Chinese Views on Swedish Management

Pär Isaksson

The Swedish management style, with its emphasis on trust, teams, empowerment and decentralization, has sometimes been regarded as a competitive advantage for Swedish companies, not least when it comes to promoting creativity and innovation. But do the main characteristics of Swedish management constitute the vital leadership qualities needed in a global knowledge-economy?

This report focuses on one aspect of this issue; Swedish management style from the view of Chinese managers. It is based on case stories illustrating some of the main characteristics of Swedish management written by a selected number of Swedish and Chinese managers and on notes from a workshop where the different cases were discussed. Although limited in scope and empirical data, the report can contribute to the discussion of how Swedish management can be adapted to a changing global business environment. The aim is also to generate ideas for future research on “managing the Swedish way”.

The report is jointly produced by VINNOVA and The Swedish Institute.