Dragon News 2010 No 3

M e M b e r M a g a z i n e f o r S w e d i S h C h a M b e r S o f C o M M e r C e i n h o n g K o n g a n d C h i n a

A N N I V E R S A R Y19 5 0 - 2 0 10

CELEBRATING 60 YEARSOF SWEDEN-CHINA

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

No.032010

innovative solutions for a

sustainable China

6Opinion

More expensive rMb or higher

wages?

18Executive Talk

from a ‘one-man show’ to a global

market leader

22Feature

a Sinologist takes over at the

Swedish embassy

Successful Swedish companies have always had a keen ear for trends. Being innovative has become very important for foreign-owned companies in China today.

ADVERTISERS

APC Logistics page 33, Bamboo page 37, Beijing APC page 41, Finnair page 2,

Geodis Wilson page 35, Handelsbanken page 9, Henriksson Consulting page 34,

Iggesund Paperboard page 15, Johnny’s Photo & Video Supply page 36,

Mannheimer Swartling pages 24-25, Nordea page 45, Orrefors Kosta Boda page 17,

Primasia page 42, Radisson Blu page 27, Sallmanns Residential page 40,

Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) page 48, Scandinavian Furniture page 21,

Scania page 14, Scan Global Logistics page 29, SEB Private Banking page 5,

Swedbank page 13, Swedish Trade Council page 31, The Tomorrow Group page 39,

Vinge page 43, Volvo page 47, Workspace page 16

Thank you!

APC Logisticsfor your immense generosity shipping and distributing Dragon News in China, hong Kong and Sweden.

Iggesund Paperboardfor being the proud sponsor for the paperboard cover of Dragon News magazine in 2009. Cover printed on invercote® Creato 220gsm.

Scandinavian Airlinesfor your generous distribution of Dragon News on SaS flights from beijing to Scandinavia.

The Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and China

PublisherSwedish Chambers of Commercein hong Kong and ChinaFor advertising inquiries, please contact respective chamber’s officeThe opinions expressed in articles in Dragon News are those of the authors and do not necessarily

reflect the views of the publisher.

Editorial management, design and printingbamboo business Communications LtdTel: +852 2838 4553fax: +852 2873 3329www.bambooinasia.com [email protected] director: Johnny Chandesigner: Victor dai

INQUIRIESSwedish Chamber of Commerce in hong Kongroom 3605, China resources building26 harbour road, wanchai, hong KongTel: +852 2525 0349e-mail: [email protected]: www.swedcham.com.hkgeneral Manager: eva KarlbergMarketing Manager: Märta Langadministration Manager: Maria Tornving

INQUIRIESSwedish Chamber of Commerce in Chinaroom 313, radisson blu hotel6a, east beisanhuan road, Chaoyang districtbeijing 100028, People’s republic of ChinaTel: +86 10 5922 3388, ext 313fax: +86 10 6462 7454e-mail: [email protected]: www.swedishchamber.com.cngeneral Manager: Yvonne ChenMember Service & Sales Manager beijing: Karin roosadministration & finance assistant: Jaycee Yang

Shanghai ContactMember Service & Sales Manager Shanghai: Carina Järold-MattssonTel: +86 21 6217 1271fax: +86 21 6217 0562Mobile: +86 1368 179 7675e-mail: [email protected]

CONTENTS No.032010

4

8

34

42

44

46

editorial

Snippets

Cross-border mentorship programme

Chamber.com

after hours

The chamber and i: Kristofer heimby

Cover story: innovative solutions for a sustainable China

10

6 opinion: ari Kokko

20 feature: Paulo fohlin represents hK in russia

feature: Lars fredén new ambassador in beijing

22

Young Professional interview: Petra ringström

26

Chamber activities in hong Kong28

Chamber activities in beijing30

Chamber activities in Shanghai32

6

22

26

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

18 executive talk: roger Samuelsson, ShL group 10

36 new members

46 board of directors

DRAGONNEWS • NO.03/2010 3

Dear Reader,

The theme of this issue of Dragon News is how Sweden and China meet in innova-tion. This is a very interesting subject, and it reflects the integration between China and the world that has taken place in the past 10 years.

The opening up to the world that fol-lowed China’s WTO membership and the attractiveness of China abroad have meant that many more foreigners and Chinese are meeting in China than perhaps ever before. These connections have led to new ideas and to innovation. A new kind of dynamism is being born right before our eyes, and it is pos-sible that we cannot quite fathom the extent of it.

China has again become a new global melting pot, which is in fact not new to China. As early as the Tang dynasty (618-907 AC) the then capital of China, Chang’an, was a cosmopolitan city where ideas, religions and philosophies met. The Tang dynasty was also one of the most important Chinese cultural peaks. China is bound to reach such a peak again.

Culturally, China is already a melting pot of influences from all over the world. Music, art, theatre, literature and so on already abound with new and interesting ideas that would have been unthinkable only a couple of decades back.

The recent dynamism of the new Chi-nese melting pot has probably surprised the Chinese leaders as well. Two decades ago it was not like this. Back then, they designed schemes to “force” localisation of foreign production and technology.

For example, in the 1990s, the telecom industry was pressed by the Chinese authori-ties to increase localisation of their products or they would not be given full access to the market. This led to companies like Ericsson and Nokia inviting their foreign first and second tier sub-suppliers to set up production in China. There were also political demands for foreign companies to increase their R&D activities in China.

At that time most companies set up R&D activities rather reluctantly and under pres-sure. Since then, China has become a very interesting place as a market and as a supplier of first-class staff for a number of sub-suppli-ers in almost all industries. Similarly, many in-ternational companies now establish advanced R&D here. The combination of foreign companies’ leadership, R&D and the highly intelligent and active brains of their local staff is very conducive to commercial R&D. The Chinese government no longer needs to either threaten companies or encourage this trend – it now happens by itself.

On a concrete note, the ongoing Chi-

nese policy of stimulating the creation of electric vehicles has the potential to have a tremendous impact on the whole automo-tive industry. Chinese companies have made impressive progress in the field of batteries, which in combination with western con-cepts of complete vehicles can give birth to completely new combinations to the benefit both of individual car users and also to public transport systems.

Swedish companies and individual en-trepreneurs have been active in China for over 100 years. Together with Chinese colleagues and friends many new ideas and concepts have been born over this century of collabora-tion.

Erik Nyqvist was a Swedish geologist who spent 50 years in China during the first half of the last century. He helped estab-lish modern geology as a science in China, and that has been behind discoveries of the country’s coal and ferrous resources – two of the foundations of the present economic boom. Meanwhile, the Swedish Dairy Train-ing Centre in Beijing in the 1980s helped lay the foundation for the modern Chinese dairy industry.

The future will undoubtedly see many more such breakthroughs emerging from the convergence of Sweden and China, and we will keep you posted on them in Dragon News.

EDITORIAL

The new Chinese melting pot

Mats HarbornChairman

Swedish Chamber ofCommerce in China

Stefan RönnquistChairman

Swedish Chamber ofCommerce in Hong Kong

4 DRAGONNEWS • NO.03/2010

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The past decades of Chinese economic growth are not only characterised by impressive aggregate growth rates, but also by an unequal distribution of the gains from development. Instead of a gradual RMB appreciation, China needs an internal rebalanc-ing process, says Professor Ari Kokko.

lobal trade imbalances have played an important role for the recent financial crisis in the US. China’s strong export competitiveness is one of the explanations

for the large deficits in the US economy. By fixing the RMB exchange rate and investing a large share of its current account surpluses in the US, China weakened two of the mechanisms that would normally have been part of the adjustment process: the US dollar did not depreciate enough, and American interest rates did not rise enough to reduce the US deficits.

Although China does not figure prominently in discussions of the European crisis, it is clear that global imbalances are important here as well. The EU imports more Chinese goods than the US and the EU’s trade deficits vis-à-vis China have been almost as large as America’s in recent years. While Germany and other Northern European countries managed to adjust to the challenges from China, several countries in Southern Europe did not, with large deficits in trade and domes-tic savings-investment balances as a result.

Against this backdrop, it is no wonder that there is heavy pressure on China to allow increased exchange rate flexibility. In particular, US commentators have argued that China is manipulating its exchange rate and have called for protectionist measures unless the RMB is allowed to appreciate.

But is a gradual RMB appreciation the best way to handle the current global imbalances? Somewhat provocatively, I would like to suggest that the answer is no. There are several reasons why Europe should perhaps not call for an appreciation of the RMB, but rather an internal rebalancing program in China.

TExT: Ari Kokko, [email protected]

The first argument has to do with the stability of financial markets in the short to medium term. What would happen if China announced that the RMB will become significantly more flexible? How many inter-national investors would expect the RMB to depreci-ate? The answer is zero. It is easy to predict that very substantial amounts of capital would flow to China to take advantage of the “fool-proof” exchange rate gains that would follow. This would not be very beneficial for the EU, where several countries are already strug-gling with deficits and debt stocks.

The inflows of speculative capital to China would also have undesirable effects on China’s macroeco-nomic stability. So far, China has managed to sterilise inflows of foreign capital and control the growth of the money supply. It would be more difficult to do this if the RMB began to appreciate. Instead, the money sup-ply would grow and inflation would be hard to avoid. Many foreign investors would not be content to place their RMB funds in state banks or government bonds, but would rather look for investment opportunities with higher expected returns. Real estate and stock markets would certainly be strongly affected.

Secondly, it is unlikely that an international programme centred on the value of the RMB would be sufficient to restore global balances. The deficits in both the US and Europe are partly related to domestic savings-investment imbalances. Neither the US nor Greece will be able to reduce their external deficits without forceful measures to reduce domestic aggregate demand: while Greece has recently introduced a no-table austerity package, there are no signs of anything comparable in the US.

Chinese rebalancing: More expensive RMB or higher wages?

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Professor Ari Kokko shares his time between Stockholm and Copenhagen, with frequent research trips to east asia. he is di-rector of the China economic research Centre at the Stockholm School of economics, and runs the Centre for international busi-ness and emerging Markets at Copenhagen business School.

Currently, he is trying to understand the growth and interna-tionalisation of Chinese state-owned enterprises. in the past, he has been a member of the board of directors of the Swedish international development Cooperation agency (Sida), chairman of a Swedish government inquiry into the development of Swed-ish export competitiveness, and a frequent lecturer in various executive education programmes.

Chinese workers are severely underpaid, taking into account

the development level of the country.”

Thirdly, it is not clear that a strong RMB would result in a less competitive China. China might be able to adjust to a stronger currency just as Japan did in the 1980s, when the yen appreciated strongly against the US dollar. Chinese labour is not only abundant, but also increasingly well educated. Invest-ment capital is abundant. Combining these resources, China could perhaps raise labour productivity rapidly enough to take the edge off an appreciating RMB. Given the absence of independent labour unions, China might even be able to reduce its nominal wages (or keep wage increases lower than inflation) us-ing the argument that it is necessary to make sacrifices because China is under attack from external forces.

The fourth and most signifi-cant argument is that the really remarkable distortion in the Chi-nese economy is not the underval-ued exchange rate, but rather the low wage share of GDP: it stands at one-third and has been falling for 22 straight years. Chinese workers are severely underpaid, taking into account the develop-ment level of the country.

The low wage share is related to the lack of independent labour unions, as well as the emergence of Chinese state capitalism. Not even the most repressive capitalist regimes are able to reduce the wage share of GDP below 50 per cent. In the Chinese case, it has been in the interest of the party and the state to generate high savings to support the export and investment led development strategy. The 50 per cent savings rate seen today has been achieved using the exchange rate as one of many instruments: state-owned enterprises and banks that routinely reinvest profits (rath-er than distributing them to private owners who might use the funds for consumption), strong savings incentives for households (high private expenditures for predictable educa-

0.5China’s so called gini coefficient, which measures income inequal-

ity, is approaching 0.5, which is a level

matched only by some Latin ameri-

can countries.

tion, health, and pension expenditures), and limited access for private small and medium firms to the formal financial system (which forces them to finance their investments with retained profits) are a few examples of other policies and structures that contribute to high savings.

An unavoidable consequence of low wages and high savings is that domes-tic private consumption is low. As a result, goods produced in China have not been consumed in China, but rather exported. At the same time, private demand for import goods has been depressed. This is where global rebalancing should focus. By raising private consumption and reducing domestic savings and investment, China would reduce its current account surplus and the current account deficits of its Western trade partners. In practice, this would call for new policies in sev-

eral areas. Higher minimum wages, independ-ent worker representation in wage negotia-tions, and increases in social expenditures – education, health, housing, and pensions – are some reform examples. These reforms would result in higher domestic demand, which would eventually raise Chinese price levels, constituting a real appreciation of the RMB.

Why would Chinese authorities be interested in an internal rebalancing process? Do they have any motives to allow an increase in the wage share of GDP? At the very least, it should by now be clear for Chinese leaders

that large Chinese surpluses will be reflected by large deficits in other countries, which may eventually spell trouble also for China. Hence, avoiding excessive current account surpluses should be in the self-interest of China.

Apart from this, there are at least four arguments why China should be interested in internal rebalancing. Firstly, China can afford it. With well over two trillion RMB in reserves – which presently have very low social return – programmes to raise welfare expen-ditures are not excessive for China. Secondly, internal rebalancing would be welcomed abroad. A slow adjustment process should not be undesirable even for the US, considering how difficult it would be for the US to reduce its twin deficits rapidly – nobody is interested in a very abrupt reduction in US aggregate de-mand. Thirdly, it would be popular in China. Several generations of Chinese have made unprecedented sacrifices, both under central planning and during the last decades, when a relatively poor population has set aside half of its income for savings and investment. Higher wages and increased public investments in social welfare would be warmly welcomed by the great majority of Chinese citizens.

Fourthly, and most importantly, China needs an internal rebalancing process as badly as the world needs international rebalancing. The past decades of Chinese economic growth are not only characterised by impressive aggregate growth rates, but also by an unequal distribution of the gains from development. The Chinese Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, is ap-proaching 0.5, which is a level matched only by some Latin American countries. There are increasingly large gaps between coastal areas and inland provinces, between cities and rural areas, between social groups, between those with education and those without, and increasingly also between men and women (since the lack of public alternatives puts the burden of elderly care on the household, i.e. the women). These gaps constitute a threat to social stability and “harmony” – recent events in Thailand demonstrate some of the unde-sirable consequences of a highly polarised economy, where urban and rural groups live in entirely different worlds. b


Swedish oats replace milkn a majority of the people on earth are lactose-intolerant and have to avoid drinking cow milk. oatly, a Swedish company based in Landskrona, has found an alternative. oatly is a food company that focuses on research and development, marketing and sales of oat-based products.

oatly has launched a range of dairy products made from oats rather than milk. all of its products are milk- and soya-free, and most of them are entirely vegetable-based. The make-up of oats is perfect for humans, and oat fibres help reduce raised cholesterol levels.

oatly’s research operations have strong links with the Lund University, where the research began in the 1990s. oatly’s products are being marketed in some 20 countries.

according to a report by the Confederation of Swed-ish enterprise (Svenskt näringsliv), oatly is studying whether the oat drink can be used as an alternative to milk at schools in China.

Did you know ...n … that Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, is the very first city to be designated a european green Capital by the eU Commission? The commission’s intention with the “european green Capital” is to improve the living environment in cities and the environment as a whole by designating one city every year to be an ex-ample to others and to take the lead in this work by presenting good examples and sharing experiences, thoughts and ideas with other cities.

“More than half of the world’s population live in cities, and in europe the figure is no less than 80 per cent. Cities therefore play an important role in im-proving the living environment for citizens. This award represents an excellent opportunity to inform and inspire others about the good environmental work being undertaken by the city, the residents of Stockholm and companies,” says Stockholm’s mayor, Sten nordin.

Top 10 inventions in human historyn in 2009, some 4,000 british people between 18 and 85 years were asked by Tesco Mobile to rank the world’s 100 most important inventions.

Most of the items on the Top 10 list were expected to be there. The wheel was voted no 1, the aeroplane no 2, the light bulb no 3, the internet, the personal computer (PC) and the telephone was ranked at no 4, 5 and 6 and penicillin at no 7. at no 9 was the flushing toilet and at no 10 the combustion engine.

but what invention was ranked at no 8? well, it was the iPhone! Probably not even ap-ple’s Ceo Steve Jobs would claim that his must-buy handset is the eighth greatest inven-tion of all time …

Solar lamp for rural marketsn Solar energy technology has progressed lately, with higher efficiency and lower prices. also light-emitting-diode (Led) lamps have developed and become less expensive. The Swedish company hination has found a business concept to combine the two technologies and develop a new energy-efficient solar cell lamp, according to a report by the Confederation of Swed-ish enterprise about “innovations for the base of the pyramid”.

hination was founded by Linda Krondahl and the company was this year chosen by Kista Science City as one of the most promising clean technology companies in Sweden. The original idea was to launch the solar cell lamps on the Swedish market, but today the focus has shifted to markets in africa, where the electric power supply is insufficient.

a cost-effective solar lamp could mean a lot for smaller businesses in areas where the electricity grids are not reliable. Shops could stay open longer and people could do more work at home. normally, kerosene lamps are used in off-the-grid locations, but solar cell lamps are environmentally much sounder. hination’s lamps can also charge a mobile phone.

“Innovation in developing markets has less to do with finding new customers than addressing issues of product acceptability, affordability, availability and awareness.”The conclusion, in an article in MIT Sloan Management Review by Jamie Anderson and Costas Markides, titled “Strategic Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid”

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Your Nordic Bank in Greater China

www.handelsbanken.cn

Handelsbanken is the Nordic bank with the largest presence in the region, with branches in Shanghai and

Hong Kong as well as representative offices in Beijing and Taipei. Banking with us you benefit from the

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Handelsbanken 1.indd 1 2010-06-11 17:25:02

Your Nordic Bank in Greater China

www.handelsbanken.cn

Handelsbanken is the Nordic bank with the largest presence in the region, with branches in Shanghai and

Hong Kong as well as representative offices in Beijing and Taipei. Banking with us you benefit from the

knowledge and experience that only a big bank can offer. At the same time you get the level of flexibility and

personal service and that only a local bank can offer. We strongly believe in long term, two way relationship

banking in the traditional way.

Our offering includes full service corporate banking from all types of letters of credit and financing to cash

management in the form of deposits, foreign exchange and payments. Now a member of the Chinese clearing

system, CNAPS, we make your transactions in China as quick and as secure as they possibly can be.

Contact us at one of our branches to find out more.

Michael Zell, Head of Greater China and General Manager Hong Kong branch, +852 2293 5388

Stephen Chan, Head of Corporate Banking Hong Kong branch, +852 2293 5322

Johan Andrén, General Manager Shanghai branch, +86 21 6329 8877

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Amy Chen – Chief Representative, Taipei Representative Office Michael Zell – Head of Greater China and General Manager Hong Kong branch

Successful Swedish companies have always had a keen ear for trends. Being innovative has become very important for foreign-owned companies in China today.

Innovative solutions for a sustainable China

TExT: Jan Hökerberg, Bamboo, [email protected]

nly some 10 years ago, most foreign-owned companies that invested in China were building factories to get low

production costs for their products, which mainly were exported. Today, the picture is different.

Now there is more focus on finding or launching innovative solutions and products, which often go hand-in-hand with corporate social responsi-

bility (CSR) and sustainability. Many have also discovered that China can be a

good market to test new ideas.However, innovations intended for the

Chinese market do not have to be similar to those created and launched in more mature markets in the West. In fact, the innovations

could be very different.

For many years, Western compa-nies have developed products at home, modified them and sold them to emerging markets, a concept which

is called “glocalisation”. Now, some companies are trying to do the reverse.Glocalisation worked fine when rich

O


countries accounted for the vast majority of the market and other countries didn’t offer many opportunities. But those days are over – thanks to the rapid development of populous countries like China and India and the slow-ing growth of wealthy nations.

In 2009, General Electric (GE) announced that the company would spend US$3 billion over six years to create at least 100 healthcare innovations that would substantially lower costs, increase access and improve quality.

Two products were especially highlighted: • A handheld electrocardiogram (ECG)

device that costs as little as US$1,000 and is aimed for the rural Indian market.

• A portable, PC-based ultrasound machine for the rural China market that only costs US$15,000, compared to US$100,000 or more for regular ultrasound machines.

These products are revolutionary, and not just because of their small size and low price.

“GE badly needs innovations like the low-cost ECG and ultrasound machines, not only to expand beyond high-end segments in places like China and India but also to pre-empt local companies in those countries – the emerging giants – from creating similar products and then using them to disrupt GE in rich countries,” wrote GE’s CEO Jeff Im-melt in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review.

“To put it bluntly: If GE’s businesses are to survive and prosper in the next decade, they must become as adept at reverse innovation as they are at glocalisation. Success in developing countries is a prerequisite for continued vital-ity in developed ones,” he said.

So today it has become quite obvious that companies have to think in different ways if they are going to become successful in emerging markets.

Historically, Swedish companies have been good in “thinking outside the box”. Famous Swedish inventions include scientific and industrial milestones such as the Celsius thermometer, the propeller and the self-aligning ball bearing as well as communica-tion tools like the modern telephone, the computer mouse and the software application, Skype, which allows users to make free voice and video calls over the Internet.

A large portion of the Swedish economy is today based on the export of technical inven-tions, and many large multinational corpora-tions from Sweden have their origins in the ingenuity of Swedish inventors.

“One important explanation for why many Swedish companies have been successful is that they have had a keen ear for trends. Here in China, this has become very important. We have to be prepared to reconvert our produc-

tion if that is what is necessary to succeed on the Chinese market,” says Ulf Andreas-son, science counsellor at the Swedish embassy’s science office, which is organised by the state agency Growth Analysis.

So many Swedish companies are now in China doing different things, ranging from buying emission rights to designing lifestyle accessories or even exporting music. The common denominator is that they all have found innovative solutions, many of them connected with the concept of sustainability.

Tricorona is a Stockholm-based company that was recently acquired by the UK-based Barclay Capital. It special-ises in the sourcing, development and trading of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from greenhouse gas reduction projects in developing countries.

“We look for renewable energy or energy-efficiency projects. We pay for the project to be developed and registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project. We then buy CERs, which we can sell on the market. We buy in China and sell mainly in Europe and Japan,” says Björn Odenbro, general manager at Tricorona in Beijing.

“The CDM, like international emis-sions trading, is a flexible mechanism in the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol. The flexible mechanism keeps the cost of mak-ing greenhouse gas emission reductions low in Europe, while allowing industrialised countries to contribute to emission reduc-tions in the developing nations,” he says.

The Kyoto Protocol was signed by all nations, except the US and Australia. Under it, the so called Annex 1 nations, typically industrialised nations, have committed themselves to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 per cent from the 1990 level by 2012.

“We have 108 registered projects in China and about 200 active projects.

We have to be prepared to re-convert our production if that

is what is necessary to succeed on the Chinese market.”Ulf Andreasson, counsellor for science and technology

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Many Swedish companies have become successfuil because they have had a keen ear for trends, says Ulf Andreasson of the Swedish embassy’sscience office.


China is the major market since it is pos-sible to make larger scale reductions here compared to Europe and also [compared] to other developing nations,” says Odenbro.

Most of the projects are hydroelectric power and wind power, but there are also waste-heat recovery, solar power, biomass power and other types of projects in Trico-rona’s portfolio.

The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and still there has not been any global agree-ment on a follow-up, which means that the market for CERs is slightly uncertain.

“We are more careful and selective today. The European emissions trading sys-tem will, however, continue and we hope that there will be a political will to continue the fight against climate change under a new legally binding agreement. Emission rights are a good and cheap way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and China is in the forefront when it comes to support-ing clean development,” says Odenbro.

Being innovative can also mean finding a niche market that is not yet uti-lised. When Chang & Biörck was founded in 2003, the idea was to let established Swedish designers use the simplicity and functionality that define Scandinavian design and combine it with their interpre-tations of Chinese patterns and form.

“We invited designers to go to China and we visited local markets, where at that time you could still find traditional forms,” says Eva Biörck, who is responsible for the company’s marketing and PR.

One of the designers, Gunilla Lager-hem Ullberg, who is one of Sweden’s most well known and respected textile designers, even found inspiration for one of her pat-

terns from a Chinese sweet shop. Ullberg creates

fabrics with tradi-tional Chinese materials. For example, she uses silk mixed with linen to make cushions. The

two other Swedish designers that work for Chang & Biörck are Marie-Louise Hellgren and Sara Ödman. The shapes of Hellgren’s bone teapots and teacups were inspired by a visit to the altar at the Temple of Heaven. The saucers represent the sun and the moon. Ödman, who has studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, was inspired by the parks and trees in the city and then created a kids’ wear range. The line utilises a low-impact dye printed on organic cotton.

The company got a kick-start in 2003, when it was awarded a design prize at the Formex Fair in Stockholm. It won pres-tigious clients in Sweden, such as Svenskt Tenn, ROOM, House and NK. Over the

years, they have also won the Conran shops in London and Paris as clients.

In 2009, Chang & Biörck opened its own first store, located at The Village, an outdoor mall in Sanlitun, Beijing.

“We have had it in our minds for some time, since there are very few individual retail stores in China that offer designed products for the home,” says Biörck, who together with the other part-owners, India Chang and Maria Lustig, are now thinking of expanding the concept to other locations. Innovative solutions emerge in many industries in China. When it comes to exporting music, China is a market where you need to have a totally different ap-proach compared to other countries.

“In China, you can forget completely about selling CD albums; you have to find other ways,” says Anders Hjelmtorp, execu-tive director of Export Music Sweden, an organisation owned by the Swedish music industry, with a mission to develop and increase the export of Swedish music.

The huge numbers of pirated CDs, the high levels of illegal downloading from the Internet and the lack of a functioning roy-alty system are forcing the Swedish music industry to work in different ways in China.

“We worked closely together with the Swedish consulate-general in Guangzhou until its closure in 2009. We set up a web-site in Chinese dedicated to Swedish music, we arranged with a radio station to play Swedish artists and we brought musicians to different types of activities. It worked out very well,” says Hjelmtorp.

Pop music has become popular in China, especially “kind and friendly” types of music with live stage performances. Live bands are much appreciated, especially in Beijing, while other parts of China seem to accept playback and sing-back performances.

Some Swedish artists have already made themselves a name in China, including rock band Soundtrack of our Lives and Sofia Jan-nok, a jazz-influenced singer who performs

Success in developing countries is a prerequisite for continued

vitality in developed ones.”Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric

Björn Odenbro at Tricorona says that China is in the fore-front when it comes to supporting clean developmen.

“Very few individual retaul

stores in China offer products for

the home,” says Eva Biörck.

Chang & Biörck has opened a store in Beijing.

We’re not that exotic, really. Just plain old bankers. You’ll find your local branch 7 781 kilometers from home.

Swedbank has its roots in the Swedish savings bank tradition, which dates back to 1820. We have 9.5 million private customers and 650.000 corporate customers and our purpose is to promote a sound and sustainable financial situation for our clients. Swedbank Shanghai Branch provides Nordic, Baltic and Chinese

corporate clients with RMB products such as cash management, deposits and loans, trade finance, money market as well as foreign currency/RMB spot and forward trading. On 12 August Swedbank Shanghai Branch received the local currency license from the China Banking Regulatory Commission, CBRC.

Telephone: +86 21 386 126 00 Fax: +86 21 386 127 [email protected] www.swedbank.cnP

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in the Sami language and does yoiking.Most artists promote themselves

through ring signals for mobile phones, as there is actually a working system for royal-ties in China. The operators are, however, the big winners and charge at least 50 per cent of the royalties - more, for example, than in Europe – while the artist/song-writer only gets 25 per cent.

For Sweden, it is important to give fu-ture Chinese leaders a better understanding of Swedish culture, values and management style.

The Swedish Institute (SI) has, together with the consulting company Enact Sus-tainable Strategies and the Swedish Trade Council (STC) in China, developed a management programme for select Chinese senior managers.

“Sweden is at the forefront when it comes to innovation and CSR. The main idea with the programme is to transfer knowledge and promote Sweden among highly educated and internationally oriented Chinese individu-als who are ‘rising stars’ in industry and the public sector,” says Per Portén, project leader

at the Swedish Trade Council in Beijing.The ultimate goal of the training is to

build up an international robust network of emerging leaders who can strengthen relations and business ties between China and Sweden in the years to come.

“We have seen great interest in this pro-gramme among Chinese in senior managerial positions. Among 200 qualified applicants, 20 were selected last year,” says Portén.

The programme comprises three weeks of intensive work spread over five months. First, the participants go to Sweden for 10 days to study CSR and Swedish manage-

ment. This is followed up by a weekend-long workshop in China that focuses on CSR management in practice in China. The course concludes with seminars and presentations given by the participants over a week in Sweden.

The training is designed to make the most of common strengths, future potential and the rapid growth that the participating countries are experiencing – with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainabil-ity as the overall theme.

“We have arranged this programme two times and will start a new programme in February 2011,” says Portén.

The Chinese people are well known to be great engineers. The 6,700-kilometre Great Wall is one the greatest wonders of the world, and construction began during the Qin dynasty some 2,200 years ago.

But therein is a paradox. China is home to some of mankind’s most important inventions, but still today, in many areas, they lack innovative skills.

“We believe that the Chinese see

Per Portén at the Swedish Trade Council recruits Chinese senior managers to a management programme about CSR.


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Sweden as an innovative country, since we are high on various rankings. However, can China manage to take another step up the production chain and become an innova-tive country; that is the 64,000-dollar-question,” says Andreasson of the Swedish embassy’s science office.

“If China can succeed with that, then the road is open for China to become the world’s largest economy. But innovation is very much based on free and critical thinking, and perhaps China does not have enough of that today,” he adds.

In May 2010, a Sweden-China In-novation Week was organised in Beijing by the Embassy of Sweden together with a number of leading Swedish multinational companies, the Swedish Chamber of Com-merce in China and the Swedish Trade Council. The event included activities and high-profile speakers.

“During that week, we could really see the innovative China, people who are prepared to think in new terms. They have often studied abroad and when they have returned home they get full support from Chinese society,” says Andreasson.

He points out that there is a widespread

misunderstanding, especially in China, that innovations always have to be technical.

“Innovation is much wider than that. We had design and education as themes during the Innovation Week, which surprised many Chinese who are mainly thinking in technical terms. You can, for example, regard IKEA and H&M innova-tive in the way they handle their distribu-tion chains,” he says.

But what actually is innovation in China and other emerging markets? From a Chinese point of view, innovation could be very different from what many Westerners think. It could be innovations based on their own culture for their own people.

The Economist magazine explained, in a special report on innovation in emerg-ing markets, published in April 2010, that these developments represent a reinven-tion of the product development cycle for markets with very limited resources. Like Japan before them, which developed lean production systems to compensate for a lack of physical space and materials, India and China are developing production systems for buyers without much money,

mobility or infrastructure.GE’s Jeff Immelt and his co-authors of

the Harvard Business Review article men-tioned above, have dubbed this develop-ment “reverse innovation”. Others call it “frugal innovation” or “frugal engineering”. It is a whole new management philosophy that integrates the specific needs at the bot-tom of pyramid markets as a starting point and works backward to develop appropriate solutions that may be significantly different from existing solutions designed to address needs of upmarket segments.

In places where resources are scarce but needs are great, solutions have to be afford-able, reliable, resilient, easy to distribute, and easy to use. Consumers in these places don’t need the most complete, top-of-the-line, every-optional-extra product or service: they need something quick, sturdy and accessible, something tailored to their restricted circumstances.

“Frugal innovation does not mean that you sell products of low quality in develop-ing countries. Rather, it is applied where the economic perspective is more impor-tant for a product than high performance,” says Andreasson. b


oger Samuelsson was born in 1963 in Lerum, east of Göteborg, Sweden’s second biggest city. Growing up in this

city, which is located by the sea, Samuelsson learnt how to sail and developed his passion for boating as his favourite pastime.

Later he moved to Mjölby (in the prov-ince of Östergötland) to attend technical upper secondary school in the nearby city of Linköping. As a teenager, he had already shown an interest in business and started to import goods from Asia. Being interested in sports, he began looking at sports and fitness equipment such as boxing gloves. He discovered that many of the equipment were manufactured in Taiwan, so he decided to visit. At 20 years old, he flew to Taiwan by himself, visited factories and found products he could sell in Scandinavia.

“I was looking at a lot of different things, from connectors and cables to basically any-thing that would be profitable. I worked from Sweden but at that time it was difficult because of the distance. I had to send punched tapes by telex and the telephone lines were poor. I was never sure if they understood what I said, lead-ing to many misunderstandings and I realised I had to go there more frequently. After going there several times, I loved the energy and excitement of the place and decided to spend more time there.” he says. One of Samuelsson’s main customers in Sweden was Landstingets Inköpscentral (LIC), a purchasing centre for county coun-

TExT: Jan Hökerberg, Bamboo, [email protected]

From a ‘one-man show’ to a global market leader

cils. “They bought quite a lot of rehabilitation equipment and they always paid on time, so I concentrated more and more on the rehab area as my niche.”

Riksförbundet för Sexuell Upplysning (RFSU), a non-profit organisation specialising in sex education, also placed substantial orders to buy rehab equipment for elderly and disabled people. Then in 1988, after five years of travel between Sweden and Taiwan, Samuelsson finally decided that it was time to move to Asia.

“We got started in 1989 and I worked very closely with my business partner to get things going.” says Samuelsson.

They started to hire people and the busi-ness grew. In the 1990s, Taiwan was one of the so-called “Asian tigers” and had witnessed a rapid industrialisation from the 1960s onward. “China had not opened up yet and I had to choose between Hong Kong and Taiwan, but I chose Taiwan.”

In 1994, Samuelsson spoke with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn, who had their headquarters in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The parties agreed that Samuels-son’s company could manufacture auto injec-tors for Upjohn, and with that they became the first big global customer. This jumpstarted the company’s brand association with medical equipment and devices and quickly led to the company promoting its name Scandinavian Health Ltd (SHL) more actively.

Fortunate to have the opportunity to work with global companies such as Upjohn, which later merged with the Swedish pharmaceutical

company Pharmacia (now Pfizer), SHL con-tinued to grow and focused on advanced drug delivery devices such as auto injectors, pen injectors and inhalers. Today, SHL has become the global leader in the auto injector area with approximately 50 per cent market share.

“We do our own design and we develop new products but we do not put our own brand on the products. We deliver them to our clients and we export everything we manufacture in our factories in Taiwan and China,” says Samuelsson.

SHL puts a strong emphasis on the development and design of devices that can be safe, easy to use, aesthetically pleasing and ergo-nomic in addition to many other requirements. As a result, one of the injectors, the Precision Pen Injector (PPI), was awarded with the prestigious Red Dot Design Award in 2009.

R

We do our own design

and we develop new products but we do not put our own brand on the products.”

From his headquarters in Taiwan, Swedish entrepreneur Roger Samuelsson has built up a medical devices and technology company which provide services to some of the world’s most respected pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.


The Precision Pen Injector (PPI) is designed to deliver repeated small, but accurate, doses of a product that rejuvenates skin launched by the Swedish biomedical company Q-Med.

Samuelsson continued to broaden SHL’s range of products. Another group company, SHL Healthcare, was established for healthcare related inquiries and projects. A factory was set up in China to place a stronger focus on the manufacturing of rehabilitation equipments for hospital and home care. These products ranged from patient lifting slings to alternative pressure mattress systems to many other support surfaces.

As SHL received more requests from dif-ferent companies around the world, Samuels-son started to in-source many of the key capa-bilities such as computer numerical controlled (CNC) machining, moulding, automation, tooling etc. By doing so, the timeline and qual-ity of the project can be easily man-aged under one roof and stream-lined. SHL slowly started to gain reputation with these capabilities and attracted customers that were interested in products that are more technology-focused. This eventually led to the creation of SHL Technologies.

“We specialise in comprehensive manufacturing services, advanced integrated engineering, prototyping and assembly. Our team combines extensive industry knowledge, in-house development and a broad range of production capabilities with an efficient global operation network,” says Samuelsson.

Even though he has worked in Asia for more than two decades, he has never been afraid of his company’s products being copied.

“Auto injectors are not worth much if you don’t have a medicine to put into them. It is like a car without petrol. Most of the equipment we use are designed in different parts of the world, making them difficult to copy,” he says.

50The ShL group

has about 50 per cent of the glo-bal market for auto-injectors.

Samuelsson is happy that he moved to Taiwan and established the company there: “It has never been a problem finding skilled people with experience here.”

Even though Samuelsson was not a man-ager in Sweden, he thinks he inherited a Scan-dinavian leadership style. “I believe I am quite easy to be with, even if I always demand results. But perhaps I am not pushing people too hard like managers from other countries do.”

He owns over 70 per cent of the company and is the company’s major shareholder. The remaining shares belong to key staff in Tai-wan, Europe and the US.

SHL has come a long way since a “one man show” to the 1,500 staff global organi-sation it is today. After many years of hard work, Samuelsson can finally squeeze in some

time for his leisure and passion for sea. Samuelsson’s ultimate goal is to combine business with his love for boating, by taking guests on special boating trips and giving them a unique experience.

“I really love everything that has to do with the sea and hope to share my passion with my friends and business partners,” says Samuelsson.

SHL continues to expand and develop breakthrough next-generation auto injec-tors to suit the need of customers and end-users. In addition to a new facility in Taiwan to house additional capabilities, SHL is also building a brand new facility in Florida to provide key services such as final assembly, final packaging and related logistics.

SHL also launched its newest auto injec-tor Molly in September, 2010. An extensive marketing campaign is currently taking place with a dedicated website (www.meetmolly.com), various promotional videos, and other materials to help customer understand the design concept as well as the new business model. b

Roger Samuelsson moved to Taiwan and established

his company after five years of travel

between Sweden and Taiwan.

SHL Group gets many orders for technologically advanced manufacturing.


The lawyer

hen a Hong Kong government delegation led by Chief Execu-tive Donald Tsang travelled to Moscow, Russia, for an official

visit in September, 2010, Advokatfirman Vinge’s partner in Hong Kong, Paulo Fohlin, was asked to come along to tell the Russians about Hong Kong’s emerging position as an international arbitration hub.

Mr Tsang’s visit had been planned to strengthen bilateral co-operation between Hong Kong and Russia, promoting Hong Kong’s advantages as a sourcing hub and a fund-raising platform for Russian firms, and it came on the heels of the US$2 billion Hong Kong initial public offering by Russian aluminium giant Rusal earlier this year, the first ever IPO by a European company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Core to Hong Kong’s pitch to Russia are the vast pools of capital in China and other emerging economies close to Hong Kong. In short, Hong Kong is positioning itself as an equal to London and New York as an international capital market. On the regula-tory side, part of Hong Kong’s attraction may be that there is less red tape than elsewhere. The mutual “love affair” between Hong Kong and Russia has brought direct Cathay Pacific services to Moscow and the abolishment of mutual visa requirements.

Of importance is also Hong Kong’s transparent legal system, which includes a test-ed system for international arbitration. By way of background, arbitration represents a form of private court procedure typically preferred by international businesses. Most executives prefer the speedy, confidential arbitration process to a drawn out court battle fought in the public eye, and an arbitration award is more easily

In September, Paulo Fohlin, partner at Vinge law firm in Hong Kong, was invited to join a Hong Kong government delegation to Russia to talk about international arbitration.TExT: Kristian Odebjer, [email protected]

a Swedish lawyer represents hong Kong in russia

enforced abroad than a court judgment.Fohlin says that he was honoured to

participate in a forum like this: “I was invited to participate in the Hong Kong delegation as a Hong Kong-based international arbitration practitioner.”

He goes on to note that the fact that he is Swedish probably did not hurt: “Russian companies, like Chinese ones, have a long history of opting for Sweden as their preferred arbitration venue in international cases, so it would have carried some extra weight in Rus-sia to have a Swedish lawyer promote Hong Kong as an arbitration hub.”

Fohlin had his first stint in Hong Kong in 1990 and returned in 2007 as Vinge’s first Asia-based arbitration expert. Since then he has been actively involved in the Hong Kong arbitration community as a fellow of the worldwide Chartered Institute of Arbitra-tors and a committee member of its East Asia Branch, which is headed out of Hong Kong. As a representative of the International Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong Arbitra-tion Committee, Fohlin has been engaged in the work of the Hong Kong Department of Justice in connection with the drafting of a new arbitration ordinance.

”International arbitration is performed in a similar fashion around the world. I have found

W

Paulo Fohlin talks with Wang Shunlong, managing director at Hony Capital Limited.

my experience from Sweden and elsewhere to be highly relevant to international disputes resolved in Hong Kong and Asia,” Fohlin says.

During his 22 years of experience, he has come across contractual disputes within a variety of industry sectors, as well as cases brought by private international companies against state governments.

As Hong Kong explores new opportunities on the world stage in the wake of the global financial downturn, it draws on its traditional strengths, not only as a free market with a functioning justice system, but also as a centre for professional services that thrives on the availability of top talent from many different countries. For some it might appear odd that Fohlin, born in Brazil and raised in Sweden, would represent Hong Kong in a bilateral set-ting, but in reality it is perfectly logical:

“For historical reasons, Hong Kong has always been an international melting pot, and since I first arrived I have found the atmosphere of the Hong Kong arbitration community very welcoming. I see the fact that I was invited to join the delegation as a sign of the open-mindedness of the current administration.”

So what were Fohlin’s key takeaways from Moscow?

“I enjoyed the lively debate between the Russian participants during the conference session, ´Hong Kong: Asia’s Sourcing and Business Centre´, which revealed some of their experience of Hong Kong and China-related business. The Russian interest in Hong Kong was evident, and there are also highly interesting opportunities in Russia for Hong Kong investors and entrepreneurs,” he says.

There were also interesting developments on the trade and investment front:

“Hong Kong and Russia are now con-templating a bilateral investment protection treaty. Such treaties routinely provide for the right of investors to arbitrate potential treaty claims against the host government.” In other words, a Hong Kong-based company would be able to sue the Russian government in an arbitration tribunal, and a Russian company would be able to arbitrate against the Hong Kong government. Great news indeed for an international arbitration practioner. b

Meeting with the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEx).


Dragon News.indd 1 2010-2-26 9:55:26

The ambassador

ith the appointment of Lars Fredén as new ambassador in Beijing, Sweden gets a diplomat with a thorough knowledge of

China, based on several diplomatic assign-ments in China and Hong Kong, and who also speaks the language. He came to China for the first time in 1980 to study Chinese at Shandong University.

Fredén has had a long diplomatic career that has seen him mainly posted in Asia and Eastern Europe.

“China has to feel comfortable with itself and with the world. And the world needs to be comfortable with China. Everyone has a self-interest in China succeeding,” he says.

Fredén was born in 1951 in the far north of Sweden, but grew up in the capital, Stock-holm, a city he knows well, especially since he worked there as a taxi driver in the 1970s. Fredén went through the Swedish Army Inter-preter School, known as an elite school, where he studied the Russian language.

“There, the students who did not make it were kicked out, by the week. But few of us were lazy,” says Fredén.

After completing a Bachelor of Arts in history at Brandeis University in Massachu-setts in the US, he continued with university studies in Russian and Chinese in Sweden.

Sweden’s new ambassador to China, Lars Fredén, has long experience of China, start-ing in 1980. He speaks the language and he even knows some classical Chinese. As a diplomat, he was also much engaged in the independence movements of the Baltic nations 20 years ago and has written two books on that subject. TExT: Jan Hökerberg, Bamboo, [email protected]

a Sinologist takes over

In 1980, he went to China to study Chinese at Shandong University in Jinan, followed by a year in Beijing studying classi-cal Chinese. This was shortly after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Commit-tee of Communist Party of China in 1978 had taken the decisions that launched China’s reform and opening-up policy.

“In 1980, it was quite obvious which direction China was taking, but no one could ever believe that it would go so far and as fast as it has,” Fredén says.

He was one of only seven foreign students at the university and the living conditions were very primitive in the dorm where he stayed.

“We were about 50 male students on each floor and on mine we shared seven water taps. There was no heating and in Shandong it occasionally snows in winter. Many of the stu-dents were former Red Guards who after the Cultural Revolution now were permitted to take up studying. This was the lost generation of China, made good in the nick of time,” Fredén recalls.

He remembers that many Chinese, during these years, from 1980 to 1982, were full of belief in the future and relieved that the bad years had passed. “However, many were also surprised and depressed when they realised how far behind Chinas was in all fields.”

Back in Sweden, Fredén started his career at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He was first sent out to Beirut, Lebanon, and then to Hong Kong, where he was vice consul between 1984 and 1986.

When the Wade-Giles Romanisation sys-tem of transcription of the Chinese language was replaced by the pinyin system, foreign ministries also began to change the spelling of names and cities. Fredén was an active partici-

W In 1980, it was quite

obvious which di-rection China was taking, but no one could ever believe that it would go so far and as fast as it has.”


Lars fredén has written two books about Sweden’s diplomacy and the liberalisation of the baltic nations. They are titled “förvandlingar. baltikums frigörelse och svensk diplomati 1989-1991” and “Återkomster. Svensk säkerhetspolitik och de baltiska ländernas första år i självständighet 1991-1994”. he uses his full name as author, which is Lars Peter fredén. The books were published by atlantis in 2004 and 2006 and have been translated into all languages in the baltic countries.

when Dragon News searched on the internet on Lars Peter fredén, an interesting comment came up from an editorial in the leading Swedish morning daily, Dagens Nyheter. in 2006, the newspaper’s political editor niklas ekdal wrote, after having read fredén’s books, that “never has a country’s security policy situation improved so substantially at such a very small cost. instead of the communists’ fighter-bombers and air-landing divisions as our closest neighbours, we got three republics [estonia, Latvia and Lithuania] that have freedom and peace as their highest aspirations.

”Seldom have so many had such luck with so much. without Carl bildt and Lars Peter fredén the results would have been much worse,” ekdal con-cluded.

Author of two books

pant in those discussions.“I insisted that we should continue to use the

name Peking in Swedish instead of Beijing. I also wanted Guangzhou to continue to be named Kanton in Swed-ish, even though I preferred spelling it Canton. I think it is important to save place names that have been used in our language for more than a 100 years. So Peking in Swedish, but Beijing in English for those who prefer. This is one of my pet peeves …” says Fredén.

In 1989, he was appointed Swedish consul in Riga, the capital of Latvia, which

1998The year when Lars fredén started work as no 2 at the Swedish embassy in beijing.

now he is back as no 1.

Sweden is a small country, China is a big country. Swedish com-

panies are good at what they do; they should not hesitate to get paid for it.”

at that time belonged to the Soviet Union. Fredén has an interest also in Russian culture and “authors such as [Alexander] Pushkin and

[Anton] Chekhov has actu-ally meant a lot to me,” he says.

“Sweden was the first country to appoint a dip-lomat in Latvia who was permanently living there and I was actually the first foreign diplomat in Latvia since 1940 and for quite a long time the only one. A rather

lonely job,” he says.This was at a time when the Berlin Wall

got torn down and the former republics

of the Soviet Union were on their way to regaining independence.

From 1989 to 1992, and later on when he was appointed special assistant for security policy to the then Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, Fredén was involved in the discussions between the Russians and the Estonians and Latvians on Russia’s military troop pull-out.

“Carl Bildt had, from the start, a strong vision that Sweden should actively take part in this development and create close relations between all countries around the Baltic Sea,” Fredén says.

After spending almost a decade on East-ern Europe issues, which also included a post as minister at the Swedish embassy in Moscow, Fredén returned to China in 1998 as minister at the embassy in Beijing when Kjell Anneling was ambassador and at that time highly appreciated by the Swedish industry in China.

“The development in China since then has been almost too good to be true,” says Fredén

After 2002, Fredén spent some years at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and at the European Space Agency in Paris before he was appointed Swedish ambassador to Croatia (2006-2008) and then to Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania (2008-2010).

He returned again to China in September this year and is now in the process of establish-ing himself in the ambassador’s residence at Dongzhimenwai Dajie in Sanlitun. “I had 250 boxes of stuff, and I still have 100 left to open.”

Fredén can look forward to some very interesting years as the head of Sweden’s dip-lomatic mission. On the domestic automaker Geely’s acquisition of Volvo he says: “It is one of the most high-profile acquisitions China has made. It has to succeed also as a ‘cultural marriage’ and then pave way for other similar deals. I am sure Geely and the Chinese au-thorities realise this as well as I do.”

He notes that Sweden has taken a number of initiatives in China in recent years within the environmental and corporate social responsibility fields. “It is time to consolidate and follow up all the initiatives that have been taken,” he believes.

“Sweden is a small country, China is a big country. China is very important to Sweden, but Sweden is of great importance to China, too. Swedish companies are good at what they do and should not hesitate to get paid for it.”

He has a three-year assignment with an option of one year’s extension. “I wouldn’t mind to stay until I retire, and afterwards too. After that I could spend my time reading poetry from the Tang dynasty and feel the dynamism in the air,” he says. b


Petra Ringström founded a com-pany in Shanghai that customises fashion clothes for the consumer.TExT: Philip Hafstad, [email protected]

The idea behind frances-p is that the customer

creates her own fashion.”

etra Ringström is set to change a part of the fashion industry with her newly started company, frances-p, by mak-ing customisation the primary focus for the client. Petra’s idea showcases how Swedish entrepreneurs can use a new business

model in an old industry. Here she tells Dragon News why her Shanghai-based idea will work in the fast-paced fashion industry.

Tell our readers about yourself …“My strong interest in fashion has always been a big part of my life. My family was involved in the fashion industry and it was a natural path for me. My grandmother was a tailor and my mother has been involved in fashion, and both of them owned fashion stores. This was probably where my strong interest in fashion came from.

“I first came to Shanghai to study Chinese and I happened to fall in love both with the city and in a man. I discovered the Raffles Design Institute in Shanghai – a place where I could combine my love for fashion and the country, and my recently completed bachelor degree in fashion marketing. Studying fashion in Shanghai gave me a unique insight into the produc-

Innovation in the fashion industry

P


Name: Petra ringströmAge: 27Company: frances-pLocation: Shanghai.Best about Shanghai: opportunitiesWorst about Shanghai: Culture clashes, dirty.Favourite spot in Shanghai: Xinle Lu, where i get a lot of my fashion inspiration from.

Petra Ringström in brief

2009The year when Petra ring-ström founded frances-p.

tion process, something that has helped me to establish frances-p.”

How did you come up with the idea behind frances-p?“During my studies in Shanghai, we complet-ed many projects and the company is actually based on one of these school projects. But I felt so strongly about this particular idea that I decided that it was more than just a school project. I thought this was something that actually would work in real life.”

Frances-p became a reality in late 2009 and since then Petra has spent most of her time working as a full time fashion designer and entrepreneur.

What is your business model?“The idea behind frances-p is that the cus-tomer creates her own fashion by choosing the material, colours and details from a pre-design collection by me. It is the essence of customisation for the consumer. Too often the consumer finds a piece of clothing that she likes but the colour might be wrong. With frances-p, this is not a problem. It is almost like going to a tailor but with the advantage that the piece is designed by a

Petra Ringström first came to Shanghai to study Chinese and

‘happened to fall in love both with the city and in a man’.

real fashion designer at a reasonable price. My experience in the fashion industry and China has taught me a lot about the produc-tion process and I believe that by changing the fundamentals of design and production the consumer will be very satisfied with the outcome.

“Petra’s plan is to bring her fashion showroom from Shanghai to Sweden and

offer frances-p to Swedish fashion addicts. So far, all the sales have been by word of mouth. But Petra plans to do more marketing in future.

“Starting a fashion company from scratch is not easy without capital.

I have had to do everything on my own, from fashion shots to finances. In the future I hope there will be room for more brand development.”

What will make frances-p a success on the catwalks?“The fact that the fashion consumers have a choice is revolutionary. In the past, the big fashion houses have dictated the trends and colours. With this idea the choice comes back to the consumer. This is why frances-p will work.” b


Hong Kong

n SwedCham hK was the proud host at a joint chambers’ lunch seminar with Chris-tine Loh, chief executive officer of the Civic exchange, one of hong Kong’s leading think tanks, entitled “The hong Kong environment: Time to Clean the air”.

hong Kong’s air pollution needs to be seen within the context of its neighbour-hood – the Pearl river delta. although geographically small, it is one of China’s major industrial regions with high emissions.

from a health perspective, hong Kong people’s health will improve by driving down hong Kong’s own pollution – and this is particularly true with respect to roadside pollution and shipping emissions, each of which affects a very large number of people in hong Kong.

The Civic exchange has highlighted its fair winds Charter project – a voluntary scheme for shipping lines to switch to a cleaner fuel at berth – and Loh noted the leadership of Maersk, which is the first shipping line to voluntarily switch to the cleanest available fuel when their ships berth in hong Kong.

a number of other liners are expected to sign on soon. Loh pointed out that it is rare to see a business sector taking such clear leadership but by doing so and calling upon the hong Kong government to regulate, they are already having an asia-wide impact, as Maersk’s leading role has been noted in other ports around the region.

Time to clean the air

n “what will hong Kong look like in 20 years” was the topic for a SwedCham luncheon with Paul zimmer-man, district Councillor Ceo of designing hong Kong – a non-profit organisation promoting sustainable urban planning in hong Kong.

hong Kong uniquely combines the vibrancy of a metropolis and the beauty of sub-tropical islands. The result is a city which brings together the virtues of a world city such as new York and the islands of hawaii.

however, the threat to hong Kong is a land policy based on unbridled increases in density in the exist-ing urban areas, and the failure to comprehensively apply stringent planning and development controls over the new Territories. The question in the older urban areas is whether density has already passed the limits of what makes a liveable city: sidewalks are overcrowded, roads congested, and pedestrians are increasingly forced to navigate fences, tunnels and footbridges to be able to connect between des-tinations. in the new Territories and outside the new towns, land earmarked for villages, agriculture and conservation, are scarred by open container storage, illegal development, and growing clusters of small houses without proper layout of roads and amenities.

resolving these threats requires facing up to political obstacles that are easily seen as too hard to deal with: the rights of indigenous villagers, the power of the heung Yee Kuk (a statutory advisory body representing the indigenous inhabitants of the new Territories in hong Kong), the re-development expectations of property owners and developers, the oligarchy of a few families who own the greater share of the economy, and the importance of land related revenues for government finances.

on a brighter note, dramatic changes have taken place in community aspirations and government policies with respect to development of the harbour-front, built-heritage, walled buildings, public spaces, urban renewal, and recently the enclaves of private land in country parks. with new plans for Kai Tak, west Kowloon, Victoria harbour’s waterfront, the border with Shenzhen and development areas in the new Territories shaping up under the watchful eye of an in-creasingly more vocal public, there is great hope that the ongoing transformation of hong Kong will address the shortcomings and amplify the strengths of a city that can as easily become the world’s worst city as it can the world’s best city to live, work and play in.

The transformation of Hong Kong

n More than 230 people attended this year´s Crayfish Party around the pool at the royal hong Kong Yacht Club. The creativity was impressive, and many guests participated in the competition to create the best bib.

a big thank you to Live it hong Kong and house hunters for sponsoring the competi-tion. Thanks also to the two main sponsors, asia Tigers and Scan global Logistics, for your generous support.

SwedCham HK’s Crayfish party

(From left) Lars Danielsson (consul-general of Sweden), Christine Loh, Michael Zell (vice

chairman SwedCham), Kristian Odebjer (chair-man SwedCham Environmental Committee).

Paul Zimmerman dis-cussed whether Hong Kong will be the world’s best, or worst, city to live and work in.

Pho

To: L

ina

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Beijing

n The annual Crayfish Party at the radis-son blu hotel is becoming one of the most appreciated events at the Swedish Cham-ber in beijing, with more guests every year. almost 260 guests showed up on a warm Saturday evening at the royal garden. The weather was as good as could be hoped for, with a temperature at about 30 degrees and a clear blue sky. in the evening you could actually see the stars in the black sky. Considering the royal garden is located in the heart of beijing, it was an extraordi-nary experience.

The evening started off with a warm welcome from our MC alexander Luiga, who also thanked our sponsors for their generous contributions. without you, this Crayfish Party would not be happening.

our special guests for the evening were Mark Levengood and henrik Johnsson, well

known faces from Swedish television but also best friends. during the daytime they work separately, Mark as a writer and a busy lecturer and henrik as a commercial and documentary film maker. There shared interest is music, so whenever possible, for special occasions, they work together play-ing music. in the early evening, only Swed-ish music was spinning and i can assure you this was very much appreciated. The dance floor was not empty for a minute; we kept on dancing until early morning, later to international music as well. Kenneth hagås also put on a great performance with a pot-pourri of some of the most famous songs by Swedish singer Per gessle.

we would like to extend a big thank you to our sponsors, ericsson, iCa, radisson blu, SaS, Seb and Swedbank. Thank you for your strong support.

Crayfish party!

n what really drives compelling communica-tion in a crowded market? in beijing on 3 June, the Swedish Chamber held a seminar about the challenges companies face when deliver-ing clear and effective communications to consumers in China. The guest speaker, Mauro Marescialli, is the founder and creative director of Standards group, a communications agency based in beijing specialising in brand strategy, visual identities, graphic design and advertising. during the two-hour seminar, and for a full house of marketers, branding aficionados and the curious, Marescialli explained the im-portance of analysing the different elements that make campaigns successful in China. he talked about the fundamentals of communica-tion theory and identified the crucial ingredi-ents that drive compelling communications in today’s Chinese market. he also spoke about how to utilise design and gain strategic busi-ness advantages by establishing clear commu-nication objectives and defining the role of design to support them. finally, what really engaged the attendees were his use of real communications and advertising campaign case studies released in China gathered by Marescialli during his years of experience working with both multinational and Chinese companies. here are the 11 tips to keep in mind to create effective communications in China: 1. have a great product/service. 2. have a strong brand, corporate and visual identity. 3. if you have a story to tell, tell it and make an effort to make it interesting.4. give your audience credit.5. Know your brand, market and competitors.6. be consistent.7. be different.8. be original.9. remember the importance of a strong concept.10. be careful, but don’t be scared.11. Pick the right agency.

Create effective communication

Mauro Marescialli shared his experience of communicating in China.

1. “Look alike” Mark Levengood and Bo Jönsson (Ericsson).

2. Crayfish festival.3. Mack Karlsson (Radisson Blu), Jörgen Person and

Peter Borggren.4. Mikael Larsson, table captain.5. Magnus Carning (Dell), Joachim Rosenberg

(Volvo) and Solveig Nordqvist.6. Crayfish hat winner; Kristin Jönsson, Jens Purup

(Access People) and Bo Karlsson.

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7. Representing the sponsors: Fredrik Ektander (SEB), Lars Olofsson (SAS), Tom Nygren (Erics-son), Mac Karlsson (Radisson Blu). Unfortu-nately ICA could not be there and Swedbank joined the Crayfish Party in Shanghai.

8. Kenneth Hagås, Volvo, alias Per Gessle.9. Our guest DJs Mark Levengood and Henrik

Johnsson.10. Sara Ghebremedhin, in the background Marina

Schuler.

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GIVE US A CALL:Beijing +86 10 5815 6006Shanghai +86 21 6218 9955Guangzhou +86 20 8331 6019Hong Kong +852 2521 1215Taipei +886 2 2757 6573

www.swedishtrade.se

STRATEGY Second opinion

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GROWCHINAGREATER

DragonNews_version 2.indd 3 2010-02-11 15:19:08

Shanghai

n Modern management requires good knowl-edge about corporate governance and a good feeling for corporate culture. Corporate gov-ernance is the framework regulating how the owners, the board and the managing director interact.

Meg Tivelius is one of Sweden’s most suc-cessful businesswomen and is now, among other things, the chairman of the Swedish academy for Corporate governance. Through her presentation it became clear that the “Code” as it is called in Sweden regulates how a company should be organised and how it should report its activities to its owners and to the outside world. by following the Code, the stakeholders of a company knows that the information received is accurate and that the same yardstick can be applied when compar-ing one company to another. The Code also recommends how a company should deal with social issues, economic issues and the environ-ment. This is the essence of what is generally called Corporate Social responsibility. by act-

ing in a correct and responsible way in relation to these three issues a company ensures that the negative impact of its activities are kept to a minimum.

for many employees of a company under-standing the Code often makes it clear why certain things are conducted in particular ways. for a Chinese investor who intends to invest abroad, understanding the Code of that particular country is absolutely essential to even to begin to be able to manage that investment.

after Meg Tivelius’ excellent lecture, Mats harborn, the head of Scania in China and chairman of the Swedish Chamber of Com-merce, went on to talk about the importance of a strong corporate culture and how such a culture has to be based on certain com-mon values. he named examples of Swedish companies with strong corporate cultures and how the cultures and the values directly affect the way these companies are managed and how they are able to recruit staff that

shares those values. Sweden and Swedish companies are lead-

ing the way both when it comes to corporate governance and corporate cultures. Their success in China, or in any country, lies in maintaining these cultures and sticking to the business model that has proven successful elsewhere.

The presentation of Meg Tivelius is available for members on the Swedish Chamber web-site.

n The Crayfish Party of 2010 will enter history as one of the best ever. with many new and old friends we enjoyed a delicious buffet and lots of crayfish in a fantastic venue called the nordic Light house. we had an unforgettable night and we are already looking forward to next year’s party.

Mats Harborn, Meg Tivelius and Paoling Chiu.

acting in a responsible way

annual Crayfish party

n all newcomers to Shanghai gathered in the Swedish consul-general’s residence to meet new friends in Shanghai and listen to information from different organizations such as the Consu-late general of Sweden in Shanghai, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce and the Swedish Church.

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n The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in hong Kong is participating in a pilot scheme called international export Mentor, launched by the Chambers of Commerce in Sweden and aLMi företagspartner together with Swed-ish chambers of commerce throughout the world. Chambers in five countries are actively involved in the project for 2010: france, great britain, germany, new York/USa and hong Kong/China. The programme provides active support to those companies and entrepre-neurs who wish to expand their business to one of these countries.

a mentor is a person with knowledge and experience in the business world. an adept is an entrepreneur who wishes to learn and progress by actively sharing the mentor’s knowledge and experience. a mentorship is a two-way-relationship in which both sides gain through interaction. The mentor is under-stood to be the directive force when it comes to maintaining structure during mentorship meetings or conversations. he is the listener who poses provocative questions in order to find new ideas. The adept is the mover, getting things done. Previous experience has shown that mentorship is a tried and tested method of creating an effective and successful busi-ness enterprise.

international export Mentor is an addition to the usual services provided by the Chambers of Commerce or other promotional organisa-tions that further exports, for example, the Swedish Trade Council.

The programme focuses on two target groups:

• Those companies that have not yet ex-ported abroad will be provided with a regional mentor in Sweden.

• Those companies that are already export-ing to at least one country will be given a match to a mentor in the relevant country.

as a mentor you contribute to the develop-ment of your adept and their company. You can enrich their experience, and enhance their prospects in foreign markets with your own perspectives. a mentor is a sounding board

for new ideas, listening and questioning, and providing structure.

do you want to be a mentor? if you are willing to share your knowledge and compe-tence in the business world – become a men-tor and register today! if you would like to receive further information, please contact general manager eva Karlberg at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce’s office in hong Kong, [email protected].

Cross-border mentorship programme

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Geodis Wilson – your Nordiclink and advanced partner

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Our contact in China:

Johan SivertssonRoute Development Manager, Greater China / NordicsGeodis Wilson Shanghai [email protected]

HONG KONG >>>

ZlideOn Asia Ltd1-3/f, wellpoint house28 Lok Ku roadSheung wanhong Kong Tel: +852 2127 4248Mobile: +46 707 445140fax: +852 3529 1253e-mail: [email protected] web: www.zlideon.hk

Line of businesszlideon asia Ltd. markets a new innovative product – a replacement slider for zippers.

instead of bringing your faulty zipper and your jacket, bag, trousers or tent to a repair shop, you cut away the old slider with a pair of pliers, then open the zlideon slider like a jaw and then snap it on to the zip-per. done!

The product is invented, developed and manufactured in Sweden from high quality materials. it’s patented world-wide, and is used by consumers, armed forces and manu-facturers in europe and US.

zlideon asia has exclusive rights for distributing the slider across asia through importers/distributors or direct sales.

Chamber representativeJens Leveau, Ceo, founder

HONG KONG INDIvIDUal MEMBERS >>>

Vivian van Edenfinancial Partners Ltd3709 The Center99 Queen’s roadCentralhong KongTel: +852 2927 1199e-mail: [email protected]

Ingvar FröbergYusen air & Sea Service25/f, ever gain Plaza, Tower one88 Container Port roadKwai Chung, n.T.hong KongTel: +852 6301 7416e-mail: [email protected]

Live it (Hong Kong) Limited2/f, asiarich Court5 Staunton StreetCentral, hong KongTel: +852 2522 9993Mobile: +852 9852 7656fax: +852 2537 2080e-mail: [email protected] web: www.liveit.hk

Line of businessLive it (hong Kong) Ltd offers gift experiences – innovative gifting solutions – suitable for individuals as well as corpo-rate clients. experiences range from chocolate and cham-pagne tastings, spa packages, horseback riding lessons, driving fast cars, powered parachuting, just to name a few. at Live it (hong Kong) Ltd. we gather the best experiences that hong Kong and the neighboring regions have to offer. as a customer you are able to pick and choose from many different experiences that will suit all tastes.

founded in the spring of 2010, the company is a joint ven-ture between Live it group ab and Tioba (hong Kong) Ltd. Live it group ab was founded by Jonathan Kirby and Martin Charlton in october 2005, and is today a leading company in the gift experiences industry with a 50 per cent market share in Sweden, 31 full-time employees, and more than hK$60 million in revenues.

Chamber representativesLouise westerlindJonathan KirbyMartin Charlton

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JOHNNY’S PHOTO & VIDEO SUPPLY LTD

• Photographic Equipment• Video/Audio Hi-Fi Equipment

• Home Appliances• Colour Film Processing/Enlargement

• Audio/Video Dubbing Services• Communication Equipment

• Electronic Equipment• Repairing Services

• Mail Order AcceptableShop No.65, 1/F, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, Hong Kong

Tel: 852-2877-2227 Fax: 852-2877-2120Mobile: 9051-9499 E-mail: [email protected]

Opening Hour: Mon – Sat 9:00am – 7:00pm Sunday 2:00pm – 6:00pm

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Bamboo Business Communications Ltd. (Hong Kong) +852 2838 4553Bamboo Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. +86 21 6472 9173Jan Hökerberg, managing director, [email protected] Olausson, sales and marketing manager, [email protected]

Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world – up to 60 cm or more in one day.

Bamboo is of notable economic and cultural significance in Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product.

Bamboo is also a custom publishing and editorial branding group with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. We produce a wide range of corporate publications for corporations and organisations, primarily in Chinese and English.

We call ourselves Bamboo, since we help our clients building long-term and strong relationships with their clients, employees and other stakeholders.

Our proven strengths are journalistic skill and experience, quality translations, modern design, plus efficient and committed project management.

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CHINa >>>

Bactiguard ABroom 615, CYTS Plazano.5 dongzhimen nandajie dongcheng districtbeijing fax: +86 10 5815 6255web: www.bactiguard.com

Line of businessbactiguard supplies world leading solutions preventing hospital acquired infections. bactiguard’s products help governments and hospitals reduce health care cost, reduce the use of antibiotics and the spread of multiresistance and save lives.

The bactiguard coating is an extremely thin noble metal alloy, with antimicrobial and biocompatible properties. The main product today is bactiguard coated urinary catheter which has been used on more than 100 million patients in 30 countries.

Chamber representativeJohan rugfelt, Presidente-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 139 1130 6450

Line of businessSVizza ab is an independent company, offering complete relocations of industrial equipment, service and mainte-nance. we have 15 years experience from import of second hand machines to China. based on long theoretic and practi-cal experience and wide ranging know-how, operations are carried out with efficiency and trustworthiness to meet with the customer’s demand.

Chamber representativesPeter Skansberger, Chief representativee-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 130 1082 1856håkan henricson, Managing directore-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 151 0213 8092

SVIZZA AB Beijing Rep Officeroom 340, Morn Studio no 218, Tangli roadChaoyang districtbeijing 100012Tel: +86 10 8467 5066 fax: +86 10 8467 5068web: www.svizza.com

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Line of businessPoyry is a global consulting and engineering company dedi-cated to balanced sustainability. we offer our clients inte-grated management consulting, total solutions for complex projects and efficient, best-in-class design and supervision.

our in-depth expertise extends to the fields of energy, indus-try, urban & mobility and water & environment. Poyry has 7,000 experts operating in about 50 countries locally and globally.

Chamber representativesKim Lucander, Presidente-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 139 0183 0904Song weili, Marketing & Communicationse-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 153 2417 8295

Poyry (Beijing) Consulting Co, Ltd, Shanghai Branchroom 2208-2210, Cloud nine Plazano 1118, west of Yan’an road Chang ning districtShanghai 200052Tel: +86 21 6115 9660fax: +86 21 6115 9670web: www.poyry.com

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Poyry (Beijing) Consulting Co, Ltdroom 801-802, Tower 1, Prosper Centerno 5, guanghua road, Chaoyang district beijing Tel: +86 10 8587 5005fax: +86 10 6410 6548Contact: Jessie Chen, executive assistant e-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 139 1075 5662

Poyry Shandong Engineering Consulting Co, Ltdno. 3, heping road, Xi Xia districtJinan, Shandong Province 250014Tel: +86 531 8851 6690, ext 8923fax: +86 531 8851 6771Contact: wendy Yuan, executive assistant e-mail: [email protected]

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Bengt Callinggårdfloral Villas h418 Tso wo roadSai Kung n.T.hong KongTel: +852 9856 0950e-mail: [email protected]


David Leff-HallsteinShanghai SiP engineering Consulting Ltd 13/f, block e, golden hong Qiao Com-mercial Plaza 686, wu zhong rd (at hong Xu road), Shanghai 201103Tel: +86 21 6465 0978-8307fax: +86 21 6465 0977Mobile: +86 136 2168 5674e-mail: [email protected]

CHINa aSSOCIaTE MEMBERS >>>

Global Trade Advisers Europe ABbox 24224Se 10451, StockholmSwedenweb site: www.gltr.eu

Line of businessConsultancy specialised on supply chain and regulative issues. we support our clients on issues like export regulations (export taxes), import regulations (trade measures, country of origin) as well as product issues (reaCh, labelling). furthermore, we support our clients in setting up efficient customs structures (buying agent) which will enable them to lower duty costs.

Chamber representativePaul Verrips, Managing directore-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 156 1106 5360

Billerud Trading (Shanghai) Co, LtdUnit 4109, hong Kong new world Towerno 300 huaihai Middle roadShanghai 200021Tel: +86 21 5351 0622fax: +86 21 5351 5508web: www.billerud.com

Line of businessPaper and pulp, and packaging.

Chamber representativedaniel eriksson, Managing directore-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 159 0089 138, +46 70 54 34 092

Line of businessPernod ricard is the world’s co-leader in wines and spirits and the world’s no 1 in the premium and super-premium segments. Pernod ricard owns one of the industry’s most prestigious brand portfolios which include: absolut Vodka, ricard pastis, ballantine’s, Chivas regal and The glenlivet whiskies, Jameson irish whisky, Martell cognac, havana Club rum, beefeater gin, Kahlúa and Malibu liqueurs, Mumm and Perrier-Jouët cham-pagnes, as well as Jacob’s Creek and Montana wines.

in addition, Pernod ricard is strongly committed to a sustainable development policy and encourages responsible consumption in order to prevent alcohol abuse.

Chamber representativesCyril Sayag, Vice President Legal and Public affairse-mail: [email protected] de La bastide, Public affairs - assistant Managere-mail: [email protected] Mobile: +86 136 4108 4759

Pernod Ricard (China) Trading Co, LtdUnits 01 & 06, 29/f, Tower 3, China Central Place, no77 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang district, beijing 100025 Tel: +86 10 6598 9530fax: +86 10 6598 9827 web: www.pernod-ricard.com

Shanghai officeSuite 2001, 20/f, one Corporate avenue 222, hubin road, Shanghai 200021 Tel: +86 21 2301 1000fax: +86 21 2301 1111Contact person: Con Constandis

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What if there were logistics partnersindependent of heavy, costly overheadstructures? What if these partnersproved to be more efficient than any ofthe global network giants? What if theywere fine-tuned to Air and Oceanshipments between Scandinavia andChina? What if they were as dedicatedand committed to the success of yourbusiness as you are?And, what if you …

…would find this tobe perfectly true?

To see how we can help you please visit our website www.pcs.com.hk orwrite to John Barclay at [email protected]

New website up and runningn The first stage of the implementation is all systems go, and the website is up and running. The second stage will be to get the newsletter in place, and put our first advertisers on the website, as well as to develop a new, user-friendly member area, exclusively for our members. Most of stage two will hopefully be completed shortly after the october holidays and in time for distribution of this issue of Dragon News.

but you can already find a lot of useful information on the website, such as Com-ing and Past events, Young Professional events, hot news, Membership informa-tion, and you can read all the content of Dragon News directly on the Swedish Chamber website. Just click on Dragon News and choose “read Dragon News” and you have every issue from 2008 to the present for your reading pleasure.

So get started and log on to www.swedishchamber.com.cn, to sign up for the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Newsletter if you have not already done so.

Just register as an online user.

You will receive our weekly newsletter.

www.swedishchamber.com.cn

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in ChinaSmall Country, Large Brands

What can you get from our web site?

• Coming Events

• Past Events

• Young Professionals Events

• Hot News

• Dragon News

• Membership


For more than 25 years, Vinge has assisted its clients with their business activities and investments in China and also Chinese clients with their investments in the Nordic countries.

Vinge’s long local presence and experience and familiarity with local conditions, enable our China Practice Group to provide invaluable assistance to its clients as legal advisers as well as on all practical aspects of doing business in China.

Vinge is one of the leading law firms in the Nordic region, offering a full range of commercial legal services. We can show you the way to create a successful business!

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The secret of success

a F T E R H O U RS

n Dining

Mosto gets a “sibling”: ModoRight in time for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, restaurant Mosto opened its gates in the heart of Sanlitun in Beijing. The restaurant is owned by the Colombian-Swedish couple, Alex Molina and Eva Mo-lina Biörck, and the Venezuelan chef Daniel Urdaneta.

In September this year, Mosto got a “sibling” in Modo, located in the Sanlitun Village and with the same owners as Mosto. Modo has no starters, no mains, no sides, but a wide selection of small plates, like “tapas” – order your special favourites and share them with your friends. Wine also takes a centre stage at Modo, with over 80 labels on its menu and introducing the first self-serving Enomatic Wine dispensing machines to Beijing, a new way of tasting and preserving wines by the glass.MostoPhone: +86 10 5208 6030Opening hours: Sunday-Saturday 12:00-15:00 and 18:00-22:30Address: Nali Huayuan, 3/F, 81 Sanlitun Beilu, D308 Chaoyang District, BeijingModoPhone: +86 10 6415 7207Opening hours: Sunday-Saturday 12:00-15:00 and 18:00-22:30Address: 3/F, Sanlitun Village South (close to Ele-ment Fresh), Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing

n Books

The birthplace of innovationDid you realise that ancient China was the origin of a wide range of inventions and scientific dis-coveries, ranging from book printing and topo-graphic map making to the seismograph and the harmonica? We know this today thanks to an extraordinarily eccentric Cambridge scholar who apart from his unrivalled studies of China’s scientific history was also a nudist and a con-noisseur of bizarre English folk dances (which he would on occasion perform for awed Chinese professors).

In the 1930s, Joseph Needham, who at the time was already a world authority within bio-chemistry, was bitten by the “China bug”. He went on to dedicate the remaining six decades of his life towards the meticulous study of China’s amazingly rich heritage of scientific exploration. Needham’s work was catalogued in “Science and Civilisation in China”, a series of books, which had reached 18 volumes when he passed away in 1995, although new volumes are still being published by Needham’s collabo-rators.

Simon Winchester’s The Man who Loved China is an insightful and hugely entertaining account of this remarkable man, who may be most famous for a question that has yet to be convincingly an-swered: “Why did the industrial revolution occur in the West after China had been a leader in science and technology for so long?”

Eat Right in Hong KongThe restaurant Eat Right in Hong Kong specialises in healthy organic food and is run by a Swede, Martin Lorentsson, who has lived in Hong Kong for eight years.

His first job in Hong Kong was as an aerobics instructor, so it was crucial to ensure he was eat-ing right. He did not find that many restaurants to choose from so he decided to start his own.

Located in Soho on Hong Kong Island, Eat Right offers breakfast, fresh juices and smoothies, lunch and dinner as well as tapas with a healthy twist.Phone: +852 2868 4832Opening hours: Monday-Friday 7:00-23:00, week-ends 8:30-23:00Address: 23 Staunton Street, Soho, Central, Hong Kong

Simon Winchester’s book has been translated to Swedish and published by Ordfront.


*Further information about the study can be obtained at www.myprivatebanking.com/category/researchNordea Bank S.A is a part of the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions. Being the leading Nordic pan-European banking entity in Luxembourg and Switzerland, Nordea Bank S.A. focuses on interna-tional Wealth Management, Fund Distribution and Fund Management services. Our 360 employees serve a wide spectrum of international clients in more than 125 countries. Some products and services mentioned may, due to local

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Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

DIRECTORS OF THE BOARDMats Harborn, Chairman [Scania]Mats Johansson, Vice Chairman [Gunnebo]Christine Engdahl, Treasurer [Sweden Expo entity] Yvonne Chen [Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China] Paoling Chiu [Lotus Travel]Birgitta Ed [Springtime]Fredrik Ektander [SEB]Kristina Lang Falck [ IKEA] Johan Menckel [Sapa]Tom Nygren [Ericsson]Marianne Ramel [Gide]Tomas Sörensson [B&N Tools]

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

DIRECTORS OF THE BOARDStefan Rönnquist, Chairman [The Tomorrow Group]Hans Jarne, Vice Chairman [Ericsson]Michael Zell, Vice Chairman [Handelsbanken]Gunnar Mansfeld, Tresurer [Ocean Trawlers]Eva Henriksson [Henriksson Consulting]Staffan Löfgren [ScanAsia Consulting]Kristian Odebjer [Advokatfirman Odebjer]Ulf Ohrling [Mannheimer Swartling]

T H E C H a M B E R a N D I

Kristofer Heimby of PSU likes the relaxed atmosphere and the wide range of topics at the chamber’s breakfast meetings.

ristofer Heimby is a deputy manager, Security Man-agement and Investigation, at PSU (China) Consulting. He lives in Beijing and came to China some two and a half years ago.

When did your company become a member?“We became members pretty much directly when we arrived in China in 2006.”

Why did you become a member?“The purpose was simple; we wanted to network with other Swedish and Scandinavian related businesses and to exchange experiences.”

What has the membership meant to your company?“It has been an important channel for us to the Swedish commu-nity here in China. Through the chamber we have found interesting projects and also important business contacts.”

Do you and your fellow co-workers attend the meetings at the Swedish Chamber? “We all try to attend as much as possible, but since we travel fre-quently it is not always that easy. I think that I joined my first event during my first month here in China, which is now over two and a half years ago. Since then I have been trying to go at least once every month whenever there are chamber activities.”

What kind of activities do you enjoy the most?“From a business perspective, it’s definitely the breakfast meetings. They don’t take too much time out of the working day, which is an important practical factor. When you are away from the office a half or full day, the workload tends to builds up quickly. But I also prefer them since the events have a relaxed atmosphere and feature a wide range of topics. Besides, they also have really good breakfasts!

“From a personal perspective, it’s the traditional parties. It is really nice to have a touch of Swedish tradition when you are away.”

What kind of activities would you like the chamber to ar-range in the future?“I think one of the characteristics of a chamber is the collective experience of its members. Sharing that experience benefits all parties involved and I would like to continue to see these experience-sharing events and discussions, which have started to become more and more frequent during the past year. China is a tricky market, especially for newcomers but it also continues to be a tough challenge for the most experienced.

“There is always the talk of guanxi and the power of networks in China and there is a good reason for it. It matters in a more prominent way here than it does in Sweden and I don’t think that can be emphasised enough. China is still developing, and that brings huge business potential but also creates obstacles that can be hard to understand and therefore to handle. I think that the chamber is doing a great job creating a forum for such networks but it is up to us members in the end to reach out and start building them.” b

he wants more experience-sharing events

K


Kristofer Heimby tries to participate

in the chamber’s activities at least

once a month.

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Dragon News 2010 No 3