Just as our plane followed the Great Circle from Los Angeles to Stockholm, our journey in to the business and cultural paradigms of Scandinavia followed. Prior to our trip, our only exposure to these has been through a few pre-trip classes by our professors, a handful of insightful articles, and a few trips to IKEA. […]
Scandinavia’s Home Market: The World
Posted on June 19, 2013 Written by
Throughout our trip, there has been one approach to operating a business in Scandinavia which seems much different from the average start-up in the United States. The approach we are referencing is rooted in the business attitudes of operating internationally. For example, a start-up in the United States may have only domestic plans for the […]
The Cultural DNA – Social Responsibility
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
Prior to leaving Sweden, we were able to enjoy the social graces of Volvo Cars and their Volvo Brand Experience Centre. Even though Volvo has withstood the test of time and through multiple acquisitions, such as under the management of the Ford Motor Company and at present, Geely Automobile. Volvo has never lost its touch […]
World domination – so close you can taste it
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
Over the two weeks of our visit to Scandinavia, we heard people from differently sized companies in various industries speak about what the “Scandinavian” culture did for their companies’ success. They spoke of how the size of the country and the tax structure encouraged early international expansion. We learned how a more homogenous culture could […]
Humble Volvo
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
Whilst in Gothenburg we had the pleasure of spending a day at the Volvo Car Corporation Headquarters. Not only did we hear from Volvo Cars’ VP of Human Resources, Björn Sällström, but we managed to take a lovely factory tour with our guide, Jonas, and spend an hour test driving some of their different models […]
Stena AB Takes Care
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
Our visit to Stena AB in Göteborg, their hub of operations in Sweden, was quite compelling. Stena’s focus lies mainly on ferry routes, shipping, offshore drilling, property, finance, adactum, as well as recycling, environmental services and trading. Stena refers to these business areas as the Stena Sphere. Currently Stena has 22,000 employees worldwide. From our […]
Too Big to Bail
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
Mark and I ended our trip with visits that peaked the interest of all of the financial emphasis MBA candidates in the program – trips to two of Scandinavia’s largest banks. From discussions on the step-by-step growth of Nordea bank to discussions on the size of Scandinavian banks relative to central governments at the National […]
Green Tech? Try Green Culture
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
At the beginning of this blog, Jeff and I were interested in exploring the prevalence of green technology in Scandinavian businesses. What we found via our travels through Sweden and Denmark is that the mindset for sustainability is not limited to a so-called ‘green-tech industry,’ which is a rather nascent concept in the United States. […]
Scandinavia- Human Capital Summary
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
Emily and I set out on our adventure to Scandinavia with the intention of analyzing the manner in which Scandinavian businesses utilize human capital, the hiring and retention practices of companies, and the potential differences that could exist between the United States and Scandinavia. Throughout our company visits, one thing that really stuck out to […]
Survival through Adaptation
Posted on June 18, 2013 Written by
Our last visits in Gothenburg and Copenhagen took us to a start up incubator named Chalmers Innovation along with two established banks with Nordea Bank and Denmark National Bank. Traditionally, the biggest companies in Sweden are owned by a few major owners which has persisted over many years of time. This idea contrasts with those […]
