees were provided insights into the causes, the current situation and the possibilities for recovery for the crisis-hit economies of Europe.

Everybody agreed the seminar was enlightening and a welcome addition to the weekly seminars arranged by the chamber, which mainly focus on China.

36 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

Wealth management today involves much more than selecting the best stocks and bonds. At Nordea Private Banking, we offer you an experienced personal advisor and a comprehensive overview of your wealth based on thorough research and rigorous analysis. One private banker, many specialists – making it possible.

Contact Nordea in Singapore on +65 9658 9054, or e-mail jonas.bergqvist@nordea.com

Jonas Bergqvist, Private Banker Nordea Bank S.A and Nordea Bank Finland Plc, Singapore Branch are part of Nordea Group, the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions. Being the leading Nordic panEuropean banking entity in Luxembourg, Nordea Bank S.A. focuses on international Wealth Management, Fund Distribution and Fund Management services. Our 400 employees serve a wide spectrum of international clients in more than 125 countries. Some products and services may, due to local regulations, not be available to individuals resident in certain countries and their availability may depend, among other things, on the investment risk profile of persons in receipt of this publication or on any legislation to which they are subject. Nothing in this publication should be construed as an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to purchase, subscribe to or sell any investment or product, or to engage in any other transaction or provide any kind of financial or banking service in any jurisdiction where Nordea Bank S.A. and Nordea Bank Finland Plc, Singapore Branch or any of their affiliates do not have the necessary licence. Published by Nordea Bank Finland Plc, Singapore Branch, 3 Anson Rd #22-01, Springleaf Tower, Singapore 079909 www.nordeaprivatebanking.com subject to the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (www.mas.gov.sg ).

AD_dragonnews_eng Jonas.indd 1

05/11/2012 16:02

HONG KONG ORDINARY MEMBERS >>>

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Boris Design Studio Ltd 2/F, 33 Fuk Lo Tsun Road Kowloon City, Hong Kong Tel: +852 9845 1992 Email: info@borisdesignstudio.com Web: www.borisdesignstudio.com

Activities Boris is a product design studio based in Hong Kong founded by two Swedes: Katarina Ivarsson and Anna Karlsson. The company was founded in 2009 in Hong Kong and has since developed a unique style of work blending design, sustainability and technology. Acting as an enabler for more sustainable development is a vital part of the business, and that is more than evident in the products and projects in one way or another. Boris does consultancy work in the fields of product design, design research, trend studies and interactive design.

Chamber representatives Katarina Ivarsson, Founder Anna Karlsson, Founder

Synergy Health (Hong Kong) Ltd Level 15, Nexxus Building 41 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: +852 3757 9680 Email: niclas.olsson@synergyhealthplc.com Web: www.synergyhealthplc.com Activities Synergy is a leading international supplier of outsourced support services to the healthcare market within the UK and Ireland, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Our core services are the sterilisation of medical devices, infection control and other environmental management services, together with clinical pathology, occupational health and microbiological services. The headquarters for Asia-Pacific are in Hong Kong and we employ more than 300 people in the region.

Chamber representative Niclas Olsson, CEO Asia & Africa

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Le Pelle Ltd Unit 1010, Miramar Tower 132 Nathan Road Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: +886 9 888 16508 Email: per@lepelle.com Web: www.lepelle.com www.perjansson.com

Wackes (HK) Ltd Flat F, 15/F, Wah Lik Industrial Centre 459-469 Castle Peak Road Tsuen Wan, NT, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2735 1788 Email: Kenneth.liu@wackes.hk Web: www.wackes.hk

Activities Le Pelle Design is a web design company with focus on e-commerce and interactive websites.

Our network of professionals is stretching from Sweden and Europe to Taiwan and Asia and the Americas. Having a network of “globals” we can create better designs that will do the job both within and across borders. For implementation of our work we use open source – mainly Magento for ecommerce and Drupal for websites. Our customers range from artist agencies, fashion and cosmetics stores to DIY bakeries and NGOs. Apart from any photography needed for our regular work, we also undertake portrait photography worldwide.

Activities Wackes creates business opportunities through promotional products that excite clients and employees, leading to stronger brands. Among our clients are several well known multinational corporations and organisations, who choose us not only for our product knowledge, but also for our expertise in logistics and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Our more than 55 professionals have specific competencies in one or more of the following areas: sales support – promoting your name long after a sales meeting; action marketing – how to support an advertising campaign; branded merchandise – items with your logo for your consumers to buy; and your corporate profile – and combining the right products to enhance your image. We work from offices in Sweden, France, Norway, USA, Hong Kong and the PRC.

Chamber representative Per Eric Jansson, Director

Chamber representative Kenneth Liu, CEO

38 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

MANDARIN STAR PRIMASIA CORPORATE SERVICES LIMITED Swedish founded – 24 years in Hong Kong

Suite 2909 China Resources Building, No.26 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

Email: johnbarclay@primasia.hk [+852 3588 0000] / winniechan@primasia.hk [+852 3588 0012] General Line: +852 2882-2088 Fax: +852 2975-8042 www.primasia.hk

HONG KONG INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS >>>

CHINA ORDINARY MEMBERS >>>

Kjell Augustsson Email: kjell.augustsson@skuld.com Tel: +852 9883 8874

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Kreab Gavin Anderson Suite 1902-04, 19/F, Kinwick Centre 32 Hollywood Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2523 7189 Email: wjennings@kreabgavinanderson.com rjoseph@kreabgavinanderson.com Web: www.kreabgavinanderson.com

Activities For nearly 30 years, Kreab Gavin Anderson has been one of the leading strategic communications consultancies in Hong Kong. The company has a market-leading position as a premier corporate and financial communications and public affairs consultancy. Our team of senior professionals advise on the leading issues of the day, drawing on a track record of top-level assignments. We continue as one of the region’s premier financial transactions advisors with experience in a wide array of industries. Our public affairs team develops strategies to manage the complex regulatory and government relations environments across Asia-Pacific.

We manage long-term corporate brand development, as well as short term crises. Our advisors are drawn from a range of industries, from investment banking and financial journalism, to government ministries and law. Many have worked and lived in markets across the region and around the world.

Chamber representatives Walter Jennings Managing Partner Hong Kong and China Robyn Joseph Partner

Marielle Roting Email: marielle.roting@sungard.com Tel: +852 9733 0629

Jochen Kleef Email: jochen.kleef@kleef.asia Tel: +852 9409 3084

Shop No.65, 1/F, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, Hong Kong Tel: 852-2877-2227 Fax: 852-2877-2120 Mobile: 9051-9499 E-mail: johnnysphoto@live.hk Opening Hour: Mon – Sat 9:00am – 7:00pm Sunday 2:00pm – 6:00pm

40 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

Activities BioGaia is a healthcare company which develops, markets and sells probiotic products with documented health benefits. A leader in its field with over 20 years of experience, BioGaia has created a global network of leading, independent researchers and specialists, in-house experts and commercial partners in over 70 markets worldwide. BioGaia AB has an Asia-Pacific representative office in China, for developing and maintaining its regional network of countryexclusive partners.

Activities ChaseXL is a consulting company with purchasing, supply chain and sourcing experts who provide services within areas of consulting, competence development, outsourcing, trading and specialists for hire.

Chamber representative Linkai Zhang Managing Director Email: linkai.zhang@chasexl.com Mobile: +86 139 1618 0407

Chamber representative Nigel Titford Business Development Director Email: nt@biogaia.se Mobile: +86 150 2100 5462, +46 70 631 3361

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Jakobsson, Peter Email: peter.jakobsson@eftec.com.cn Tel: +852 5989 4117 +86 139 1611 9262

JOHNNY’S PHOTO & VIDEO SUPPLY LTD • Photographic Equipment • Video/Audio Hi-Fi Equipment • Home Appliances • Colour Film Processing/Enlargement • Audio/Video Dubbing Services • Communication Equipment • Electronic Equipment • Repairing Services • Mail Order Acceptable

ChaseXL Ltd Room 703, No 15, Lane 69, Longming Road Minhang District Shanghai 201199 Tel: +86 139 1618 0407 Web: www.chasexl.com

BioGaia AB 12/F, Sail Tower No 266, Hankou Road Huangpu District Shanghai 200001 Tel: +86 21 5228 2162 Web: www.biogaia.se

Kenth Fagerlund Email: kenth.fagerlund@mpayme.com Tel: +852 9539 5007

Gnotec AB 12/F, Sail Tower No 266, Hankou Road Shanghai 200001 Tel: +86 21 5308 7371 Web: www.gnotec.com Activities Gnotec is a leading manufacturer of metal components to demanding automotive and industrial customers all over the world, with five operations in Europe and a sales and purchasing office in Shanghai. Gnotec offers state-of-theart technology in automatic pressing, laser cutting, press bending and welding.

Chamber representative Patrik Gillberg Email: patrik.gillberg@gnotec.com Mobile: +86 187 2195 6711

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ProgressLEAD Room 2103, Dongbo Building No 168, Shangwen Road Huangpu District Shanghai 200010 Tel: +86 180 1767 9916 Web: www.progresslead.com

Activities ProgressLEAD is a Swedish management organisation with a range of highly qualified and successful business consultants and project managers creating progress every day in Sweden, Poland and China. ProgressLEAD has established a broad portfolio of consulting services with a main focus on business development and resource management.

Chamber representatives Edvard Fernö, Business Developer Email: edvard.ferno@progresslead.com Mobile: +86 180 1767 9916 Mikael Fredman, Business Developer Email: mikael.fredman@progresslead.com Mobile: +46 70 750 68 60

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DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 41

Nord-Lock (Shanghai) Co, Ltd Room 1604A, Youli International Building No 1158, Jiangning Road Putuo District Shanghai 200060 Tel: +86 21 6372 4989 Contact person: Dony Hu General Manager China Mobile: +86 152 2195 3063 E-mail: dony.hu@nord-lock.com Web: www.nord-lock.com Activities The Nord-Lock Group is a world leader in bolt securing systems. We have a unique combination of expertise in bolting and a wide product portfolio, including Superbolt and wedge-locking products. At Nord-Lock (Shanghai) Co, Ltd, we share our experience, knowledge and creativity to help our customers achieve outstanding results Chamber representative Norbert Hentschel Email: norbert.hentschel@nord-lock.com Mobile: +65-9-184 7040

Royal Smushi House No 12, Dongzhimen Waidajie Chaoyang District Beijing 100027 Tel: +86 10 6416 9664 Web: www.royalsmushihouse.cn.com Activities The Royal Smushi House is the Chinese capital’s leading Scandinavian cuisine and design house. It is the destination of choice for the capital’s young and trendy crowd, who enjoys a healthy and fashionable lifestyle. Here you can enjoy a wide range of Scandinavian specialties in a fashionable and relaxing atmosphere that is uniquely Scandinavian.

Chamber representative Lisa Zhang Brand Director Email: lisazhang@smushihouse.com Mobile: +86 138 1000 7118

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WallVision International Trading (China) Co, Ltd A1-2F, I-Park, No 88 Dongchang Road Suzhou Industrial Park Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 21505 Tel: +86 512 6799 1001 Fax: +86 512 6799 1015 Web: www.wallvision.cn

Activities WallVision sells and distributes our premium brands of wallpaper: Eco, Boråstapeter, Mr Perswall and Cole&Son. Chamber representatives Fengning Xia Fransén General Manager Email: feng.fransen@wallvision.cn Mobile: +86 180 1558 1988 Mats Fransén Operations Manager Email: mats.fransen@wallvision.cn Mobile: +86 180 1558 1926

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TEXO Pacific Co, Ltd Room 1419, No 351, Rijing Road Waigaoqiao, Pudong Shanghai 200131 Tel: +86 21 5866 1338 Fax: +86 21 5866 1339 Web: www.texo.se

Activities TEXO is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of weaving looms. More than two-thirds of all paper industry looms are supplied by TEXO. In 2008, TEXO Pacific Ltd was established in Shanghai, China. The main purpose for TEXO Pacific Ltd is to provide closer service and after-sales for all customers in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chamber representative Magnus Johansson General Manager Email: pacific.johansson@texo.se Mobile: +86 136 0176 5499

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Enea AB Shanghai Representative Office Room 1203, Silver Tower No 218, South Xizang Road Shanghai 200021 Tel: +86 21 6334 3406 Fax: +86 21 6334 3408 Web: www.enea.com

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Aura Light Trading (Shanghai) Co, Ltd Room 2605, Central Plaza No 227, Huangpi Road (N) Huangpu District Shanghai 200003 Website: www.auralight.cn Tel: +86 21 3313 0891 Fax: +86 21 3313 0895

Activities Provider of software and services for embedded software development.

Activities Aura Light Shanghai supplies long life lighting solutions for professional customers enabling them to reduce cost and become sustainable in China.

Chamber representatives Fredrik Sjöholm, VP, Asia Pacific E-mail: fredrik.sjoholm@enea.com Mobile: +86 186 2190 3793 Frank Zhang, Sales Director E-mail: frank.zhang@enea.com Mobile: +86 138 1822 3090

Chamber representatives Elaine Zhang, Business Developer Manager China E-mail: elaine.zhang@auralight.com

Mobile: +86 138 1611 0771 Tyrone Shao, Sales Manager China E-mail: tyrone.shao@auralight.com Mobile: +86 135 0184 2890

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TOOLS is the leading supplier of industrial consumables and industrial components in the Nordic region.

We assist industrial companies with a complete range of products and services for efficient maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) of their production facilities. www.tools.se

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SWEDEN’S LEADING BOARDING SCHOOL High school and Middle school programmes in Swedish or English. The IB Diploma has been established at SSHL for over 30 years with a proven record of success. Numerous free time activities and close contacts with universities and industry. Our school is located in idyllic Sigtuna on the shores of Lake Mälar, close to Stockholm cultural life and Arlanda airport.

Come and visit SSHL, an international version of Sweden. We are happy to show you the school and our activities at any time. We also offer a trial period, giving you the opportunity to experience school and boarding life.

During the summer we offer summer courses in Swedish and Mathematics.

SIGTUNASKOLAN HUMANISTISKA LÄROVERKET Telephone: +46 8 592 571 00 www.sshl.se

UNITED FOR INDUST R IAL E F F I C I E NCY 44 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

CHINA ASSOCIATE MEMBERS >>>

Cleanergy AB Room 609, 6/F, CYTS Plaza No 5, Dongzhimen Nandajie Beijing 100006 Web: www.cleanergy.com

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Activities Cleanergy is the world’s leading provider of Stirling-based, climate-friendly energy solutions.

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Chamber representatives Bi Yuping Managing Director E-mail: yuping.bi@wilhelmsen.com Mobile: +86 136 8195 5318 Jenny He PA to MD E-mail: jenny.he@wilhelmsen.com Mobile: +86 138 1786 1716

Sulzer Pump Solutions (Kunshan) Co, Ltd No 8, West Chenfeng Road Kunshan, Jiangsu Province 215300 Tel: +86 512 3660 6388 Fax: +86 512 3660 6307 Web: www.sulzer.com

Activities Sulzer Pumps is one of the world’s leading pump manufacturers. Our global network encompasses over 20 manufacturing sites and more than 120 service centres and sales offices worldwide. We are well known for state-of-the-art products, performance reliability and energy-efficient solutions.

Chamber representatives Arne Nilsson Supply Chain Director E-mail: arne.nilsson@sulzer.com Mobile: +86 136 1180 1239 Cherry Wang HR Assistant E-mail: cherry.wang@sulzer.com Mobile: +86 159 6261 3782

46 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

Wilhelmsen Huayang Ships Service (Shanghai) Co, Ltd Suite 9D, Panorama Building No 53, Huangpu Road Shanghai 200080 Tel: +86 21 6086 3888 Fax: +86 21 6086 3877 Web: www.wilhelmsen.com

Activities Wilhelmsen is a world leader in the maritime industry, specialising in unitor marine products, ships agency, maritime logistics, unitor and nalfleet marine chemicals and safety products and services.

Chamber representative Magnus Lindvall SVP Greater China E-mail: magnus.lindvall@cleanergy.com Mobile: +86 139 1113 9532, +46 532 10020

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Kjell & Company C/O Cathay Consulting Suite 5A, Xin Xing Mansion No 137, Julu Lu Shanghai 200020 Tel: +86 186 0167 3615 Web: www.kjell.com

Activities Sourcing, product development, quality control, CSR. Chamber representatives Erik Broddesson E-mail: erik.broddesson@kjell.com Mobile: +86 186 0167 3615 Jeanette Broddesson Email: jeanette.broddesson@kjell.com

Anton Brink Room 901, Unit 12, Hua Ye Mei Gui Jun No 128 Balizhuang Beili Chaoyang District Beijing 100026 Email: anton.brink@nokia.com Mobile: +86 1390 100 6953

Francois Duchastel c/o Rethinking Real Estate 2F, IPPR, Oriental Financial Centre No 2981 Dongfang Road Pudong New Area Shanghai 200125 Mobile: +86 186 2157 8333 Email: f.duchastel@voodoo-associates.com

Daniel Kastensson Ardennergatan 14 SE-194 73 Upplands Väsby Sweden Email: daniel.kastensson@kasuten.com Mobile: +46 730 88 10 10

Kari Rannisto 1101, Building 1, Xikang Rd 633 Shanghai 200040 Mobile: +86 187 9549 1318 Email: krannisto@yahoo.com

Dennis Swahn E1705, Jing Mao International Apartment No 68 Ba Li Qiao South Street Tongzhou District Beijing 101100 Mobile: +86 186 1017 6903 Email: dennisbswahn@gmail.com

Karin Lindström Room 4803, Building B, Global 188 No 88 Suhui Lu Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215000 Mobile: +86 130 4140 6240 Email: karin.lindstrom@posittec.com

Emilia Wiking Ulrikedalsvägen 26C, lgh 1106 SE-224 58 Lund Sweden Email: emilia.wiking@gmail.com Mobile: +46 739 313 699

Mathias Hallgren C/O Quesada Kapitalförvaltning AB Jakobsbergsgatan 16 SE-111 44 Stockholm Sweden Email: mathias.hallgren@quesada.se Mobile: +46 733 591 889

Esra Yagmur Andersson House 238, Shanghai Green Valley Villa No 1500 Hami Road, Changning District Shanghai 200336 Mobile: +86 1520 190 6514 Email: esra.andersson@me.com

Sanna Norman No 932, Xin Jin Qiao Road, Pudong Shanghai 201206 Mobile: +86 137 9530 7685 Email: shnorman@scj.com

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DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012 47

A fte r hou r s ScanGlobalAdDragonNews.pdf

China according to Cho

Scandinavian bread in Hong Kong For those of us having a hard time getting accustomed to the sweet and sugary bread that is found in the supermarkets, the newly opened bakery, Po’s Atelier, seeks to fill this void. Po’s Atelier is a boutique bakery focusing on artisanal breads and pastries paired with inspiration from Japan and Scandinavia. The bright and airy environment in the creative heart of Sheung Wan, combined with a cozy outdoor terrace makes this a new hang out place for bread lovers. Swing by on a slow Sunday morning and enjoy the taste of newly baked bread and a cup of proper coffee.

Address: 62 Po Hing Fong, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.

Phone: + 852 6056 5005 Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10am-8pm, closed on Mondays.

In a newly published book, Kina enligt Cho (“China according to Cho”), Handelsbanken’s special advisor to China, Frédéric Cho, writes about what Swedish business people should think about when they are heading for China. Cho asks questions such as, “Will China conquer the world?” or “Should we all learn Chinese?” The book is written in collaboration with journalist Kerstin Danasten.

Allan Riber Nielsen, Sales Manager Hong Kong and South China.

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“Anybody can move goods from A to B. The difference is how you do it.”

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n Clothing Fjällräven clothes in Beijing Fjällräven is an outdoor clothing and equipment company that was founded in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, in 1960. Today, it is a multinational company with outlets all over the world. In 2008, Fjällräven entered the Chinese market and today has 15 shops there. In China, the market for outdoor products is still in its infancy, and the main focus has been on “outdoor lifestyle” clothes rather than the “hardcore outdoor” segment. The “flagship store” is located in Beijing.

Address: No 3084, Golden Resource New Yansha Mall, No 1 Yuanda Road, Haidian District, Beijing.

www.scangl.com

n Social networks Chamber groups at LinkedIn

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n Books

n Bakeries

To join the Swedish Chamber of Commerce’s LinkedIn groups is a good way to stay informed and keep in touch with people that share your interests and goals. The China chamber’s LinkedIn group has now 750 members and the Hong Kong chamber’s group has just started and is growing rapidly.

Along with interesting discussions and notifications about activities, you’ll be able to receive advice and new jobs posted to the jobs section of the groups.

Go to www.linkedin.com, use the option “Groups” in the search box and write Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China or in Hong Kong.

When you find the group you press the “join” button.

7/20/11

n Groceries New store with a Swedish touch

n Fashion Björn Borg stores in Shanghai If you miss Björn Borg’s clothing and underwear products, you can now find them in Shanghai as they have opened two stores there. One is located at the Sogo department store, next to Jing’ an Temple, and the other at the Cloud Nine Shopping Mall, near Zhongshan Park.

Addresses: Sogo, 6/F, 1618 West NanJing Road. Cloud Nine, 4/F, 1018 Changning Lu, near Kaixuan Lu.

Salvation has arrived for anyone longing Swedish delicacies and traditional food. The newly opened Pear & Carrot in Hong Kong has a broad line of products that they can deliver to your door. Take the opportunity to order your Christmas ham, or some exquisite Swedish herring. Pear & Carrot also display Scandinavian and Asian designers fashion accessories in their store. You can order online, www.pearandcarrot.se, or visit the small shop in Tsimshatsui.

Address: Shop 202, 2/F, Solo Building, 4143 Carnarvon Road, Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong.

Phone: +852 2312 1919.

Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday 13-20, Mondays closed.

“In addition to shipping goods from A to B, we can handle everything you may need in between: warehousing, quality control, labelling, consolidation, customs handling, certificate applications, bonded warehousing, distribution and project logistics.

Also, we like to think we are doing it the Scandinavian way–more control and responsibility and less hassle and excuses.

Call me or send an email to arni@scangl.com and let’s talk some Scandinavian. Welcome!”

41/F, China Online Centre, 333 Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong. +852 2117 4800.

T he chambe r and I

Chamber meetings give him energy Göran Larsén, director of Stadium in Hong Kong, says that there are many problems that the chamber can help the members to solve; for example why EU passports have so few pages.

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öran Larsén first stepped on Hong Kong soil back in May 1978, but he had never been a resident of the city until October 2011. During his first 15 years in Hong Kong, he ran the production department for a Swedish jeans and casual wear brand called Dobber from an office in Tsimshatsui, while still calling Sweden home.

Since 1994, Larsén has been working for Stadium AB, the biggest sporting goods retailer In Scandinavia. In 2011, he helped to set up Stadium (HK) Ltd and moved to Hong Kong with his wife, “a decision we have never needed to regret.”

When did your company become a member of the Swedish chamber?

“We became a member as soon as we were a registered company here in 2011. But already in December 2010, my wife and I were sent for a ‘training camp’ in Hong Kong for six months. The owners wanted to evaluate the pros and cons of being here prior to establishing a company. During this trial period, my wife got involved with the Swedish women’s organisation SWEA and I became interested in the chamber’s activities. I think these two organisations help newcomers get settled in Hong Kong much quicker. And I must say that SWEA has been a fantastic source of friendship for my wife.”

from my daily work. There are so many topics that can be considered as ‘non-competitive’, which can be brought forward, and the chamber is a good partner to channel and share your experience from business life.”

In what way has SwedCham and its network been of value in your work?

“I feel the corporate social responsibility (CSR) group that I have been a little bit involved in is a very good example. It is a forum that focuses on ‘non-competitive’ issues, and where the flow of experience and ideas is very rewarding to be involved in. The breakfast seminars are very valuable to me. And I have met Swedish friends in other business segments that we are now in discussions with. There are always opportunities to be found if you start to talk with people.”

Are there specific issues that you think the chamber can assist with?

“There are so many issues and problems that the chamber can help us solve. One simple and crazy example is why our EU passports have so few pages. If you travel around the region with all the visas needed for Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, etc, plus the working permits in Hong Kong, then all the pages are soon filled up. Everybody I have been talking to has the same problem. We need more pages in our passports, not new passports. This is something the chamber can initiate and bring forward, perhaps together with other chambers.”

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What has been your favourite experience in the chamber activities so far?

“My honourable second prize award in the hat competition at the Crayfish Party is one.

But, overall, the best experience is the feeling I have that the chamber really is very active and is making big efforts to provide so many opportunities to meet people. I always feel very energetic after attending meetings arranged by the chamber, except for the day after the Crayfish Party …” b

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What is member value for you?

“What impresses me most is the chamber’s wide variety of activities, even if I miss quite a few due to extensive travelling in the region. And the social networking is important. But honestly, it is not what the chamber can do for me that is important but what I can do for the chamber. It will never become better than its members. I feel it is my obligation as a member to feed the chamber with ideas, good or bad, and problems

I feel it is my obligation as a member to feed the chamber with ideas, good or bad.”

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Göran Larsén has been working for Stadium since 1994.

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD Ulf Ohrling, Chairman [Mannheimer Swartling] Carl Christensson [Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken] Eva Henriksson [Henriksson Consulting] Dan Lindwall [Handelsbanken] Staffan Löfgren [ScanAsia Consulting] Gunnar Mansfeld, Treasurer [Troy Solutions] Laurence McDonald [Ericsson] Kristian Odebjer [Advokatfirman Odebjer Fohlin] Per Ågren [APC Asia Pacific Cargo]

DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD Mats Harborn, Chairman [Scania] Katarina Nilsson, Vice Chairman [Advokatfirman Vinge] Fredrik Ektander, Vice Chairman [SEB] Erik Ek, Treasurer [Swedbank] Yvonne Chen [GM, Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China] Birgitta Ed [Springtime] Karine Hirn [East Capital] Daniel Karlsson [Asia Perspective] Tom Nygren [Ericsson] Martin Pei [SSAB] Lars-Åke Severin [PSU] Thomas Sörensson [B&B Tools] Sara Wramner [VisitSweden]

50 DRAGONNEWS • NO.04/2012

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