Ericsson

"We had support and funding from all the Nordic governments, and were given an office in the Finnish consulate on Madison Avenue. They regarded our festival as just the sort of initiative they had been looking for to promote Scandinavia abroad. We took on a couple of staff and somehow our plans, which had started out quite modest, just grew and grew. Soon, we also had sponsorship from some of Scandinavia’s biggest companies — Ericsson, Saab, Ikea, Carlsberg, Absolut Vodka. We were never afraid or too embarrassed to ask for money. In New York we sent out flyers to all the literary associations and put up posters in universities, libraries, theatres. We called up writers, who introduced us to other writers, and soon we found that we had infiltrated New York’s literary set. We became the talk of the town, the crazy Swedes that everyone wanted to hang out with. Even Esquire wrote a piece on us. ‘All this wasn’t particularly difficult to pull together,’ I was quoted as saying. “Everyone was so friendly. Americans have so many friends — friends, very good friends, best friends.’ The tone of the article was one of amused astonishment that a poetry festival should have taken New York:by storm."

"I knew nothing about Jan Stenbeck’s extensive mobile phone business in the third world, a knowledge gap I shared with most Swedish journalists at the time. The financial journalists who should have had good chances to know about them, chose not to attach great emphasis to them - which only shows that when it came to Stenbeck, ordinary values did not apply. (Imagine if Ericsson or any company from the Wallenberg sphere had started and run mobile phone companies in twenty developing countries, including Vietnam and Cambodia, during the nineties. I believe we would have read many reports about it.)"

"The founder is in his 70s, and the eldest daughter, Sofia Schörling Högberg, has not yet turned forty. The process has been ongoing for a few years, but it was brought to the forefront in October 2016 when Melker Schörling unexpectedly announced he would be ending all his assignments as chairman in conjunction with the general meetings. He has been affected by gradually deteriorating health. Carl-Henric Svanberg was elected in May 2017 as a new board member of MSAB. Schörling and Svanberg have been colleagues and friends for a long time. Svanberg has previously served on the MSAB board and is also a shareholder in the investment company. Svanberg has extensive experience in Swedish industry, including as CEO of Assa Abloy and Ericsson, and as chairman of BP and AB Volvo. Mikael Ekdahl has been appointed chairman of Melker Schörling AB after many years as vice chairman. It cannot be easy to take over after a masterful investor who is called a magician in terms of creating growth and value. Melker Schörling remains on the board as a member."

"In addition to his extensive experience as a public company CEO, he had relevant experience from different industries from Ericsson (1971–88), Zeteco (1988–2000) and Elektronikgruppen (2001–04). Elektronikgruppen was a listed acquisition-driven compounder focused on the electronics industry, and Zeteco was a supplier of niche products to the transport industry."

"The dotcom crisis reshaped tech manufacturing for years to come. In the prior decade, leading contract manufacturers had begun to purchase factories from major brands including IBM, Texas Instruments, Ericsson, Siemens, and Lucent. The deals were often seen as a win-win, with the big brands saving on costs. Negative media headlines could be avoided, since factories were not being shuttered so much as being put under new management. When Apple sold its Fountain, Colorado, factory in 1996, most of its 1,100 employees simply got a new uniform. But the result was a huge transfer in practical knowledge from the computer brands to the contract manufacturers."

"Historically, engineers have held the power in Swedish industrial companies, focusing on product development and staying at the forefront technologically. That’s how companies like Ericsson, SKF, and Alfa Laval conquered the world. When financial markets became more international in the 1980s and 1990s, demands on listed companies’ profitability increased, and the status of economists was gradually strengthened. The spotlight shifted instead to sales, marketing, and how best to utilize company capital. It was in this environment that the Swedish venture capital market emerged, with role models such as Permira in the UK and KKR and Blackstone in the USA."

"It would have been an almost immeasurable loss for Swedish society if Ericsson had been allowed to collapse or been sold abroad. Then the headquarters would have moved, and many jobs among subcontractors would have been lost. This is where endurance comes in. A long-term owner cannot always maximize profit."

"I made my first stock transaction in high school with a purchase of ten Ericsson shares, which went brilliantly. So did a stock in Providentia, where my uncle Ibo was the CEO. However, five shares in Wifsta shipyard were an early slap on the wrist. After graduating, the interest in stocks became a real passion, and I exhausted many peers with my eagerness to talk about stocks."

"There are many meetings now. Stefan Persson has taken the time to commute between several boardrooms outside of H&M for a couple of years. He cannot say no when the Wallenberg family calls and gives him a seat on the board of the appliance company Electrolux, where Jacob Wallenberg, among others, sits. Wallenberg has been a leading industrial family for a long time, and there is a lot to learn from that experience. The family controls a dozen Swedish large corporations the size of H&M, such as Ericsson, Electrolux, and Saab, but without serving as CEOs. Typically, they govern as board members instead."