Hilding Borstam

"“It was unfortunate that I mentioned Lomma to Hans Rausing because he panicked and now he is running around here or calling and tormenting me several times a day. It’s almost like I can feel my old ulcer,” complained Hilding Borstam who didn’t quite understand Hans’ hysterical reaction. In the confused situation that prevailed, Hans came to the conclusion that the company had to launch a massive advertising campaign specifically targeting the households in Lomma. It was the only way to avoid a stinging defeat, he argued. He nagged intensely at Holger and Erik Torudd. The two of them, with the right of age and experience, had much more ice in their stomach, however, and managed to slow him down. At Erik Torudd’s initiative, they instead began to work the market “from the back.” By filling the newspapers with positive letters to the editor and persuading the journalists to do interviews with the city veterinarian of Lund about the hygienic advantages of tetrapacks, they would win the households over to their side. The tactic was that it would be better to knock out bulk cream with clean weapons rather than trying to manipulate consumers through an advertising campaign, which would likely be seen through. If the tactic of getting the press on their side succeeded, it would all look much more elegant and could be used in later marketing. A few weeks later, it became clear: the tetrapack was on its way to eliminating bulk sales. Tetra Pak had managed to turn the opinion and the company management could breathe easily. This time."

"In the work with this book, we have not found any signs that Tetra Pak previously used bribes. Rather, the group, as in the case with the launch in India and the Gandhi family, has actively chosen the path of not paying bribes. An exception was, however, during Ruben’s frustration over Lund Dairy’s resistance to adopting the first half-liter tetra pack for milk in 1954. In his desperation, Ruben suggested that they should bribe the managing director Hilding Borstam to adopt the system, but both Hans Rausing and Erik Torudd dissuaded Ruben and made him reconsider."

"When Hilding Borstam realized that Tetra Pak was also negotiating with the Stockholm Milk Central, he contacted its CEO, Gösta Winberg, and arranged a meeting. At the meeting, they decided to pursue a joint negotiation line against Tetra Pak, which demanded a paper price of 32 kronor per 1,000 half-liter packages. Gösta Winberg was positively inclined towards Tetra Pak, but he could not accept such a price. Shortly after World War II, Winberg had been in the USA and seen the American paper packaging and became enthusiastic. However, since he had never clarified the size of Milk Central to the American packaging manufacturers, they largely ignored him. He didn’t even receive replies to his quote requests. So when Tetra Pak appeared on the scene, he realized that the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally come. He was willing to pay 25 kronor – no more. Hilding Borstam agreed with him. For nearly half a year, the companies negotiated without taking any decisive step. In May, Ruben got tired and wanted to travel to Stockholm himself to handle the negotiations. He was convinced that he could push through a price of 29 kronor. But the day before departure, he started to get nervous, although he did not admit it."

"The two dairies that Tetra Pak tried to convince to package milk in tetra, Mjölkcentralen and Lundaorten, demanded that the company lower the price, otherwise they were not prepared to sign any contract. The price was so low that the entire profit margin disappeared. Negotiations soon reached a deadlock, which could be devastating for Tetra Pak. The company’s weak finances meant that it was necessary to get the milk machines on the market. When Hilding Borstam began to argue that the tetra packaging would result in decreased revenues for the dairy, Ruben became irritated. He did not present his most important argument, that the dairies could save significant amounts just by utilizing the trucks’ space to 87 percent with tetra packaging instead of just 42 percent with glass bottles. It seemed so obvious to him that he believed Borstam would understand it himself. Therefore, no one informed Hilding Borstam that the lost revenue on glass bottles would be replaced by extensive rationalizations that would ultimately give the dairies a much larger surplus. Instead, Ruben gave him a pompous lecture about the sweep of history."