SwedCham in China 25 years!!

All of us have been new to a country and or to a business community. In this context a Chamber of Commerce plays a very important role as a platform to socialize, network, exchange experiences and gain new knowledge. A Chamber reduces the time it takes to melt into a new environment.?

China is a particularly complex market and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce has provided a safe haven for both newcomers and more seasoned members. And this is true both for foreigners working in China, and equally much so for Chinese employees of Swedish companies. The Chamber has contributed to a deep mutual understanding and it has helped explain the uniqueness of Swedish companies - what makes Swedish brands stand out in China.

25 years ago Rolf Gren of Electrolux and the then young entrepreneur Johan Bj?rkstén decided to set up the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China. It was one of the earlier foreign Chambers in China. Before the establishment of the Chamber the Nordic business socialized together in the Nordic Club, which was founded in 1993 and the Swedish business leaders met to exchange experiences in the so called China Resource Group, an initiative by Johan Bj?rkstén. Both these important functions now merged into the activities of the Swedish Chamber.

From the experience of other Swedish Chambers around the world we knew that a clear division of labor was essential to avoid overlaps between the Chamber, Business Sweden, The diplomatic missions and other similar institutions. I myself, was at the time head of Business Sweden in China and together with Rolf Gren the cooperation with the other actors was institutionalized in the Bi-Laws of the Swedish Chamber and from day one the whole Team Sweden constellation has been working extremely well together, which other Swedish communities around the world have taken notice of. ?

In her speech at the 25 year anniversary of the Chamber Ambassador Helena S?ngeland praised the excellent Team Sweden cooperation.

Rolf Gren was the first chairman and Johan Bj?rkstén the first GM. The first board also consisted of China veteran Tommy Liu and Leif Engstr?m of Volvo Cars, who designed the first logo of the Chamber. Soon the Swedish speaking Yvonne Chen was employed and she stayed 15 years with the Chamber, whereof ten as its GM.

The second chairman was Anders H?gglund of Sandvik. Under his leadership the Shanghai chapter was established under the umbrella of one Swedish Chamber in China. Many other foreign Chambers have independent organizations around China. To be organized as one Chamber has been one of the strengths of the Swedish Chamber in China.

During Anders’ tenure the Swedish chamber started making Business Confidence Surveys together with Business Sweden, a concept soon picked up by other Chambers. Having continuously made such surveys for so many years, provides a unique set of data that show long term development trends.

I had the honor to serve as chairman for eight years between 2005-2013. With the strong tradition of association life in Sweden, which is the very foundation of democracy, the Chamber established a proper election committee. During this period there was a lot of focus on disseminating what is Swedish management. The Chamber Honorary Award was instituted and a long lasting Anders Wall Scholarship was set up.

In 2000 the powerful European Chamber of Commerce was established in China as to be the unified voice to advocate for the interest of European companies in China. The European Commissioner for Trade, Pascal Lamy, later head of WTO, also wanted the EUCCC to monitor China’s promise to live up to its commitments after entering into the WTO in 2001.?

In order not to create conflicts between the European chamber and the many national chambers that has sprung up in the 90s it was first decided that to be member of the EUCCC a company first had to be member of a EU national chamber, if one existed.

A few years later this ”protection” was taken away, which lead to some worry among national chambers. The Swedish chamber embraced this challenge as it would help further define the unique role of the Swedish chamber: what are the services that a national chamber can provide its members that the EU Chamber cannot and vice versa?

With that member-centric view the Swedish chamber has always been one of the most active national chamber in China.

To maintain such high vibrance and activity levels have only been possible thanks to the professional and dedicated staff of the Chamber. Many have been accompanying spouses such as Camilla Ekengren, Karin Roos, Anette Smedberg, Johanna Pollnow and Marianne Vesterback. Among the local staff Jaycee Yang has been with the chamber for over 16 years! There are many more staff that need to be recognized and will be done so in a next edition of the Chamber history.

The success of the Chamber is the combination of dedicated paid staff and voluntary efforts by company representatives that take time from their busy schedules to make a contribution to the greater good of the Swedish business community in China. A great number of prominent company leader at various levels and from different nationalities have put in countless hours in the local chapters and in work committees.

Thanks to memberships, sponsors and event fees the Chamber has maintained a very stable economy, which provides a solid base to stand on when times gets tough. It is a Chamber that can be trusted by its members.?

Katarina Nilsson of Vinge was the fourth chairman and under her leadership the Chamber was reorganized and a dedicated GM, Irena Busic was recruited who should be the strong face of the Chamber. Previously it has been the Chairman and the board members who took a public role, now more of that responsibility fell on the GM.

Lars-?ke Severin of PSU, the fifth chairman continued that work and the young Belgian Martin Vercouter who speaks flawless Swedish, became GM and further modernized the Chamber, which among other things, brought it more into the global SwedCham context, which also included a name change and the use of the SwedCham logo.

After Martin, Daniela Ling-Vannerus Cassmer was appointed GM. The Chamber continued its successful growth story and is now present in more geographies around the vast continent of China.

Today Ludvig Nilsson of Jade Invest, is chairman of SwedCham China, and in his speech at the 25th anniversary gala, he reflected about the recent past and the future role of the Chamber. The pandemic years meant that members needed the Chamber community more than ever and many events moved online, which helped reshape the Chamber to be ready for the post-pandemic future. The Chamber will continue to re-invent itself to stay relevant when China and the world are changing fast.

Beijing 2023-05-20

Mats Harborn

(This is a brief, and not complete summary of the first 25 years of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China. I apologize for mistakes or omissions and ask readers to add information and corrections so that we jointly can write the history of this important institution in the Sino-Swedish business relations.)