Gothenburg in Asia, Asia in Gothenburg

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro has a doctoral degree in general linguistics from the University of Gothenburg. She is currently Principal Investigator and Project Manager in Sweden’s Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) Flexit 2015/18 programme. She has worked as a Research Scientist at the User Experience and Industrial Design Group at ABB AB Corporate Research in Västerås, Sweden and is currently a faculty member at the Centre for International Business Studies (CIBS), School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

Author webpage is at www.cherylmariecordeiro.com

Copyright © 2018 Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted,

reproduced or utilised in any form or in any manner

without the express written permission of the author.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to the core network of individuals, the distinguished respondents to this study from both the public and private sectors of Sweden and China, who have helped made this book possible.

To Claes G. Alvstam, Professor Emeritus in international economic geography and acting director of the Centre for International Business Studies (CIBS) at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, my gratitude for the hours of mentorship and academic feedback.

To Jan-Erik Nilsson, co-founder of the Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg III ship project and founder of Gotheborg.com, my gratitude for the interesting journey of the exchange of ideas, mentorship and life’s inspiration.

Thank you.

CONTENTS

GOTHENBURG IN ASIA, ASIA IN GOTHENBURG

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Sharing Swedish Values in Asia

1.2 Industry 4.0: Complex Systems

1.3 Asymmetries

1.4 Mapping Perspectives, Knowledge Types and Methodologies

1.5 Organization of Chapters

FIRST WAVES OF TRADE: EXOTIC GOODS AND A LIFESTYLE OF LUXURY

2.1 1980s in China: The Concept of the Way of Negotiation

2.2 1600s in China: The Concept of the Way of Negotiation

2.3 1600s: State-of-Art, China

2.4 1600s: Sweden Meets China

2.5 1700s: More than Chinoiserie in Sweden

2.6 1700s: Sweden and China: Multi-levelled Contacts

SWEDEN CHINA: A DIFFERENT DISCOURSE

3.1 Discourse: Creating World Reality

3.2 1700s Swedish Perspective on China

3.3 Navigating with Mutual Respect

3.4 Sweden’s Stance on the Opium Trade

3.5 The Rise, Fall and Rise of 1920s Swing Shanghai

3.6 Shanghai 2015

THE SWEDISH EAST INDIA COMPANY SOIC AB: FACETS OF THE GÖTHEBORG III SHIP PROJECT

4.1 Gothenburg-Shanghai Sister Cities

4.2 The Swedish East India Company: The Call of the Götheborg Ship

4.3 The Swedish East India Company: The Götheborg III Ship Project

4.4 Further Correlations of Interest between Sweden and China, Gothenburg and Shanghai

4.5 Sweden-China Cooperative Agreements

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: THE CURRENT TRADE WAVE BETWEEN SWEDEN AND CHINA

5.1 Technology Knowledge Sharing

5.2 Organizational Management Knowledge Sharing

5.3 China-Euro Vehicle Technology (CEVT) R&D Centre in Gothenburg

5.4 Made by Sweden Knowledge Sharing

CULTURE AS KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: CHINESE CUISINE IN SWEDEN

6.1 Voyage of Chinese Cuisine to Sweden

6.2 Challenges of Growing up Chinese in Sweden

6.3 Food as Culture Exchange and Tourism

BEYOND 2021: SWEDEN-CHINA COLLABORATIONS

7.1 Education Exchange between Sweden-China: the case of Gothenburg

7.2 Developing a Common Perennial Life Philosophy

7.3 Sustainable Development as an Integrated Systems Knowledge

7.4 Systems Knowledge in Sweden: Renhållningsverket in Gothenburg 1885

7.5 Systems Knowledge and Endogenous Global Ethics

CONCLUSION: A SYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE APPROACH TO GOTHENBURG-ASIA RELATIONS

APPENDIX LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Sweden-China City Level Cooperation

Table 2. Sweden-China Province Level Cooperation

Table 3. Sweden-China General Agreements

Table 4. Sweden-China Cooperation Agreements 2015: Combined

Table 5. Sweden-China Cooperation Agreements 2015: Combined Broad Categories

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Individual-Collective elementary perspectives of the pronouns, I, You/We and It/Its

Figure 2. Eight Major Methodologies, and corresponding knowledge types obtained from various elementary perspectives

Figure 3. Illustration of Metatron’s Cube with the network of Interconnections at various facets of the cube, and spheres of influence of the Götheborg III Ship project

Figure 4. Sweden-China Spheres of Influence (x-axis) and Combined Areas of Cooperation (y-axis). 

Figure 5. Sweden-China combined areas of cooperation and knowledge type exchange.

INTRODUCTION

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The interior design to the office was light and airy with a distinct feature of an open floor plan. The Managing Director (MD), Marit, who was Swedish, sat in a modest sized room where besides designated appointment slots for private meetings, had her door always open. She wanted an open door policy at the Singapore subsidiary of the Swedish company of which she was MD, because she felt it important to remain accessible for help or the answering of questions for her colleagues. I sat across Marit, asking questions about her experiences with working in Asia, and listening to her responses. The Singapore headquarters for Asia-Pacific had its office located at the heart of the financial district of the city of Singapore. It was a corner room to a high floor in one of the many skyscrapers that so defined the city skyline that gave a spectacular view over Boat Quay and the Singapore River.

I was born and raised in Singapore during the 1970s. It was a time when Singapore had a two-child policy and encouraged a Confucian perspective to social and familial structures.  Sitting with Marit in mid-2000s, when I had already relocated to live and work in Gothenburg, Sweden for some years, it was still the first time I had encountered an individual of appointed high status in a company, one who is usually designated as a ‘boss’ in the Singapore (and broader Asian) context, refer to her employees as colleagues. Marit explained how she put tremendous work into re-writing the organization employee handbook. She took away the layers of middle managers and reduced the existing nine hierarchies in the organization to only three, Because three is what we have in Sweden, she said. Marit felt she was a Swedish culture carrier, We are sometimes called culture carriers, and therefore it's important for us to have Swedes or Nordic people who can all serve as cultural carriers because we have business in all those countries. So in addition to the business tasks or business responsibilities, we also have the responsibility to transfer or carry over the culture. Having been appointed MD for the Singapore headquarters, she felt compelled to bring Swedish values and ways of doing things to Asia.

1.1 Sharing Swedish Values in Asia

The transformation of the Singapore subsidiary, of creating a more Swedish organization with a flatter hierarchy did not only happen through the concrete measures of re-writing the employee handbook and taking away the layers of middle managers. Rather, consciously choosing the word ‘colleague’ over ‘employees’ made everyone in the organization realize a greater sense of collaboration. Their sense of orientation towards each other changed. Instead of looking at each other in terms of whether one was more or less senior in position, they saw each other in terms of expert knowledge competence, and began to take advice from each other across departments in a manner that was not previously registered in the organization. A greater sense of Swedish egalitarianism took hold in the organization culture. People began to value consensus amongst colleagues for joint decision-making rather than the former centrally administered decisions from top-down.

As I listened to the story of Marit and her own journey as MD in this organization transformation, I thought she had an innovative way of thinking about structuring organizations, inspiring and leading people that was very unlike any Singapore or Asian boss. And I thought this was brilliant, and new. I wondered if all in the organizations thought the same? I was also struck by how different her mindset was as top manager in the organization. That she did not in the first place claim to know everything, or say that she wanted manage everything either. Rather, she wished to empower the employees by decentralizing decision-making, and having everyone step-up into greater responsibility. She discouraged employees to delegate upwards by sending copies of emails to her in expectation of her response and decision to the situation, a common practice in Singapore organizations as a matter of ‘the boss should know’ attitude.

Whilst it is common in Asian organizations that the image of the top manager is one who is omnipresent and all-knowing, as leader of the organization, Marit shared that it was not possible for her to know everything and be everywhere at all times. She emphasized that she too had a lot to learn, and it was not only her colleagues who found it difficult at the beginning to adjust to their newfound individual freedom within the organization. The organizational change that she catalyzed was not struggle free for her either. And she learned as the organization learned and changed. She described it as a continuous journey of learning. 

In another instance of a meeting, I sat with Gunther in a visit to his family summer house located at the seafront on the island of Tjörn, along the Swedish west coast. He was posted to Taiwan with the task of starting up an Asian subsidiary for the Swedish company in the paper and pulp industry. Gunther was back in Sweden for his summer holidays and had left instructions to the Taiwanese subsidiary of which he is MD, on how the office was to be managed in his absence. He sat back in his polished rattan chairs fitted with plush white cushions, and took long sips of a cold beer in a chilled mug. He told about how in the 1990s, he knew nothing about Asian culture, but knew about Taiwan being in close proximity to China, and thought it was an interesting to help start an office in Asia. He began by renting a hotel room in Taiwan, enlisting the help of a few local people who spoke Mandarin who could help him with the initial recruitment process. Gunther had in common with Marit, a perspective that he was a Swedish culture carrier, but with a pinch of compromise. As a matter of culture adjustment, he shared that You have to adjust yourself by going fifty percent, and they have to go fifty percent. I think you need people that understand how you can make a better way of working. If you understand each other and go halfway, it’s good. Because if you have a typical Swede sitting there waiting with them who are typical Chinese who don't dare to talk, there will be nothing. So you as a Swede, you maybe take them out, and say, I want to have a discussion. I want to have dialogue. I would like to have consensus. Because it would be good for speeding up implementation, usually because people understand why things should be done. It also can give you as a manager, valuable information that you haven't thought of.

Both Marit and Gunther were from Gothenburg, who worked for foreign subsidiaries of Swedish multinationals abroad. In 2002, I arrived to the city of Gothenburg as a new visitor, and foreigner, from Singapore. In the course of pursuing my own Ph.D. and conducting interviews of Swedish managers who worked in Asia, I came across many other respondents to the study who came from Gothenburg. Not knowing