Dragon News - No. 2, 2015

M e m b e r m a g a z i n e f o r t h e S w e d i s h C h a m b e r s o f C o mm e r c e i n H o n g Ko n g a n d C h i n a

No.02

2015

6

Ines Kämpfer Left-behind children in China

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Magnus Kagevik Unlocking the door to growth

24

Göran Leijonhufvud Covering China for 50 years

The boom days are over There has been a clear correlation between annual salary increases and GDP growth plus inflation in China. In other words, from an employee’s perspective, the high growth in annual wages can be considered fair. But for white-collar staff the good old days are probably over.

Publisher The Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and China For advertising inquiries, please contact respective chamber’s office The opinions expressed in articles in Dragon News are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

CONTENTS

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

No.022015 6

4

Editorial

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Opinion: Ines Kämpfer

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Snippets

10 Cover story: The boom days are over

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22 Executive talk: Magnus Kagevik 24 Feature: Göran Leijonhufvud

Cover photo: iStock 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 Email: chamber@swedcham.com.hk Web: www.swedcham.com.hk General Manager: Eva Karlberg Marketing Manager: Louise Herrlin Finance Manager: Anna Mackel INQUIRIES Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China Room 313, Radisson Blu Hotel 6A, East Beisanhuan Road, Chaoyang District Beijing 100028, People’s Republic of China Tel: +86 10 5922 3388, ext 313 Fax: +86 10 6464 1271 Email: info@swedishchamber.com.cn Web: www.swedishchamber.com.cn Office Manager Beijing: Karin Roos Webmaster: Jaycee Yang Finance Assistant: Klara Wang Shanghai contact Office Manager Shanghai: Marianne Westerback Tel: +86 21 6217 1271 Fax: +86 21 6217 0562 Mobile: +86 1368 179 7675 Email: shanghai@swedishchamber.com.cn

28 Young Professional interview: Sam Scherman Johansson 32 Chamber activities in Hong Kong

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33 Chamber activities in Beijing 34 Chamber activities in Shanghai 36 Chamber news: Swedish Career Fair 2015 38 Chamber news: Swedish school to close this summer

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39 New members 48 Annual General Meeting in Hong Kong 50 Annual General Meeting in China

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

ADVERTISERS APC Logistics page 35, Asia Perspective page 29, Bamboo page 49 B&B Tools/Teng Tools page 51, Finnair page 2, Ericsson page 19 Executive Homes page 47, Greencarrier page 44, Handelsbanken page 52 Hellström page 8, Iggesund Paperboard page 17, IKEA page 21 Kellogg-Guanghua School of Management page 13, Kinnarps/Workspace pages 43 Mannheimer Swartling page 31, Nordea page 47, PSU pages 26-27 Radisson Blu page 20, SEB page 5, Sigtuna Humanistiska Läroverk page 45 Stockholm School of Economics page 15, Swedbank page 41

Thank you!

APC Logistics for your immense generosity shipping and distributing Dragon News in China, Hong Kong, Asia and Sweden.

Iggesund Paperboard for being the proud sponsor for the paperboard cover sheet of Dragon News magazine in 2012.

Cover printed on Invercote® Creato 220gsm.

The Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and China

Swedish Spirit of Innovation page 37, Turkish Airlines page 9

DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015 3

EDITORIAL

Katarina Nilsson Chairman Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

Ulf Ohrling Chairman Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

The Chinese IP nightmare Dear Reader, Foreign investors in China have long complained about the lack of proper protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IP) in China, where copycats are legion and enforcement is lax, slow and the damages awarded far too low to be a deterrent.

However, gradually the situation has improved considerably and now we even hear of Chinese multinationals suing each other in China on IP related issues.

Nevertheless, while IP enforcement has improved, rights owners in China face new challenges. The new threat goes under the name of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In a recent investigation the US chipmaker Qualcomm, which owns many patents necessary for smartphone producers such as the Chinese companies Xiaomi and Huawei, was ordered to pay a fine of US$975 million and “agreed” to lower the royalty rates for its patents. The basis for the investigation was breaches of the Chinese anti-monopoly law.

In addition, on 7 April this year the State Administration for Industry and Commerce promulgated Rules on Prohibition of Abuses of IP to eliminate or restrict competition.

These rules open up possibilities for the authorities to attack IP owners on the basis of abuse. The Rules contain concepts about relevant markets, essential facilities and 4 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

standard essential patents that are not well defined and thus leave room for arbitrary interpretation.

Every company of course needs to follow the antitrust laws in countries where they operate, and globally there have been abuses that have led to appropriate punishments. The problem with the NDRC’s dawn-raids are (1) the lack of transparency and clear rules regarding the procedure (provision of documents, interviews, official’s behaviour, etc); (2) involvement of lawyers is often restricted (for example, lawyers are sometimes prohibited from sitting in on interviews) and; (3) decisions lack detailed reasoning. This puts a question mark over judicial due process and how effective, in fact, the possibilities for administrative review and administrative lawsuits are. Our guess is that most companies do not consider that any results would come from initiating measures against the powerful NDRC. This means that the NDRC has assumed the role of investigator, prosecutor and judge, all at the same time, despite the current emphasis on “rule of law”. The new Rules will only amplify such uncertainties.

Another issue is the difference between fines attributed to breaches of antitrust laws and the question of price setting. In principle, it must be possible for rights owners to determine the price for a license.

However, this sometimes takes place on “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms” (FRAND). FRAND principles apply to patents critical to industrial standards and are applied by standards organisations. The new Rules somewhat surprisingly says that FRAND principles apply also to IP owners regardless of whether the IP owner has agreed to apply them or have committed to do so when the standards were formulated.

This means that China can set its own standards and overrule IP owners’ rights by holding them to FRAND principles. As the official trend seems to be to complain about issues such as the price of a cup of Starbucks coffee, the Rules must be of concern for IP owners. No one needs to buy a cup of Starbucks if they feel the price is too high and it is normally not a must for Chinese manufacturers to use a patented technology that does not belong to them.

We think China should tread carefully when using its powers in the IP and antimonopoly area, especially since the aim is to develop China into an innovative society.

Surely it is in China’s interests that its future inventors neither be copied, nor have their rights “modified” by arbitrary authorities without due judicial process. The rights conferred to rights owners are intended to serve as an incentive for the overall good of society, not as an increased risk to be punished.

A business that incorporates child rights into its business principles is far more likely to employ a motivated, stable workforce where family well-being and productivity go hand in hand, writes Ines Kämpfer of CCR CSR. TEXT: Ines Kämpfer, Ines.Kaempfer@ccrcsr.com

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Left-behind children in China and how they impact businesses

to pay closer attention to the needs of their parent workers, to take related action to simultaneously improve output and the lives of their workers. At the same time, labour shortages across the manufacturing industry in China have triggered an appetite for hiring vulnerable work groups, including juvenile and student workers. The paradox of this is that many of these young people are leftbehind children themselves, who’ve come of age and carry the scars of separation with them into the factories.

China has the largest workforce in the world, but current trends are seeing a year-on-year decrease in the workingage population. Coupled with a demand for higher wages, a desire to work closer to home and greater expectations regarding career advancement prospects (among other factors), factories across the country are struggling to cope with sparsely filled production lines. Furthermore, according to a survey

by Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition The percentage of workers (EICC), 139 factories in separated from their children China reported an average who reported feeling monthly turnover rate of 9.8 distracted and lacking per cent, with 28 per cent commitment to the job, of new hires lost during the according to a CCR CSR study. first three months.

or 61 million children in China – one in five – having a mother and father around on a regular basis, to provide love and support, is a mere fantasy. At best, it’s a once-a-year reunion during Spring Festival that ends almost as quickly as it begins. Since reform and opening, hundreds of millions of people have migrated to urban areas and industrial zones in an attempt to improve the financial situation of their families.

This exodus, the largest human migration in the world, has lifted countless families out of poverty, but it has come at a hefty and multi-faceted cost: for children, this separation impacts their education, emotional well-being and long-term development; for parents, leaving behind their young ones has led to feelings of inadequacy, guilt, anxiety and a gradual breakdown in communication and intimacy with their offspring. However, the story doesn’t end there.

There’s a real case for businesses to pay closer attention to the needs of their parent workers.”

59%

As highlighted in a study on migrant parents by the Centre for Child Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility (CCR CSR) in 2013, the impact of family well-being on business operations cannot be overstated. According to the study, which interviewed 1,500 workers in Chongqing and the Pearl River Delta region, 59 per cent of workers separated from their children reported feeling distracted and lacking commitment to the job; others reported making frequent errors due to worries concerning their children (38 per cent). A further 33 per cent claimed to be unhappy and unenthusiastic because of the separation. Almost half of those interviewed said they had left jobs in the past because of their children. More heart breaking is the fact that the majority would choose to live and work with their children – if only they could.

What these statistics point to is the fact that there’s a real case for businesses 6 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

So, what steps can and should businesses undertake to increase staff retention and productivity? In 2012, United Nations Global Impact, UNICEF and Save the Children published a set of 10 principles known as the “Child Rights and Business Principles” (CRBP), with the aim of guiding businesses in promoting child rights in their operations.

Developing awareness of the importance of CSR and child rights poses a big challenge in China, and previously this connection was often confined to child labour. The CRBP highlight the diversity of ways businesses affect children, including the impact of overall operations all the way down to the community level. By carrying out a CRBP

Ines Kämpfer is executive director at the Centre for Child Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility (CCR CSR) in Beijing and Hong Kong. She holds a PhD in sociology of religion and a Master’s degree in social work, law and sociology of religion, both from University of Fribourg in Switzerland. She has long experience of supply-chain management, including business and human rights in the Chinese context, from her previous positions as director of learning and impact at Elevate Limited and director of assessment and capacity building at the Fair Labour Association in Shanghai. She also has a wealth of experience working in the field of child rights abroad, including holding positions at the Fair Labour Association in Geneva and the Swiss Association of Child Protection. She is fluent in German, English, French, Chinese and Spanish.

self-assessment and committing one’s operations to these principles, businesses can build their reputation, improve risk management and secure their “social license to operate”. More importantly, a business that adheres to these principles is far more likely to employ a motivated, stable workforce in which family well-being and productivity go hand in hand.

For more information on CCR CSR and our work, please visit www.ccrcsr.com. b DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015 7

HR Snippets Flexible work hours in China n Foreign-owned companies in China have started to offer flexible working arrangements to white-collar employees. According to a survey of more than 20 US-China Business Council (USCBC) member companies, many are now allowing flexible start and finish times, working from home and opportunities to transition to part-time work, according to USCBC’s magazine China Business Review.

The companies interviewed gave several reasons for providing more flexibility to staff: • Traffic. Companies operating in Shanghai and Beijing said traffic conditions have deteriorated significantly in the past two years. This has greatly impacted the ability of employees to arrive at work on time.

• Office rent. Rising office rents and the need for larger office spaces have led many companies to move operations from central business districts to high-tech parks and other areas further from city centres. In such cases, staff often require significant additional commuting time. Allowing flexible working arrangements have become critical in terms of employee retention during office moves, companies said.

QUOTE

“Twice as many people moved out of China than into the country in 2014.”

A new study by UniGroup Relocation, which moves over 260,000 families per year worldwide for work, suggests that China is no longer the Promised Land for expatriates.

• Family illness. Most firms interviewed offer flexible working arrangements to allow employees to care for a family member.

• Out-of-office work. Some companies said they allow more flexibility for employees who spend a significant amount of time working outside the office, such as sales or marketing staff. Companies allowing for such arrangements said they found that desk space was cut significantly, by about one desk for every four employees.

• Conference calls. Employees at many United States companies operating in China are required to hold frequent late-night calls with their counterparts in the US. In such cases, companies often allow employees to come to the office a few hours late or work entirely from home the following day.

Did you know … n ... that the available workforce in China amounts to 793 million people – compared with India’s 481 million and Indonesia’s 120 million – according to World Bank statistics? Bangladesh ranks fourth in Asia with 78 million, followed by Pakistan and Japan, both with 66 million. Hong Kong and Singapore’s available workforce are 4 and 3 million respectively.

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Lawyers you want on your side

8 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

The boom days are over There has been a clear correlation between annual salary increases and GDP growth plus inflation in China. In other words, from an employee’s perspective, the high growth in annual wages can be considered fair. But for white-collar staff the good old days are probably over.

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

O

ver the past 10 or 15 years, no labour market in the world has been as competitive as China’s.

Every company in China has been on a quest for high-performing employees who hit, or even exceed, targets, add value to the organisation, take the right initiatives and inspire others.

While finding the right talent has become increasingly important due to tough competition, it has also become more difficult and costly. Employers have been forced to pay higher and higher salaries to attract, manage and retain key personnel.

However, statistics show that the high growth in annual wages is fair – at least from an employee’s perspective.

“There has been a clear correlation between annual salary increases and gross domestic product (GDP) growth plus inflation in China. Over the past 10 years, the average annual increase has followed the combination of GDP growth and the consumer price index (CPI) very closely,” says Tero Kosonen, managing director for Asia-Pacific at the Finnish leadership and recruitment firm MPS China.

In recent years, there has been a dip in the GDP growth rate, down from decadeslong double-digits to 7.4 per cent in 2014, which was the slowest pace in 24 years.

Predictions expect growth to land at around 6-7 per cent in the coming years.

“We can now see a trend towards lower salary increases in general but also a clear difference between white-collar and bluecollar workers. The great boom days for white-collar workers seem to be over, since today there is a substantially increased supply in this category compared to five to 10 years ago. For several reasons, however, it is going to be more and more difficult for employers

to find younger blue-collar workers and therefore the companies will have to pay them more,” says Kosonen.

China’s working age population reached its peak in 2012. Within the next 10 to 15 years, some 25 to 30 million people are estimated to disappear from the workforce.

China’s one-child policy has been efficient in managing a potential population explosion, but less desirable effects are now starting to kick in. The share of children below 15 years of age is a shrinking part of the population and that applies equally to those of working age.

At the same time, living standards have improved, while the healthcare system rapidly increases average life expectancy and the median age of the Chinese population.

China is growing old and this will have a major impact on society as a whole.

“Young people are no longer willing to become blue-collar workers; they want to do something more meaningful,” says Kosonen.

The one-child generation children also need to financially support both parents and grandparents when they grow older and they cannot do that on a blue-collar worker’s income.

Since China today has become a wealthier nation, people also live longer.

Life expectancy today is 75 years, but the retirement age is

The Chinese Dream (2) The Chinese Dream is President Xi Jinping’s collective vision of how to transform China into a “moderately well-off society” by 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, and the more long-term goal of China becoming a fully developed nation by about 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.

For this year’s four issues of Dragon News, the Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and China will use the Chinese Dream as a guiding star for analysing how China will develop over the next five years when it comes to overall trends, working-life conditions, global interaction and modernisation of transportation and logistics.

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DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015 11

harder to find stable and reliable new employees in China. the same as in 1950 when it was first introduced – 60 for men “I have seen many resumes from job seekers in which I can and 50 for women in the public sector and 55 in the private see that they have only stayed one or two years in each job. When sector. China has plans to increase the retirement age to 65 for asked about their career goals, they often say that they want men and 60 for women. to become a general manager before they turn 30 years old. In China is also tackling its diminishing workforce problem by general, I think many Chinese have to accept that it takes much implementing more automation in industry. Already, China is the longer time to learn a profession well.” biggest robotics market in the world.

Another phenomenon that will affect all companies is that the young generation, born in the But is there really a problem in attracting key talent in China? Eva Henriksson, owner of 1990s, cannot be “managed by command” as their Henriksson Consulting in Hong Kong, does not counterparts from older generations could be. think so. She has worked in China and Hong Kong “These young one-child prodigies are fragile with organisational development and recruitment when it comes to being not good at taking orders, More than half of the for the past 14 years. She refuses to believe it needs they are used to voicing their own opinions and they participating companies to be a big headache for foreign-owned companies want to have a balance between work and private in a MPS China Nordic to find the right talent in China. life. It will become more difficult for middle-aged Salary Survey said that “The problem is rather that many foreignmanagers in Chinese companies to manage their they had difficulties in owned companies have not kept up to date on what younger fellow Chinese,” says Kosonen. attracting key talent to has happened in China’s labour market over the their companies. past three to five years. They still think they should Earlier this year, MPS China conducted a Nordic be able to get key personnel at a low cost. However, Salary Survey in collaboration with the Nordic if they want to recruit skilled talents, they need to be prepared to countries’ chamber organisations in China. Roughly one third, or pay for what they’re worth,” says Henriksson.

262, of the chamber members participated.

She also believes that monetary compensation in the form of Among the results, the survey showed that 57 per cent of the wages and bonuses is the only method for retaining key talents: participating companies had difficulties in attracting key talent, “If you have a skilled employee, then give him or her good pay. If while 33 per cent responded that they had difficulties in retaining employees feel that they aren’t getting what they think they deserve key talent. then they will resign and then it is “This affirms our belief that these issues have a real impact often too late for the employer on business operations; on the other hand, Nordic companies to raise the salary. Mentally, seem to have a slightly smaller problem than the foreign business the employee has already community in general,” says a report written by Alexander de left the company long Freitas and Niina Sillanpää of MPS China. before that,” she says.

According to Kosonen Nordic companies should pay more attention to their systems of rewards. He adds that they tend to rely too much on fixed salaries.

Many companies in China have high “If a bigger part of total compensation relied annual employee on variable pay, it could yield tremendous results in turnover rates, productivity,” says Kosonen. with between Assa Abloy’s Asia-Pacific president, Magnus Kagevik, 15 to 25 per strongly supports such thinking: “We have had to cut cent of the down on staff in China and we are reluctant to pay high workforce salary increases. Instead, we focus on compensation that resigning on an increases productivity and efficiency in the production,” annual basis. he says (see also pages 22-23).

Atlas Copco, Meanwhile, Kagevik points out that it has become a world-leading provider of sustainable productivity solutions in areas

57%

The great boom days for whitecollar workers seem to be over.”

Tero Kosonen, MPS China

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In addition to a competitive package, we offer our employees diversified career development opportunities within our organisation, both local and global.”

Sharon Yao, Atlas Copco

such as compressors, vacuum solutions and air-treatment systems, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems, has managed to maintain its turnover rate at a much lower level in China.

“In addition to a competitive package, we offer our employees diversified career development opportunities within our organisation, both local and global,” says Sharon Yao, corporate HR manager at Atlas Copco (China) Investment in Shanghai.

“That’s why we can maintain a much lower staff turnover rate of around 6-7 per cent per year, compared with the industry average of 15 per cent,” she says.

“We strive to be the preferred employer among current and potential employees. We want our people to develop and grow with our company. For example, we have an Internal Job Market, and all vacancies are open to our employees, and as a result, 85 per cent of our middle- and high-level managers are recruited internally.

Employees are encouraged to take ownership of their career at Atlas Copco, while the company offers plenty of training opportunities, overseas assignments, global projects, and so on,” says Yao. Nevertheless, as China’s economy continues to grow and job preferences change accordingly, the company also faces some challenges.

A tool for measuring performance FeedbackOnline sees a great future in the Chinese market for their web-based evaluation tool, which can measure the effectiveness of individuals, teams and organisations.

FeedbackOnline is a company that provides user-friendly web-based evaluation tools for measuring the performance of managers and other employees according to a variety of parameters. Its software, called the 360-degree tool, is used in many countries by human resources managers for assessment of personnel.

Four years ago, Peter Lysell, an experienced consultant, and his partner Martin Lundin, a former CEO of Perstorp, established FeedbackOnline in Hong Kong to be close to the China market. They also cooperate with a local partner company in Shanghai.

“Some of our existing customers in Europe needed our support for their operations in China. We worked out a 10-year plan for China, but we can already see that things are developing faster than expected,” says Lysell.

For example, they have signed a contract with a leading global sportswear company to analyse how its store managers all over China are treating the staff and supporting the brand.

“China is in a very exciting phase since its

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“There will be strong demand to develop more professional leaders in China,” says Peter Lysell.

companies are transforming and there will be strong demand to develop more professional leaders,” he says.

The 360 tool can be used to increase loyalty in the company and, as an effect, achieve lower staff turnover.

“We look at a company’s strategy to analyse what behaviour its managers need to adopt in order to live up to the core values of the company. We custom-make questionnaires based on this behaviour to find out what a manager needs to improve or how to address the effectiveness of individuals, teams and organisations. HR managers can carry out the evaluation without bringing in any consultants or having any technical know-how,” says Lysell.

“Chinese companies are developing much as western companies did, but over a much shorter time period. The human factor can be decisive, so China’s companies need to work with developing its talents, providing them with training, building their confidence and letting them freely express their views,” says Lundin.

“However,” he adds, “the Chinese will do this their own way. I’m convinced that we’ll see plenty of Chinese management literature in the future.”

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Permobil ahead of the market Permobil is launching its sophisticated power and manual wheelchairs in China, but recruitment is a headache due to the lack of a rehabilitation sector in the country.

“China differs from most other countries since there’s no real rehabilitation industry here. Disabilities are still somewhat shameful in China. It’s estimated that the healthcare sector needs some 300,000 therapists, but they don’t really exist,” says Nordqvist.

When Marcus Nordqvist took office in Kunshan almost a year ago as Permobil’s vice president for business region Asia, one of the first things he started to look for was a human resources (HR) manager.

“We are growing fast – from 50 people in June when I came here to 80 today – and we are still recruiting,” he says.

Ideally, he wanted an HR manager with some kind of disability, since such a person would better understand the competencies new recruits need to have. This wasn’t possible, but sooner or later he would like to hire at least one person with a disability.

“Recruitments, especially within sales and marketing, are very difficult since our industry is almost non-existent in China, so you can’t get people with any kind of industry experience,” says Nordqvist.

Since 2012, Permobil has been owned by the Swedish investment company Investor, which is controlled by the prominent Wallenberg family which has many high-level connections with China’s leaders.

“It has meant a lot for us when it comes to contacts and support,” says Nordqvist. “When we inaugurated our ART centre, Investor’s chairman Jacob Wallenberg visited us together with a big delegation. It was a big event for the city of Kunshan and it opened many doors for us.”

There are many electric wheelchairs on the market in China, but they are, as Nordqvist calls them, simple “sit-anddrive” wheelchairs. Permobil’s wheelchairs are all custom-made for the individual client after doctors or therapists have made a medical diagnosis of the patient.

For over 45 years, Permobil has been a leader in the complex rehabilitation power wheelchairs industry, developing products that positively impact the mobility and daily lives of people with disabilities. The company is present in some 60 countries worldwide, offering a range of wheelchairs for children, young people and adults for both indoor and outdoor use.

Permobil established itself in China in 2007 as a trading company. In 2011, it opened a factory in Kunshan, west of Shanghai, for assembling chassis and powertrains. Last year, it opened an advanced rehab and technology (ART) centre. This year, the company finally obtained a license to sell its products on the China market.

“We need to recruit and retain top young talents, we need to be attractive and competitive to employees who are looking for an organisation with transparency, a communicative platform and career opportunities with global scope,” she says.

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A customised chair may be equipped with armrests, a backrest and a footrest according to any special measurements, adjustable height and seat, a seat-lift elevator or a respiratory shelf. The requirements could be as complicated as a specially adapted vertical standing chair or something as basic as a cup holder.

How virgin fibre can add a sweet scent of success.

The financing of purchasing wheelchairs of this type is limited in China. In Sweden, the government pays for products of this kind. In other countries, the patient can get financial support from insurance companies.

“The wheelchairs we’ve sold in China up until now have been paid in whole by the customer. We have also sold chairs to universities – for educational purposes – and we cooperate with top-tier hospitals,” says Nordqvist.

Permobil also works closely with the regulator, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), when it comes to testing the products.

“I’m convinced that China will be one of our most important markets in the future even if it will take some time,” says Nordqvist.

Marcus Nordqvist (fourth from right) together with Permobil employees and a delegation from the China Disabled People’s Federation.

Since the global financial crisis in 2008-2009, a clear trend has emerged, with the number of expatriates in foreignowned companies in China decreasing and being replaced by locals. Even the Swedish school in Beijing will shut down this coming summer, after 20 years in operation, due to lack of

Get in touch with Iggesund Paperboard Asia, tel: (852) 2516 0250 fax: (852) 2516 0251 or visit iggesund.com

students (see page 36 ).

“This happened in the late 1990s as well, after the Asian financial crisis, and it was a total disaster,” says Kosonen who has lived and worked in China for more than 20 years.

“What happened then, in the early 2000s, was that foreign-owned companies started to bring in more expatriates since the locals were not ready to take over.

The difference between the late 1990s and today is that the local talent pool has developed so fast over these 10-15 years.

Now, local people have management experience, they have studied overseas and they have a much more international mind set,” he says.

From a company’s point of view, it is easy to understand how tempting it is to save costs by reducing the number of expatriates. Even if a Chinese manager has a higher salary than an expatriate, the latter’s total remuneration package will be much higher since it normally includes housing, schooling, pension, and healthcare for a whole family.

But there are also clear risks involved if a company chooses to rely only on locals to run a subsidiary in China.

“The Scandinavian corporate culture and the dynamics of the company will be lost if only Chinese are running the company. There should always be at least one expatriate in the organisation,” says Henriksson.

Kosonen agrees: “Foreign-owned companies need to have at least one expatriate who is close to headquarters, whether it is the managing director, the financial director or a specialist. Otherwise, the headquarters risk losing control.”

According to Yao, expatriates account for less than 1 per cent of the group’s total number of employees in China, but they mainly work in key positions.

“Especially, at the executive level, our local talent pool still needs to gain more experience in different markets and business operations before being fully ready to assume the highest responsibilities,” she says.

Instead of expatriates, many foreignowned companies today prefer to hire foreigners who already live in China. There are many of them. Some have found a Chinese spouse and want to stay. Others decide to leave their employer when it is time for them to be repatriated back to their home country and to make a career in China instead.

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The talent challenge Dragon News asked some members of the Swedish chamber whether they think it has become more difficult or easier to hire people over the past few years. The majority thinks it has become more difficult.

Johanna Sandberg, general manager, Microdata Telecom, Suzhou: “I think it´s more difficult to hire white-collar people today compared with a few years ago. Today the number of applicants are fewer and salary expectations are much higher.

Before, we mainly used local HR websites, but today we use headhunting companies.”

Mary Li, general manager, Absolent, Beijing: “From our point of view, it has become easier year by year for a number of reasons. Our industry is becoming hotter due to stricter environmental protection standards implemented by the Chinese government and due to the fact that the public is paying more attention to air quality. Thanks to our patented technology our company is a market leader, and it is expanding fast, which attracts talented job seekers.”

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Y

Heather Yang, general manager, Greencarrier, Shanghai: “It has become difficult and it is definitely a great challenge to hire qualified people as a small- or medium-sized company in China. Shanghai has become an increasingly mature HR market and it has been ranked as the third most mature hiring market in Asia after Hong Kong and Singapore. There’s a significant number of candidates available with both local and international experience that makes them completely qualified for being decision-makers rather than ‘command followers’. However, those candidates have easy access to job opportunities in any multinational company and they are more keen to work for big brands.

“An overall shortage of talent has put major pressure on salaries. Many companies are willing to pay significantly high salaries to attract people and make yearly salary increases to retain staff. In such an environment, companies face a major challenge in keeping costs down, but maintaining stability while doing so isn’t so easy. Of course, salaries aren’t the only factor in retaining talent, but they play a very important role in the recruitment process.”

Antoine Blancher, general manager, Green Fortune, Shanghai: “Compared with Europe, we find it difficult to find good candidates, especially in our creative/design industry. The creative and drawing skills of local candidates is not ideal and good ones have remuneration requirements that are higher than in the West. We are also having difficulties attracting and/or retaining foreign and western-educated Chinese talents, due to unwillingness to settle or remain in China, with pollution, food safety and child education being their main concerns. A few years ago it was very easy to recruit western trainees.”

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Many foreign-owned companies ... still think they should be able to get key personnel at a low cost.”

Eva Henriksson, Henriksson Consulting

Do you pay bonuses for your employees?

Answers from 262 China-based companies from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

Yes, but it depends on the performance of the local company

45%

Yes, but it depends on the performance of the global company

27%

Yes, well-performing employees get bonuses

26%

Not in the current economic situation

5%

No

4%

Source: Nordic Salary Survey

Western companies also need to think of the importance of relationships in Chinese culture. In Chinese tradition, loyalty to family, relatives and friends is stronger than loyalty to a company. This is why local employees focus on the person who heads the company.

“For the Chinese, the company is not most important. Rather, it’s the relationship with the boss. If the boss leaves the company, many employees would also want to leave,” says Henriksson.

Foreign-owned companies often have a tendency to change general managers every second or third year. “This is a big mistake,” Henriksson says. “It’s hard for local people to have to build a new relation every second or third year.” b

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20 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Unlocking the door to growth Assa Abloy’s Magnus Kagevik is a true international businessman, having spent most of his working life abroad.

Based in Hong Kong, he is now leading the lock-and-security company’s expansion in Asia and Oceania.

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

A

fter spending 20 years with Whirlpool in Sweden, Italy, France and the US, Magnus Kagevik started to wonder whether the American home appliances giant would be his sole employer until retirement, even though, at the time – it was 2007 – he had just turned 40.

Then, one day, the phone rang and Kagevik was offered a job as vice president for operations at Assa Abloy’s division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), headquartered in London. Assa Abloy is the global leader in door-opening solutions – door locks and cylinders, electromechanical products such as digital locks, security doors and fittings.

Kagevik accepted the offer, and now 48, since January 2014 he has been based in Hong Kong as head of the Asia-Pacific division and executive vice president at the Assa Abloy group.

Kagevik was born and grew up in Norrköping, a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden, once known for its textile industry. Not much of that industry was left when Kagevik entered the workforce after finishing upper secondary school in 1987. Whirlpool’s microwave-oven factory had become one of the city’s leading employers and Kagevik found himself a job on the factory floor, where he worked for a year.

After finishing his military service, he proceeded onto university studies in the nearby city of Linköping, where he graduated as mechanical engineer. He returned to Whirlpool as a trainee. Within just a few months he was sent to Shunde in China’s Guangdong province, where Whirlpool had acquired a microwave-oven company.

“They produced 1 million ovens a year, which was the same as in Norrköping, but they had three times as many employees,” 22 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

“I took a two-week crash course in French and then I learnt the rest through tough negotiations with the unions. In France, it is commonly the case that, if you reach an agreement with one union, then the others feel forced to say, no. But I managed to get through it,” says Kagevik.

At that time, in 2001, the family’s second It didn’t take long before he was in charge of boy, Gustav, was born. They loved their life logistics, and later production, in the Norrköping in France, but after five years it was time for facility. While at upper secondary school, he Kagevik to move to Whirlpool’s European met his future wife Cecilia and their first son, head office in Comerio, Axel, arrived in 1997. Three near the city of Varese in years later, Whirlpool wanted Italy – “two hours from to send Kagevik as project the Alps and two hours manager to Poland, where the from the Riviera” – where company planned to build a The number of acquisitions Kagevik became responsible new refrigerator factory.

Assa Abloy has made since for globally rolling out the The family had its doubts its formation in 1994. process tool, Six Sigma, whether it was possible to within the Whirlpool group. move to a relatively small city in southern Poland with a three-year old.

After six months of preparation, Kagevik’s boss Mission accomplished, Kagevik had moved back to Sweden with responsibilities called and told him that the factory project had for both the Norrköping factory and the been shelved. The family was relieved and soon company’s European operations strategy – Kagevik received a more attractive offer – to move and then Assa Abloy called. Kagevik was to the city of Amiens in northern France and be attracted by the company’s rapid growth since in charge of a factory manufacturing washing its formation in 1994. Over the years, Assa machines and tumble dryers. The factory’s Abloy has made more than 200 acquisitions. workforce of 1,000 employees had to be reduced Responsible for much of the production, to 500. The staff were organised in five different product development and purchasing in the labour unions that were all on the warpath. says Kagevik, whose job was to carry out an improvement plan for the Chinese factory together with an experienced American engineer before returning home.

“It was really encouraging to be sent out so early in my career and I learnt a lot,” he says.

200+

The lock industry is very local; door locks differ from country to country and there are many different standards.”

EMEA region, Kagevik’s job was to restructure and move production from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and Asia.

“The lock industry is very local; door locks differ from country to country and there are many different standards. Assa Abloy has consolidated the industry through its many acquisitions,” says Kagevik.

After four years with the company, Kagevik was appointed head of the Eastern Europe market region, which also included commercial responsibilities. “We grew quickly and doubled the turnover in two-and-a-half years,” he says.

By the end of 2013, it was announced internally that Jonas Persson would leave his position as head of Assa Abloy’s Asia-Pacific division with 12,500 employees. “I immediately thought that it would be an exciting challenge to work in Asia, which is such a dynamic region and has seen such strong growth, so I applied and got the job,” says Kagevik.

However, his family has stayed in Sweden since they had problems with finding school places in Hong Kong for the two boys.

“This is a major issue that the Hong Kong government needs to solve, otherwise foreign-owned companies will look at other cities for establishing regional Asian offices,” says Kagevik who has settled alone in a flat in Repulse Bay and solved the situation by travelling back to Sweden occasionally and making an agreement with the schools in Sweden so that the family can spend time in Hong Kong also outside of school holidays. FaceTime, the Apple chat software, is also making it easier to stay in touch with the family.

The Asia-Pacific division’s ambition is to grow both organically and through acquisitions.

China is the biggest market with around 50 per cent of the division’s turnover, but the division covers a huge area from India to Japan and Australia and New Zeeland. It has 23 factories in the region, of which 15 are located in China.

As a lock and security group, Assa Abloy provides door-opening solutions to homes, offices, hospitals, hotels, airports, railway stations, and so on. Construction is a key driver for the company.

All the markets within the division showed strong growth last year, except for China due to a slowdown in the country’s property market after years of overinvestment. For this reason, Assa Abloy has been careful in extending credit to builders in China. However, Kagevik strongly believes that the Chinese market will come back.

“Between 2015 and 2017, China will build 82 new airports and renovate more than 100. The investments in railways, for 2015 alone, is 850 billion yuan,” he says. b DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015 23

The foreign correspondent

Photo: Ag

neta Engq vi

st

Covering China for 50 years 1 1 People in Shenyang gather to get a glimpse of Leijonhufvud.

In 1972, foreigners made a great stir in China.

2

2 Göran Leijonhufvud has seen China develop from a rural and poor country to becoming the world’s second largest economy.

It wasn’t easy for a young visiting student to fix the focus on the camera when the Young Pioneers came running through the streets.

As a foreign correspondent and researcher, Göran Leijonhufvud has spent 50 years of his life involved with China, which he has now documented in a biography.

Text: Jan Hökerberg, jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com PHOTO: Göran Leijonhufvud

24 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

In

3 Wang Yuanbing is a person from a small mountain village that Göran Leijonhufvud has followed since his early school days. Today, he owns a minibus which gives him a good income.

June 1966, a group of 29 young Swedish students took the Trans-Siberian Railway to Beijing and happened to step right into the Cultural Revolution recently launched by Mao Zedong. Among the Swedes was then 24-year old Göran Leijonhufvud, who had joined the group more by coincidence.

Little did he know that this would be the start of a unique five-decade long journey as a foreign correspondent and researcher on China – which he has now described in a 900-pages biographical book entitled, in Swedish, Pionjär och veteran: 50 år med Kina (“Pioneer and Veteran: 50 years with China”).

“I’d planned to write my university thesis about the former Ghana leader Kwame Nkrumah’s fight for Pan-Africanism but a study circle that was making a trip to China needed more people to get a subsidy from the government, so I joined. It was a good decision because Nkrumah was overthrown

3

in a military coup one year later,” says Leijonhufvud.

The young group of students stayed three weeks in China and visited five cities. “It was such an overwhelming experience that it really aroused my interest in China,” he says.

In his book, he describes groups of young people in discussion everywhere.

Trucks adorned with posters and red flags, and with platforms full of drumming youngsters, were driving around the streets to get people’s attention.

Back in Sweden, within six months, Leijonhufvud joined Sweden’s leading daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, whose managing editor at the time had the ambition of strengthening international coverage by opening a new editorial office abroad every year. In 1971, Leijonhufvud became the newspaper’s first Beijing-based correspondent.

“There were about 30 foreign journalists

in China at that time. A third were from the West, a third from Eastern Europe and another third from Japan,” Leijonhufvud recalls.

The Cultural Revolution was still ongoing, and, in 1972, former American president Richard Nixon came to China. This was a significant visit, marking the beginning of a process of thawing in previously estranged Sino-American relations.

Leijonhufvud had studied Chinese for four terms at Stockholm University and could read newspapers fairly well, even though he admits, “I still had a lot to learn when it came to spoken Chinese.”

In the 1970s, all information came from three Chinese daily newspapers – People’s Daily, Guangming Daily and the more theoretical Red Flag – as well as a weekly Englishlanguage magazine called Peking Review.

Often, identical articles were published in all three dailies and important developments could be hidden in the text. For example, when China’s paramount leaderto-be, Deng Xiaoping, was recalled from “re-education” The number of pages in the countryside in 1973, in Göran Leijonhufvud’s it was only announced by biography – about the including him in a list of same size as the Swedish people that had attended an legal dictionary. official event.

After I had got my Chinese driving license in 1981, there were not many cars on the streets and I felt a bit like the ‘king of the road’.”

900

Leijonhufvud has witnessed numerous historical events close-up and has seen China develop from a rural country mainly inhabited by impoverished peasants to becoming the world’s second largest economy.

“For example, after I got my Chinese driving license in 1981, there were not many cars on the streets and I felt a bit like the ‘king of the road’. Today, the traffic is congested in all major cities, as we all know,” he says.

Many episodes are still fresh in his memory as he actually started to summarise what he had witnessed during his first 30

years involved with China two decades ago.

Besides covering breaking news about dramatic political changes over the years, Leijonhufvud has also followed China from a grassroots level.

Early on, he started to visit a village in Shanxi Province called Dazhai, which in the 1970s was recognised

by Mao Zedong as a model community for agriculture in China. He followed up with a number of visits over the years.

“When I came back in 2010, the whole village was transformed into a holding company for a number of subsidiaries. The average annual income per capita was 13,000 yuan, which was about double the national average in the countryside,” he says.

Leijonhufvud has also carried out indepth research into China. For example, he wrote his academic thesis on big-character posters and the conditions for opposition in China. He has also written about internet usage for the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis. China has more users (642 million in 2014) than any other country in the world and even more users than the next three countries combined (the United States, India and Japan).

“From the early days, the Chinese government encouraged its citizens to become internet users, not only to discover what can

be seen as threats to the Communist Party but also to listen to what people think. It follows a pattern from the old imperial era when the emperors wanted to bring in views from their subjects,” says Leijonhufvud.

He spent two years working on his biography, and at the age of 73, he is still an active analyst of current developments in China, often together with his wife Agneta Engqvist, who is also a journalist.

They have written books together and are frequent contributors to the Sweden-China Trade Council’s e-magazine KinaNytt.

Leijonhufvud is also a regular writer for the local newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad, which is published in the vicinity of the Leijonhufvud-Engqvist couple’s home on the Bjäre peninsula in southern Sweden.

Today, they visit China a couple of times a year, normally staying two or three months, so Leijonhufvud’s China journey is far from over. b Göran Leijonhufvud on ... .... why China is so interesting: “China is 21 times larger than Sweden and 21 times more complicated.” ... being a Maoist supporter in his younger age: “At one time, I thought that Mao Zedong had the solution for how socialism should be carried out and how poor countries should develop. I had to revise that view and that’s not the only time I’ve had to revise my picture of the country.” ... Hong Kong where he stayed for 12 years: “It is, was, and may always be, a city that is a borrowed place on borrowed time.”

DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015 25

Security in China This is the second article in a series about risk and security related challenges in China in which we describe a number of actual cases. We analyse the problems, the solutions, and how the problems could have been avoided.

This is an advertisement from PSU.

Company threatened by

supplier’s hired gangsters

PHOTO: PSU

When a foreign-owned company in China terminated its contract with an underperforming supplier, the supplier had thugs occupy the company’s premises and threaten the general manager and his family. This could have been avoided if the company had run a background check on the supplier.

A

couple of years ago, just before the Chinese New Year, a foreignowned company decided to terminate its contract with an underperforming supplier.

The company had signed a contract with the supplier from an inland province that it would buy 1,000 items of appliances.

After these had been delivered, the company paid but terminated the agreement as it was unhappy with the quality. Then, the supplier asked to deliver an optional 300 more items.

The company explained to the supplier that they did not intend to pay for them, but as a gesture of goodwill they could pay for some. This was regarded as a weakness by the supplier, which then delivered the unordered extra 300 items to the office in Shanghai and demanded to be paid for all of them. They filled the office with big boxes and blocked the entrance, so that nobody could enter or leave. They threatened the general manager by screaming and shouting, “We know where

you and your family live,” and followed him in a car, after he finally managed to escape.

This continued day after day for more than a month. The company called the police but they refused to interfere since they regarded it as a civil case, not a criminal case.

The company was visited by a female director from the supplier. She was dressed in brand-name clothes and came together with a gang of four thugs. “I have never failed in situations such as these,” she explained to representatives of the security consultancy firm PSU China, which had at that time been assigned by the company to solve the situation.

“When we looked closer at the supplier, we found that this woman’s title in Chinese was ‘director of the get-money-back department’. If a supplier has a department of that kind, it should be considered as a warning to companies not to use the supplier,” says Lars-Åke Severin, chief executive officer (CEO) of PSU China.

“We also discovered that two years earlier, this supplier had threatened a general manager of a competitor in China,” he says.

Eventually, the company was forced to pay the supplier some compensation but the entire incident could have been avoided if it had taken preventive action by alerting both a security firm to run background checks on the supplier and communicating with the embassy or the consulate-general in advance about what support might be available in the case of an unusual turn of events.

“Every year we have clients that have faced threatening situations during a negotiation with a supplier. Often it’s connected to either complaints – for example, the quality not good enough or the delivery terms haven’t been met – but often there are combined factors that result in a contract being terminated and the supplier becoming threatening,” says Severin.

He mentions another case in which the finance department of a company was occupied by a supplier. The owner of the supplying firm brought his wife, their two-month old baby and a 92-year-old grandmother to occupy the premises of a foreign-owned company.

“It was very tactical, since no security guard in China will ever lift a finger on an old person and throw him or her out of the premises,” Severin says.

Foreign executives are often shocked when they face situations such as these.

They are used to thinking that a contract is a contract, they often trust their local partners and they want to avoid trouble. If a manufacturing site or an office is occupied by a supplier, they want to get rid of the situation as fast as possible, which makes it tempting to just pay what the supplier wants.

But some suppliers in China realise that is the case and use this knowledge to systematically threaten clients until they get what they want.

“The first and perhaps only pre-warning a company might get after negotiation is simply a ‘pay or we come and occupy your premises’.

After that, you might most likely find yourself locked up in your office with a number of local thugs blocking your office door, or they might even be inside your office, insulting your staff and trying to locate the general manager. Once we had a client who only had the server room that he could run to,” says Severin.

In a situation like this, companies tend to think that whatever they do it will cost them big money. If they bring in lawyers, consultants

and security support it will soon get costly, so why not just pay the supplier? However, this can be a dangerous strategy since from that moment on the company is considered weak and one violent claim will most likely be followed by others, sooner or later.

So how can then situations like these be prevented?

“The best way is to make sure to conduct a good supplier screening. Most unethical suppliers have proven themselves before and that can be found out through qualified open source intelligence (OSINT),” says Severin.

His advice is also to communicate frequently with suppliers and never accept more products than they are required to. Some suppliers overproduce and put the items in the warehouse in order to meet an expected new order. If it does not come, the risk is that the supplier will deliver anyway expecting to get paid.

It is also important to develop a clear action strategy on how to handle such situations by having a direct channel to security consultants as well as to good lawyers.

Acting fast means less losses.

“Most unethical suppliers have proven themselves before and that can be found out through qualified open source intelligence (OSINT).”

Conclusions Below are some conclusions about what a foreign-owned company in China should think about when they are dealing with suppliers: • The most important preventive action is a background check. Even if the contract amount is small, the problem can grow large. Never accept a supplier that you are not familiar with.

If they have a bad track record, make sure you discover it before becoming a part of it.

• Follow up on what your supplier is doing. Also make sure via direct communication that the supplier does not overproduce. If not, you will perhaps be asked in a less friendly way to pay for products not ordered.

• Get to know your supplier. As we all know, in China good relations are key. Having a supplier that you actually know to some extent might prove valuable in times of trouble.

• Make sure you have your action plan ready; speedy actions are key. Develop communication and an action strategy that covers contact with your embassy or consulate-general and professional security support, as well as legal support. Make sure that each function knows what is expected of them in order to go into action and get support from key stakeholders. A supplier facing rapid and firm actions will clearly understand that this will not be an easy fight.

Lars-Åke Severin, PSU China

Facts about PSU PSU was established in 2006 and is one of the leading security consultancy firms in China, with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. PSU has strategic partnerships in Asia, Europe and the US. We protect our clients’ most valuable assets: people, brands, reputations and business operations.

Our support and advice enables clients to manage the security, operational and integrity risks that come with doing business internationally.

PSU creates value through preventive strategies and actions. PSU also optimises the clients’ businesses by identifying and reducing risk, and by providing support in the form of operational resources during natural disasters, operational challenges and other disruptions to business.

www.psuchina.com.cn info@psuchina.com Beijing PSU (China) Consulting Co, Ltd B201, North 01 Business Building, No 2 Jiuxianqiao Road Chaoyang District Beijing 100015 PR China Tel: +86 10 51305675 Fax: +86 10 51305676

Shanghai PSU (China) Consulting Co, Ltd Room 502, Building B, Far East International Plaza, No 317 Xianxia Road Changning District Shanghai 200051 PR China Tel: +86 21 5212 5970 Fax: +86 21 5212 5972

Bringing green technology to China

As a young expatriate in China, Sam Scherman Johansson has discovered that “management tend to rely more on you here than they would do back in Scandinavia”.

Delivering Value for Scandinavian Companies Across Asia

Text: Charlotte Svensson, charresvensson@gmail.com

It

is a sunny non-polluted Beijing spring afternoon in April on which we talk to Sam Scherman Johansson. From inside a café in the Central Business District, we see him rolling up on a longboard – a long version of a skateboard – which he uses for exploring the city. He greets us with a big smile and enters the café, casually carrying his mode of transport in one hand.

Scherman Johansson has been working for the Danish company Haldor Topsøe in Beijing as proposal manager for the last year since being sent to China from the company’s head office in Copenhagen.

This job includes travelling around China to visit factories in second-tier cities in provinces such as Hubei and Gansu. Scherman Johansson is actively involved in the implementation of green technology, with the aim of purifying factory exhaust gases and coal gasification plants throughout the country. This is in line with what the company calls its “blue vision”, a reference to the company’s strategic goal to become a key player in the elimination of China’s smoggy skies.

It is also a symbolic reminder of the blue skies that impressed everybody during last autumn’s Apec summit – which affirmed that the vision is achievable. The job for Scherman Johansson and his colleagues at Haldor Topsøe is to optimise modern technology in an economically attractive way and make those blue skies permanent.

China is an important market in the green technology field and Scherman Johansson feels there is still a lot to do. Meanwhile, he also sometimes feels there is still a lot left to do. When one client, for example, was told how much he would have to spend on equipment for his factory to meet legal environmental standards, he merely said, “That’s too expensive, we’ll change the environmental standards instead.”

With a background in engineering, biotechnology and economics, Scherman Johansson is happy to be working abroad with Haldor Topsøe.

28 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Procurement & Supply Chain Management Organizational Improvement Growth & Expansion

convince clients that he is the senior foreign expert. Overall, though, he thinks Swedish nationals are viewed positively in China and that interest in Scandinavian companies is growing.

Currently, I am doing something that combines all my interests.”

“Currently, I’m doing something that combines all my interests.

I get to use a lot of what I learned from my studies back in Sweden in my daily work, as well as exposing myself to challenges, while also exploring new places,” he says.

Living abroad is nothing new to the 25-year old. Growing up in Stockholm, Scherman Johansson developed an early fascination with Asia. His mother was Asia foreign correspondent for the Swedish public service television company SVT, and his father was carrying out research in China studies, which meant Scherman Johansson moved around the continent a lot.

As a young graduate, he also travelled extensively throughout Asia and eventually lived in Bangkok for a while. As his father resides in Hong Kong, relocating to China felt like a natural choice after completing his studies in engineering and biotechnology at Sweden’s Lund University.

When he visited Beijing for the first time back in 2007, the city felt distinctly dull and regimented, with guards on every street corner.

That has changed, he says. Part of the reason why Scherman Johansson likes Beijing so much today is the city’s cool vibe and its young and trendy inhabitants. A former ice hockey player, he now practices the martial art Muay Thai at a gym in Dawanglu.

Being an expatriate and representing a Danish head office in China, Scherman Johansson enjoys the challenge of being constantly exposed to disparities in culture, work style and norms. Speaking in broader terms, he feels that he has more responsibility in his position here than he would have in the same position back home in terms of delegating and leading a Chinese team of employees.

“Scandinavian companies normally don’t have many young expatriates employed abroad. So management tend to rely more on you here than they would do back in Scandinavia,” he says.

Working mostly with Chinese colleagues, Scherman Johansson has had to get used to “handsome young man” being listed as one of his main assets and colleagues adding 10 years to his age in order to 30 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Scherman Johansson says that after one year he has come to develop a positive relationship with the city.

“I think that most people have quite a bad mental image of the city before relocating to Beijing, having only heard news about pollution, terrible traffic and the general chaos. But what’s so nice about Beijing is that after a while exploring the city, that chaos eventually becomes a part of the charm,” he says.

“Don’t get me wrong, both Shanghai and Hong Kong are amazing cities, but you can tell that they’re very business oriented. Beijing, on the other hand, to me, is more a cultural city – there is always a monument to see or a new restaurant or bar to try.”

But he also agrees that everyday life is not always as easy going as it could be for expatriates. “The thing about living in China is that everything in your daily life becomes something of a project – from taking a taxi to buying toothpaste,” he says.

While being an accomplished young professional and ambitious in his work goals, Scherman Johansson takes a laid-back attitude to life. Maintaining an open mind and a positive approach to things has made his transition to working in China relatively smooth, even though he does not speak the language fluently.

His advice to anyone planning to relocate to China: learn some basic phrases of Mandarin. For now, it looks like Beijing will be his base for a while, but he is looking forward to exploring Tibet and Mongolia if time allows.

If you want to catch Scherman Johansson on his days off, you are most likely find him drifting around on his longboard in the Temple of the Sun Park (Ritan) area and in the Old Russian quarter of Beijing.

You might also bump into him hanging out with friends at a coffee shop in one of Gulou’s hip hutongs, or sharing the beat with a crowd at a hidden rooftop bar on one of those balmy summer evenings that lay ahead. b

Sam Scherman Johansson in brief Age: 25.

Occupation: Proposal manager at Haldor Topsøe.

Lives: Central Business District area in Beijing.

Best about Beijing: Culture, food, the international crowd.

Worst about Beijing: City planning, traffic, and – of course – pollution.

Hong Kong

Beijing China becomes more active in its foreign policy

Young Professionals celebrate Walpurgis with junk trip n This year, the Young Professionals of Sweden celebrated Walpurgis together with the Finnish Young Professionals by holding a spring-welcoming party on a junk boat cruise in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. The evening was perfect – shimmering stars on a clear sky, a light breeze and 25 degrees Celsius. After some food, mingling and drinks, the boat headed back to the harbour and the party continued in the city’s night venues.

Improve your motivational skills n At a breakfast seminar hosted by the Nordic chambers, Eric Tarchoune talked about how to motivate employees and colleagues to work smarter, harder and perform better. We learned tips and tricks for improving our leadership and motivational skills within the various contexts of local, mainland and other international cultures.

Eric Tarchoune is the founder and managing director of Dragonfly Group, a China-centric Human Resources consultancy, and has more than 20 years experience in China, currently dividing his time between Hong Kong and mainland China.

Nordic Networking Luncheon n April brought beautiful weather to Hong Kong, and what could be better than bringing all the Nordic chambers together for a Nordic Networking Luncheon. The lunch took place at Pacific Club in Tsim Sha Tsui, thanks to Göran Larsén. Friends and colleagues enjoyed the gorgeous early summer day and had a delicious buffet with a view over Victoria Harbour and the skyline of Hong Kong.

Uppsala University opens new Alumni Chapter in Hong Kong n At the end of April, professor Eva Åkesson, vice chancellor of Uppsala University, visited Hong Kong, making an appearance at SwedCham Hong Kong. The week was packed with meetings and gatherings for Åkesson, who aimed to learn more about the city. As a last stop, Åkesson officially opened the recently established alumni network, Hong Kong Alumni Chapter, at an After Work at Club Lusitano in Central. The guest speaker at the event was Lars Nittve, museum director of M+.

Did you study at Uppsala University and would like to join the Chapter? Please contact anna.reibring@uadm.uu.se.

32 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Environmental minister Åsa Romson (left) with Ylva Räntfors from the Swedish chamber.

Sweden’s environmental minister visits Beijing n Åsa Romson, Sweden’s deputy prime minister and minister for the environment, visited the Swedish chamber in Beijing for a business breakfast on 10 April.

Romson was invited to China by the minister of environmental protection, Chen Jining. The purpose of her visit was to find possibilities for further cooperation between Sweden and China on environmental issues. Romson gave a speech on the topic, ”Sweden’s Role in a Global Green Transformation”. With Sweden’s history and tradition in innovation and green technology, Romson argued that Sweden has a lot to offer, but due to its small population it can never scale up. By improving cooperation with China, Swedish green technology will be able to increase its business.

Romson also talked about the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Paris this year. She was positive about the results, suggesting that the landscape had changed since the impasse in Copenhagen in 2009. She said that the trust needed for an agreement between countries has improved and that there is understanding that a climate agreement will need involvement from everyone.

Romson was asked, given the opportunity, how she would advise China’s President Xi Jinping to improve the environment in China. She said she would first suggest stopping the over-burning of coal and the production of this energy source.

Secondly, she said she would promote and speed up on-going projects of building sustainable cities.

Thirdly, she would propose that Xi tackle energy and water resources efficiency.

n Is China an emerging assertive power with great power ambitions or a state with major internal problems and a paper tiger in international relations?

The reality is of course a fascinating mixture of both – a mixture that sometimes leads to assertive actions.

But most of the time we see a hesitant China with increased international presence and responsibility.

Lars-Åke Severin (left) of the At a Swedish chamber breakfast Swedish chamber together with the security politics expert meeting on 8 April, the Swedish scholar Niklas Niklas Swanström.

Swanström, who heads the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, looked at China’s strengths and weaknesses, and how they affect China as a major International player, with a focus on its immediate neighbours.

It was a rare opportunity to meet and listen to Swanström, who is considered one of the leading experts on China’s role in terms of security. In March, Swanström testified before the United States Congressional Commission on USChina economic and security issues.

Swanström said that China’s foreign policy has traditionally been very defensive but is now becoming more active by taking initiatives. The military is not strong enough to solve all the conflicts in the eastern, southern and northern areas, and doing so would probably have negative impact on economic growth.

But in the western areas, the borders are relatively stable and the US presence weak. That is why China is now heavily investing in these areas in order to open them up and increase the trade with Europe.

Emily Li from KPMG (middle) talked about visa procedures in China.

Update on visa procedures for foreigners in China n New handling procedures for foreigners entering China for the accomplishment of short-term work assignments are being implemented on a trial basis. Emily Li, senior manager for global mobility services at KPMG Advisory (China) covered these changes at the chamber in Beijing on 16 April.

Li has for several years been providing personal tax advice, compliance and immigration services for multinational enterprises in mainland China.

At a breakfast meeting, Li covered the general immigrationrelated regulations for foreigners, such as visa types (16 different ordinary visa types), employment, work and residence permits and how they are obtained.

Li also presented options for short-term work assignments for foreigners from the regulatory update of Relevant Formalities for Foreigners to Carrying out Shortterm Work in China, which has been effective from 1 January 2015. This provides clarification on the definition of a short-term assignment, visa requirements and the corresponding application procedures.

Companies that host foreign individuals for short-term assignments in China from this year should be aware of the changes to the visa requirements and application procedures, and evaluate their corresponding internal procedures to ensure full compliance with respect to the hosting of short-term assignees.

DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015 33

Shanghai Improving employee engagement n Improving employee engagement is a hot topic in China today. Extensive research over the past 30 to 40 years has shown that organisations with higher levels of engagement are significant more productive, have better retention rates, lower levels of absenteeism and fewer quality defects.

In a breakfast seminar on 26 March, Gene Dorris from Proway gave a very interesting presentation on how to improve employee engagement.

Effective presentation skills training in Chinese n Effective presentation skills are important in business, training, teaching, lecturing, and on every other occasion you need to clearly get your message across to an audience. On 10 April, the Swedish chamber invited member companies’ Chinese employees to join a whole-day session that gave them an opportunity to hone their presentation skills. Twenty-four participants from 11 companies jointly made an effort to become better public speakers.

The facilitator, Feng Lu of Martinsen Group, has experience of working with Swedes. As a former employee of ABB of several years standing, he endeavoured to incorporate elements he thinks are important in communicating with northern Europeans. All in all, it was a great event that left the participators invigorated and eager to implement their new presentation skills.

First minister from Sweden’s new government to visit Shanghai

34 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Flexible We are truly service minded and always on our toes, never assuming a standard solution is enough. We look to make the impossible possible in logistics.

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Marianne Westerback of the Swedish chamber together with the speaker Gene Dorris.

n On the evening of 22 April, 80 members of the Swedish chamber and of the Swedish delegation had the chance to meet and mingle with Sweden’s new Minister of Health, Gabriel Wikström. He introduced the new government as well as recent developments in Sino-Swedish relations. Furthermore, he summarised

the situation in Sweden with regards to public health and what areas needed improvement. During Wikström’s stay in China from 19 to 24 April, he visited Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai with a business delegation. Wikström is the first minister from Sweden’s new government to visit Shanghai.

This is an advertisement from Swedish Spirit of Innovation

SHARING A SPIRIT OF INNOVATION This year, the first major project promoting Sweden’s distinctive business culture rolls out throughout China. Spearheaded by six of Sweden’s leading employers - Alfa Laval, Atlas Copco, Ericsson, IKEA, SKF and Volvo, the Swedish Spirit of Innovation project champions the unique benefits of working in a Swedish company. Here, top management figures from these six companies share their insights on what their companies are doing to keep the spirit alive, and how this helps with attracting and retaining talent in China.

Swedish Career Fair 2015: Creating value for the future The Swedish Young Professionals in China (YP), in partnership with the Swedish Spirit of Innovation, organised their first Swedish Career Fair on Saturday 18 April in Shanghai and the following Saturday in Beijing. The aim was to increase the visibility of both large and small Swedish companies and enable interaction for them with potential employees residing in China.

It also created a forum for Swedish companies to reach out to both foreign and Chinese talents. The career fair turned out to be the largest Swedish-Chinese event of its kind ever to be held, with 20 companies exhibiting in Shanghai and 14 exhibitors in Beijing.

The fairs attracted more than 800 visitors in Shanghai and more than 500 in Beijing during the course of each day. The career fair is also the largest event ever to be held under the banner of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China.

The event received very positive responses from visitors in a survey conducted in both cities after the event. More than 80 per cent of the respondents stated that they would recommend the event to others in the future. Visitors also said that they hoped that future

Survey results n In Shanghai the majority of visitors – female workers in their mid-twenties with less than two years of work experience – expected or currently received a monthly salary of between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan. The main career goal of the participators was to become managers, followed by either running their own business or to becoming a specialist. The most well known companies among the exhibitors were IKEA, Volvo, EF and ABB. Other companies that the visitors felt were missing were H&M, AstraZeneca, Scania and the Swedish banks.

events would have a larger number of participating companies and from more sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, design and retail.

The survey further gauged visitors’ backgrounds, employer expectations, knowledge of Swedish companies and interests and goals for their future. While the survey results showed a similar level of knowledge about Swedish companies in both Shanghai and Beijing, with the larger Swedish companies being the ones that are mostly recognised as Swedish, there were some clear differences with regards to the education level, choice of major, salary expectations and career priorities between the visitors.

YP hopes to make the fair into an annual event, providing a new member benefits for all of the Swedish chamber’s member companies.

We hope they will join us next year in creating a longstanding platform for promoting Swedish employers and talents in China and building long-term relations.

For further inquiries about the next year’s career fair please contact: shanghai@swedishchamber.com.cn beijing@swedishchamber.com.cn

In Beijing, on the other hand, the bulk of participators were also working females in their midtwenties with less than two years of work experience. But, unlike Shanghai, the majority of the Beijing visitors were graduates majoring in arts and their expected salary levels were somewhat higher. There were also slight differences in career goals.

Becoming a specialist was the most sought-after goal, followed by becoming a manager and/or running an own business. The most widely recognised companies by Beijingers are Ericsson, IKEA, Volvo, ABB and Electrolux.

There were slight differences between the career fair visitors’ opinions in Shanghai and Beijing.

Jan Debruyn, China President, Alfa Laval Alfa Laval is a global company with its roots in Sweden. We believe in diversity and equal opportunities, since diversity is the best way to create innovation. We believe it’s important to assimilate ideas and habits from different parts of the world, and that our strong global presence provides an ideal platform for multicultural exchanges. Swedish features you can find at Alfa Laval include: Equality – a high female rate in the management team (42%). Transparency – we communicate with employees in a straightforward way, sharing the company direction and strategy regularly. Democracy - we respect everyone’s opinions.

Claes Svedberg, Senior Vice President, China Joint Ventures, Volvo Group It’s important not only to have people with a certain competence, but also some-

one that fits into the team they’re working in. It’s critical that there’s harmony in the group and that people can enjoy working in that team. I think there are a lot of people like me who’ve been here 25 years, 30 years… I believe it’s proof that we ‘ve succeeded in creating an environment that can motivate people to stay.

Per Hörnell, Area Manager for Distribution Service Asia Pacific, IKEA Our working environment is an exceptionally open one.

We hope that this sort of open environment will bring people together, not only for an informal meeting but also to sit and chat and to increase the collaboration of the team.

We focus a lot on health and safety in our working environment. We just completed some renovations not only to change our chairs and tables but also to upgrade the air conditioning system, making for a cleaner and healthier working environment in the Shanghai offices.

Jane Tan, Vice President, Ericsson We emphasise diversity that includes different opinions and also different faiths, different ethnicities, different genders, different ages - because we believe that only with diversity can we have innovation. If we had a rule of only having one kind of thought, one kind of opinion, one way of doing things, then it would be impossible to come up with new thinking.

The culture of Sweden as a country strongly influences the culture of Ericsson as a company; an open company that thirsts for different opinions and diversity.

Zhu Jiming, China President , SKF We want to encourage our team to truly become part of the big SKF family and have a series of platforms and incentives to support this.

In Swedish companies, it’s not just the boss who makes decisions, it’s promoting a collective pool of wisdom that makes for a very effective decision-making system.

Whether it’s a manager or any other level of employee, we let them take part in the whole process. In my opinion, this makes our work flow much more efficient, transparent and humanized.

Liselotte Duthu, Vice President, China, Atlas Copco “Innovation, Commitment, Interaction” are the core values of Atlas Copco. With a history of more than 140 years, the company has a mission of sustainable profitable growth.

We always look for talents who are well educated with a firm professional background, have an international vision and a clear plan for their career development.

An employee should have a positive attitude and creative thinking, as we believe there is always a better way. We can provide many possible opportunities to grow a person with high potential within our organization.

For more information or the latest updates, visit www.swedishspiritofinnovation.cn

The Swedish Spirit of Innovation is an initiative for ABB, Absolut, Alfa Laval, Astra Zeneca, Atlas Copco, Business Region Göteborg, Envac, Ericsson, Exportrådet, Fagerhults Belysning, IKEA, Investor, Malmö Stad, Munters, Region Skåne, Region Småland Blekinge, Sandvik, SCA, SEB, SKF, Skogsindustrierna, SSAB, Stockholms stad, Trelleborg, Vattenfall and AB Volvo

36 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Swedish School Beijing to close this summer Lack of children is the reason for the closure of the Swedish School in Beijing after more than 20 years in operation.

Text: Maria Berben Lidén, Headmaster, Swedish School Beijing mariaberbenliden@ssbchina.com

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n important part of the Swedish community in Beijing has come to an end. Research today shows the importance of learning to read and write in your mother tongue first.

Once it is established, learning other languages can be done much more quickly. For over 20 years, Swedish School Beijing helped children and young people to develop their mother tongue. For the children who attended international schools, the Swedish School offered the opportunity to develop their native language in the afternoons.

In the early 1990s, Ericsson recruited more employees who brought family and children to Beijing. Aware of the importance of learning the mother tongue and to meet families’ demand, Ericsson began, with the help of the Swedish embassy, to plan for a school in the spring of 1993. During the summer, the teachers Birgitta and Bo Lindgren were recruited as headmaster and teacher. Twentytwo excited children with parents came to the premises on the 8th floor of East Lake to start their first day of school in Beijing on 1 September 1993.

In the autumn of 1994, the school was authorised by the Chinese authorities and the Swedish School Beijing became a separate school, offering kindergarten and grades 1 to 6. The school grew and staff was recruited both locally and from Sweden. In 1998, the number

The chamber takes over the Sweden in China Map 38 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

of students had risen to 52 children and it started to scout for new premises, moving to Legend Garden in October 1998. Meanwhile, the school continued to grow and in 2008 127 children moved with the staff to the current premises in Gahood Villas, Shunyi District.

Celebrities who have visited the school include Swedish Princess Victoria in 2005 and the then minister of education, Jan Björklund, who participated in the school’s inauguration in October 2008.

The school followed the Swedish curriculum, which made it easy for children to return to school in Sweden, as they were up-to-date on the various school subjects.

The school also held activities like those in Sweden. An example is Skoljoggen (school jogging), an event organised by the Swedish School Sports Association.

Linus Holmsäter, founder of Heyrobics, helped with warming-up in the schoolyard.

Through an association for Swedish schools abroad, the school has been in contact with Swedish schools in other countries and participated in various activities such as the “World Cup” in athletics and “Läsutmaningen” (the reading challenge) to increase interest in reading.

Over the years, the school has seen many families gather together to celebrate Swedish traditions. A regular feature has been the Lucia celebration, in which children performed traditional songs at SWEA’s Christmas Bazaar, Ericsson’s office and at the embassy, among other locations. Of course, all children have been taught to dance “Små grodorna” (the small frogs) and done “the Rocket” around the maypole and the Christmas tree.

Throughout the years, the school has been a great centre for learning, however, even though it has also seen a lot of singing and joy. Sadly, student enrolments have declined in recent years and by last autumn the school had 52 children – 28 attending the school and the rest in kindergarten. Last Christmas, 12 schoolchildren returned to Sweden and it was estimated that only six children would attend the school in the coming autumn. The rapid decline in the number of students has forced the board to close the school. It will be with a heavy heart that the children, parents and staff will close the school doors in June this summer. b

n The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China has become the proud owner of the Sweden In China Map, a mapped picture of the chamber´s member companies’ presence in China. The map also features cooperation agreements between cities in China and Sweden.

The Sweden In China Map was originally created by the Swedish embassy in Beijing. The chamber is very thankful for the generous gift and is sure the map will be of great benefit for the member companies.

The Sweden in China Map is only available for member companies and you can find it on the chamber’s website or at www.swedeninchinamap.com

HONG KONG ORDINARY MEMBERS >>>

Edgeware Room 2503, 25/F BEA Harbour View Centre 56 Gloucester Road Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2521 1215 Web: www.edgeware.tv About us Edgeware is the leader in video-delivery networks, designed to allow operators to monetise video services such as TV Everywhere (TVE), video on demand (VOD), network-based catch-up TV and digital video recording (nDVR) and wholesale content delivery networking (CDN).

Edgeware’s Video Consolidation Platform (VCP) provides the video origination and delivery systems needed to offer compelling services across managed and unmanaged networks and to reach any screen, at any time, with any content. Edgeware is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices worldwide.

IMEX Industrial Ltd Room 15, 12/F, Wah Wai Centre 38-40 Au Pui Wan St Fotan, Shatin, NT Hong Kong Tel: +852 2637 6381 Web: www.imex.com.hk About us IMEX is a professional manufacturer of various types of high fashion models, racks and props display items and hangers with nearly 20 years experience in production, window display, product design and shop concept development. Our products and services have gained an excellent reputation among our customers and in the industry as a whole.

Chamber representative Andy Chan, Sales Manager

Chamber representative Peter Löfling, Sales Director APAC

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Habia Cable Asia Ltd Room 1109, 11/F, Fast Industrial Building 658 Castle Peak Road Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon Hong Kong Tel: +852 2591 1375 Web: www.habia.com

About us Habia Cable is a leading European manufacturer of highperformance standard- and custom-designed cables, wires and cable-harness assemblies. We use a wide range of components to design and manufacture specialist, multicore and hybrid cables for industrial, commercial, defence, nuclear and communication applications. We have a wide range of international approvals, materials and manufacturing capabilities, working with your engineers to design and produce to order a cost-effective wire and cable solution for your requirements.

Chamber representatives Henrik Ollandt, Vice President, Head of Cable Solutions Asia Fanny Wong, Finance Manager

IMIX ADR Ltd Jardine House, Suites 3313-3317 1 Connaught Place Centre Central, Hong Kong Web: www.imixadr.com

About us IMIX manufactures digital X-ray systems for medical X-ray examinations in hospitals, clinics, imaging centres and private practices. Through technology innovation we offer our users high patient throughput at cost-efficient solutions caring for the patients, and at the same time serving the medical staff with a good working environment. The company is a pioneer in digital X-ray, with over 15 years of experience, and is today maintaining its global technology leadership with its fifth-generation products.

Chamber representative Peter Reinli, President

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Regus 12/F, Unit 05, 26 Harbour Road Wan Chai, Hong Kong Tel: +852 6207 0773 Web: www.regus.com.hk

White Peak Real Estate Room 2201, 22/F, 1 Duddell Street, Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2521 1215 Web: www.wprei.com

About us Regus is the world’s number one provider of flexible workspace with 3,000 centres in 900 cities and 120 countries. From fully furnished offices with professional support in premier locations, to virtual office services and exclusive business lounge services, Regus have different solutions to fit your needs and budget.

About us Established in 2007, White Peak Real Estate is a European real estate investment firm focused on commercial, residential and multi-purpose property development in fast-developing cities throughout China. With over 250 experienced professionals operating in six cities around mainland China and Hong Kong, White Peak has established a respected track record in property investment and development – aiming to uplift standards of living in China by creating communities that enable fulfilling, well-rounded lifestyles.

Chamber representatives Markus Puusepp, Head of Investor Relations Jacob De Geer, Director, Head of Sales and Marketing

Chamber representative Oliver Spring, General Manager

HONG KONG INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS >>>

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James Goldman Tel: +852 6900 3608 Email: james@goldmanjames.com

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Johan Nylander Tel: +852 9303 5166 Email: j.nylander@live.se

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Manks Limited 3/F, The Factory, 1 Yip Fat Street Wong Chuk Hang Hong Kong Tel: +852 2522 2115 Web: www.manks.com

Per Dahlberg Tel: +852 2818 7763 Email: per.dahlberg@spring-point.com

About us Known as an authority in Scandinavian modern design products, our focus is in promoting the Scandinavian way of life where beauty meets functionality. In 2015, with over 20 brand names and an excess of 7,000 genuine design products in our portfolio, we now run two store locations with our main store in Wong Chuk Hang plus a shop-in-shop at the Page One bookstore, Harbour City.

Chamber representatives Susan Man, Managing Director Paul Fung, Director

40 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Susanne Österholm Tel: +852 614 66 438 Email: sosterholm@netvigator.com 1 2

CHINA COMPANY MEMBERS >>>

Euro-Center North Asia Consulting Services (Beijing) Co, Ltd C-801, East Lake Villas 35 Dongzhimenwai Dajie Dongcheng District, Beijing 100027 PR China Tel: +86 10 8455 9500 Web: www.euro-center.com/ About us Since 1971, Euro-Center has acted as the extended arm of travel insurers, healthcare insurers and alarm centres to provide local assistance services to tourists, business travellers and expatriates through its worldwide network of offices. We are one of the world’s leading claims handling and cost-containment networks, and our clients include some of Europe’s leading assistance and travel insurance companies.

Chamber representative Vladimiros Alidis, Regional General Manager, Asia Email: v.alidis@euro-center.com Mobile: +86 138 1195 4511/+66 2 696 3626

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About us We are a long-term accountable partner for our clients within recruitment services and headhunting, management consulting and HR business process outsourcing services.

We follow up to make sure the candidate performs well and significantly contributes to customer’s business development. We dig deeper into the details, to make the best possible judgments. We explain to our clients, in a transparent way, how they can solve their recruitment problems within a limited timeline. As we know our clients well, we also promote their brands and businesses within our own clientele, when such interest arises. We provide solid advice on how to develop their team and how to retain their talents, to increase revenues and profits.

Chamber representatives Fredrik Sterner, Senior Consultant Email: fredrik.sterner@renochina.com Mobile: +86 136 6196 5537 Jack Ilmonen, Director Email: jack.ilmonen@renochina.com Mobile: +86 156 1803 7408

Swedish Wood Storgatan 19 Box 55525 SE-102 04 Stockholm Sweden Web: www.swedishwood.com/ 1

About us Swedish Wood spreads knowledge, provides inspiration and encourages development relating to wood, wood products and wooden buildings. Swedish Wood also aims to highlight wood as a competitive, eco-friendly and sustainable material. Swedish Wood is a department within the trade and employer organisation Swedish Forest Industries Federation. Swedish Wood is supported by the Swedish sawmill sector.

Chamber representative Per Esbjörnsson, Project Coordinator E-mail: per.esbjornsson@swedishwood.com Mobile: +46 8 762 79 52

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Reno Consulting A-616, MCC Plaza, Tongpu Rd Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012 PR China Tel: +86 571 8106 1251 Web: www.renochina.com

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Primasia Corporate Services Limited Suite 1106-8, 11/F, Tai Yau Building No 181 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2882 2088 Web: www.primasia.hk

About us We offer wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) and representative office set-up and support, including full annual and monthly accounting, tax and payroll preparation and filing.

Chamber representatives 1 John Barclay, Managing Director Email: johnbarclay@primasia.hk Mobile: +852 2882 2088 2 Teresa Tam, Business Development Manager Email: teresatam@primasia.hk Mobile: +852 2882 2088

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Scan Global Logistics 11G, Oriental Kenzo Plaza Office Building 48 Dongzhimenwai Dajie Dongcheng District, Beijing PR China Tel: +86 10 8447 7179 Web: www.scangl.com/

About us Scan Global Logistics is a global logistics organisation with employees and partners all over the world. As well as our leading position in the Nordic market, our global transportation network has offices in more than 200 countries. Scan Global Logistics has full coverage in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, with own offices in Hong Kong, Taipei, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Beijing, Dalian and Tianjin. The company is represented with own offices all over Scandinavia.

Chamber representatives Alexander Mikkelsen Email: Almi@scangl.com Mobile: +86 138 1140 6410 Kelly Shen Email: kesh@scangl.com Mobile: +86 137 0160 3377

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St James’s Place Wealth Management 20/F, Tower 1, Jing’an Kerry Centre 1515 Nanjing Road West, Shanghai 200040 PR China Tel: +86 21 6045 2688 Web: www.sjp.asia About us The St James’s Place Wealth Management Group is a FTSE 100 company specialising in the provision of face-to-face financial advice to individuals, trustees and businesses. We provide reliable and expert advice for individuals and businesses seeking to achieve four principal financial objectives: build and preserve your capital, manage your cash and borrowings, protect yourself against financial risk, and manage your business more effectively. As well as addressing simple and straightforward issues such as mortgages and insurance, we can help with planning the complexities of investing for growth, for income, or retirement. Our relationship-based advice service means that we are committed to helping you manage your wealth in a way that reflects your personal circumstances.

Chamber representative Daniel Isaacs, Associate Partner Email: Daniel.Isaacs@sjpp.asia. Mobile: +86 139 1655 4846

We call our long-term responsibility the Greencarrier Spirit

Ad Dragon News June 2014.indd 1

SSHL students come fromof around Sweden and the entire world.are working We have a strong tradition catering for students whose parents SSHL students come around and the entire world.are We have a strong tradition of catering for students whose working and living abroad.

Allfrom students at Sweden SSHL are required toparents study Swedish as We have a strong tradition of catering for students whose parents are working and abroad.

All students at SSHL are required to study Swedish as part living of their study programme. and abroad.

All students at SSHL are required to study Swedish as part living of their study programme. part of their study programme.

At SSHL you get to: At SSHL you get to: • Study at one of Sweden’s most prestigious schools At SSHL you get to:

• Study at one of Sweden’s most prestigious schools • Choose from a wide range of study programmes • Study at one of Sweden’s most prestigious schools either Swedish orof English • taught Chooseinfrom a wide range study programmes either Swedish orof English • taught Chooseinfrom a wide range study programmes • Live and study in one of Sweden’s most picturesque taught in either Swedish or English just 20 minutes Arlandmost airport • towns, Live and study in one offrom Sweden’s picturesque towns, just 20 minutes from Arland airport • Live and study in one of Sweden’s most picturesque • Experience Swedish culture and traditions towns, just 20 minutes from Arland airport • Experience Swedish culture and traditions • Choose between a wide range of extracurricular • Experience Swedish culture and traditions that take in the of afternoons, • activities Choose between a place wide range extracurricular evenings and weekend that take in the of afternoons, • activities Choose between a place wide range extracurricular evenings and weekend activities that take place in the afternoons, • Visit other parts of Sweden and Europe evenings and weekend • Visit other parts of Sweden and Europe • Visit other parts of Sweden and Europe

SWEDISH SUMMER COURSES SWEDISH SUMMER COURSES Bli bättre på svenska SWEDISH SUMMER COURSES

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TRY BOARDING TRY BOARDING TRY BOARDING During the school year, we organise

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44 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

Experience the Very Best of Sweden!

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SSHL students come from around Sweden and the entire world.

2014-05-28 09:39:45

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ICA Global Sourcing (Shanghai) Co, Ltd Yueda 889 Office Tower Unit 2101, 1,111 Changshou Road Shanghai, PR China Tel: +86 21 6391 7555

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Chamber representative Marcus Nordqvist, Regional Director Asia Email: Marcus.Nordqvist@permobil.com

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About us Permobil have two legal entities in China, Permobil Production and Permobil Trading. We are assembling components which are shipped to our assembly units in Sweden and USA. Permobil established the production unit in China in 2011. Since November 2014, we are setting up a sales and marketing organisation in order to provide products and improving quality of life for people with functional disabilities in China and beyond.

Förmögenhetsrådgivning, när den är som bäst, inkluderar med andra ord allt som kan påverka din personliga förmögenhet, nu och i framtiden. Vi har kompetensen och de tekniska systemen för att kunna ge dig den bästa servicen som finns att få. Och framförallt – genom att vara en stor bank har vi möjlighet att erbjuda dig de bästa specialisterna. En personlig rådgivare, många specialister – gör det möjligt.

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Permobil (Kunshan) Co, Ltd No 7 Workshop, Industrial Park North of Ruian Road Shipai, Bacheng Town, Kunshan 215312 PR China Phone: +86 512 8618 8010 Mobile: +86 150 5165 7676

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About us Precedo Consulting was established in 1987. Precedo Consulting’s mission is to support the development Eric of Pedersen, Private Banker organisations to become top sales organisations. We have more than 25 years of experience in designing integrated approaches to sales strategy, sales processes, sales skills, sales metrics and sales coaching, cultivating high-performing sales organisations.

In recent years Precedo Consulting has helped more than 100 of its large client organisations to build exceptional results in the area of sales management and value selling.

As a part of these development projects, Precedo Consulting has trained over 6,500 sales leaders, sales people and technical experts, performed in-depth interviews with over 5,000 customers globally and carried out over 600 real-life sales-case coaching sessions with customer teams.

In 2013 we established Precedo Performance, which is focused on recognising, recruiting and developing top-level value sellers and sales leaders.

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Chamber representatives Annie Pang, General Manager China Email: annie.pang@icaglobalsourcing.com Mobile: +86 158 0054 1941 Christian Ulloa, Director of Finance and Support Email: christian.ulloa@icaglobalsourcing.com Mobile: +86 138 1641 1294

Precedo Consulting Oy 101, No 123, Lane 1536, Puxiu Road Minhang District, Shanghai 201114 PR China Web: www.precedoconsulting.com

CMY

About us ICA Global Sourcing Ltd’s head office in Asia is located in Hong Kong and operates through a network of offices around Asia: Shanghai, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Operations include sourcing, order follow-up, quality assurance and CSR functions for ICA Gruppen AB, Hemtex AB and InkClub.

ICA Gruppen AB is a leading retailer in Sweden, Norway and the Baltic states and operates 2,300 stores in six store concepts: hypermarkets, superstores, supermarkets, convenience stores, discount stores and Grab’n’Go. ICA Gruppen AB also includes ICA Real Estate, which owns and manages properties, ICA Bank, which offers financial services, and Apotek Hjärtat, which conducts pharmacy operations. ICA Global Sourcing Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of ICA Gruppen AB.

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Besök oss på www.nordeaprivatebanking.com eller ring kontoret i Singapore på +65 6597 1082, så bokar vi ett möte.

Jonas Bergqvist, Private Banker

Nordea Bank S.A:s Singapore-kontor ingår i Nordea, den ledande finanskoncernen i Norden och Östersjöregionen. Vissa tjänster och produkter som beskrivs i detta material är eventuellt inte godkända för försäljning i vissa länder. Huruvida du kan eller bör köpa en produkt kan bland annat bero på din riskprofil och lagen i det land där du är bosatt. Detta material ska inte betraktas som ett erbjudande om att köpa eller sälja någon placeringsprodukt eller att göra någon annan affär. Det ska inte heller betraktas som ett erbjudande att tillhandahålla banktjänster i något land där Nordea Bank S.A:s Singapore-kontor eller något av dess närstående bolag inte har tillstånd att bedriva bankrörelse. Publicerad av Nordea Bank S.A., R.C.S. Luxembourg no. B 14.157 för Nordea Bank S.A., Singapore-kontoret, 3 Anson Rd #20-01, Springleaf Tower, Singapore 079909. www.nordeaprivatebanking.com AD_Dragonnews_210x140_swe_Jonas_2014.indd 1

25/02/2014 11:21

Chamber representative Marko Hänninen, Managing Partner Email: marko.hanninen@precedo.fi Mobile: +358 50 597 3528

CHINA ASSOCIATE MEMBERS >>> Björn Berggren House #8, Lane 30, West Fuxing Road Shanghai 200031 PR China Mobile: +86 158 0033 8525 Email: bberggren@boydcorp.com

Inoue Naohide Room 502, 5/F, Jiedi Building No 2790, North Zhongshan Road Putuo District, Shanghai 200063 PR China Email: naohide.inoue@jasgo.com Mobile: +86 186 2151 4001

Josefine M. Mosse josefine@executivehomes.hk

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Abraham Lincoln reads for his son.

The new SwedCham Board (from left): Pontus Karlsson, Paul Bergström, Per Ågren, Emma C L Gardner, Ulf Ohrling, Katarina Ivarsson and Jimmy Bjennmyr. Absent: Karine Hirn and Patrik Lindvall.

Annual General Meeting in Hong Kong 2015

The storyteller

Photo: Jayne Russell, jaynerussell@me.com

At the well attended and exciting SwedCham Hong Kong Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday 22 May 2015, seven very competent candidates were nominated to four vacant posts as directors.

The following four were elected: Paul Bergström (Ericsson), Emma Gardner (KPMG), Katarina Ivarsson (Boris Design Studio) and Patrik Lindvall (Dairy Farm-IKEA).

We welcome the new directors and look forward to a fruitful collaboration in the coming year. At the same time, we would also like to thank all the nominated candidates and look forward to working together in committees, work groups and forums in the chamber in future.

It was gratifying to see so many members attend this year’s AGM, and thanks to Jaakko Sorsa at FINDS we were treated to a fantastic spring-inspired lunch during the meeting.

For the second time, the SwedCham Hong Kong’s board, together with the Membership Committee, decided to give out a SwedCham Annual Award. This year it was awarded to Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) for introducing the new non-stop service between Stockholm and Hong Kong, which will create significant new opportunities for both Sweden and Hong Kong to develop commercial and cultural relations. The prize was collected by Lars-Ove Filipson, general manager and chief representative for SAS Greater China. Warm congratulations from us at the chamber!

48 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

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Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD Ulf Ohrling, Chairman [Mannheimer Swartling] Paul Bergström [Ericsson] Jimmy Bjennmyr [Handelsbanken] Emma C L Gardner [KPMG] Karine Hirn [East Capital] Katarina Ivarsson [Boris Design Studio] Pontus Karlsson [Happy Rabbit] Patrik Lindvall [Dairy Farm-IKEA] Per Ågren [APC Asia Pacific Cargo]

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Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China The Swedish TV personality Malou von Sivers was the MC of the evening.

The generous sponsors were greeted with flowers.

Pål and Anette Andersson won the prizes as best dressed man and woman.

Toby Mak Jazz Quartet entertained in the spirit of the 1920s.

Annual General Meeting in Shanghai 2015 On 24 April, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the 18th time. Two new directors of the board were appointed: Mikael Westerback of Handelsbanken and Peter Rosta of Business Research. Ericsson’s Hans O Karlsson was appointed treasurer. Fredrik Ektander, SEB, Chunyuan Gu, ABB, and Karine Hirn, East Capital, resigned from their posts.

In conjunction with the AGM, the annual Spring Gala was held at the Fairmont Peace Hotel, a grand hotel on the Bund built in 1929. The theme for the Gala was the roaring 1920s in Shanghai. Most of the 175 guests took the dress code seriously and went all in with the theme.

Sparkling wine and canapés were served as the guests tried to figure out the correct answers to the quiz on Shanghai in the 1920s. Irena Busic, the chamber’s general manager, welcomed the guests and proposed the first toast before the starters were consumed.

The well-known journalist and TV personality Malou von Sivers was MC for the night, and launched the evening by talking about magical meetings and how that is at the heart of the chamber.

After the delicious main course, re-elected chairman Katarina Nilsson presented nominations for the Honorary Award, which went to Mats H Olsson of Ericsson, Hong Kong, for his extraordinary contributions to Sino-Swedish business relations. Unfortunately, Olsson could not be present in person, but his colleague, Karl-Johan Killius, was able to receive the award and give a thank you speech in his place.

Malou von Sivers, with the help of a jury consisting of consulgeneral Viktoria Li, Katarina Nilsson and Fredrik Wannius of the board 50 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2015

of the Shanghai Chapter, elected the best dressed woman and man, Anette and Pål Andersson.

After dessert, the bar opened and the Toby Mak Jazz Quartet played live jazz in the spirit of the 1920s. The guests took to the dance floor, the bar and the terrace, which has a spectacular view of the Bund and Pudong.

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce would like to extend a special thank you to our Dragon Partners: SCA, Handelsbanken, Atlas Copco, Vinge and SAS for their fantastic support. Furthermore, we would also like to express our gratitude to sponsors Blue Air, Veryday, Grow HR and Fillidutt for making the Spring Gala possible.

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD Katarina Nilsson, Chairman [Sapa] Lars-Åke Severin, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Beijing Chapter [PSU] Ulf Söderström, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Shanghai Chapter [SCA] Hans O Karlsson, Treasurer [Ericsson] Liselotte Duthu [Atlas Copco] Birgitta Ed [Six Year Plan] Peter Idsäter [Mannheimer Swartling] Daniel Karlsson [Asia Perspective] Martin Pei [SSAB] Peter Rosta [Business Research] Peter Sandberg [Microdata] Mikael Westerback [Handelsbanken] Irena Busic, General Manager

Jimmy Bjennmyr Head of Corporate Banking Hong Kong Branch

Mikael Westerback Head of Greater China and General Manager Shanghai branch

Florence Chan Senior Account Manager Hong Kong Branch

Johan AndrĂŠn Deputy Head of Greater China and General Manager Hong Kong branch

Shanghai – Mikael Westerback +86 21 6329 8877 ext 888, Pontus Gertell +86 21 6329 8877 ext 848