Swedes doing business
Organizational know-how
Small distances
Respect of authority
Bypassing heirarchy
Aiming Ahead
Punctuality
Business before friendship
Leisurely Swedes
Swedes and technology
Dependence on trade

Swedes doing business
Swedish Managers are practical and technically capable but not very imaginative. Philosophy and abstract thinking baffle them. They have no humor and take everything you say literally. They often spend more time telling you what's wrong with their products than what's good about them.
Managers shun conflicts and put off decisions until they reach consensus (in a manner that appears wishy-washy even to the Japanese). Organizations are flat with responsibility delegated way down. It's never clear who's in charge of what and why.
Swedes dress in sports shirts, slacks and sandals for business meetings.
Being neurotic about punctuality, they begin and end meetings exactly when scheduled. They go straight to the point, without preliminaries. Their answers are short and they remain silent if they have nothing to say.

Organizational know-how
A Swedish manager thinks of himself more as a coach than a commander. Swedes delegate responsibility and authority throughout the organization. In workplaces of all kinds, people are expected to take initiatives for improving the job and assume responsibility for solving unexpected problems. They want people at all levels to participate in decisions that affect them.

Small distances
Swedes abroad usually find it difficult to understand the large distances between people that exist in certain countries: the great respect shown to authority figures, the love of ceremonials, the sensibility to upward criticism, the importance of pride. Why can't high-status people take off their jackets and roll up their sleeves? Why can't low-status people discuss things with their bosses? Why is there a division between high- and low-status people in the first place?
Swedes are automatically on a first-name basis with one another, regardless of sex, age, social position or job title. Managers seldom surround themselves with status symbols. Employees of Swedish companies are never afraid of their bosses and normally don't feel inferior to them.

Respect of authority
Nevertheless, Swedish employees usually have much respect for their managers. It stems from qualities such as competence, capacity for hard work, informality, fairness and wisdom. In Sweden, a formal position is not enough to get the job done. Employees must have confidence in the individual and accept his or her leadership.

Bypassing hierarchy
Swedes feel that informal contacts and direct communication bypassing management levels and departmental boundaries are necessary for a company to run smoothly. As far as executives from most other countries are concerned, Swedes violate the corporate chain of command. But Swedes don't see exchange of information as having anything to do with the chain of command (an expression they are unfamiliar with anyway). The thought that a manager might feel threatened when an employee goes over his head (another unfamiliar expression) would never occur to a Swede.

Aiming ahead
Swedes are planners. They like agendas and itineraries. Swedes are radical in their preference for management by goal rather than rule. They seldom hesitate to set aside established procedures, regulations and bureaucracy that make it difficult to reach goals.

Punctuality
Swedes regard punctuality as something of a noble quality, as proof of rationality and efficiency. An individual who can't be on time has dismal prospects of advancement. If you are very late for an appointment, a Swede may take it as a serious insult. Swedes often have great difficulty working with people having a different notion of time.

Business before friendship
Most Swedes draw a strict line between working life and private life. You are not expected to reveal anything about yourself as an individual. You stick to the point. This attitude can be a severe handicap for Swedes doing business with people from other cultures. Personal relationships are less important here than perhaps anywhere else in the world. This also means no old boys network.

Leisurely Swedes
Swedes have at least five weeks paid vacation each year. Many companies still close down for the month of July, causing serious problems for their foreign business partners.

Swedes and technology
Swedes use more computer capacity, more modems and more telephones than most others. There are 89 telephones for every 100 people ( Germany and the US share the second place, each with 65). In addition, most of the population owns a mobile telephone.

Dependence on trade
The internationally competitive Swedish industries form five large competence clusters that together account for about 60% of Swedish exports. They are, in descending order of importance:
Transportation: cars, trucks, buses, locomotives, ships, aircraft, along with engines and products for materials handling.
Forest related industries: timber, pulp and paper, papermaking machinery, equipment and chemicals. Also pre-fabricated housing, flooring and furniture.
Steel and fabricated metal products: also including iron ore, mining equipment, furnaces, rolling mills, machinery and tools for metalworking.
Health-related products: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical equipment and supplies.
Telecommunications: systems, equipment and software for telephone and data communications.
Many Swedish companies specialize in short and flexible production runs, often on a direct customer-order basis with high service content. Niche products rather than mass manufactured goods are the focus of Swedish industry. Few Swedish companies are internationally competitive in consumer products.