Gothenburg – past, present and future

Posted on by cheryl

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Eunice Olsen

Eunice Elizabeth Olsen and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, at the
School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013

It had been more than a decade since I last met with former university mate, Ms. Eunice Olsen. And it was a phone call from Fredrik Stjernlöf of Houston Media AB that brought us together again after these years.

We share an array of similar events in our lives. We were both once Singapore representative delegates to the international Miss Universe pageant. Eunice represented the Republic of Singapore in Cyprus in 2000, whilst a year earlier in 1999, I was the country’s delegate to Trinidad & Tobago. We also shared a similar view on how beauty pageants can come with both a goodwill and an ambassadorial role if that is what you want to make out of it.

During the day, we took the opportunity to look into the multiple facets of the valuable relations of the past, present and future between Gothenburg, in Sweden, and Singapore, in Southeast-Asia.

To that end, I had some very kind and excellent help from both mentors and colleagues in making this day memorable, for which I am most grateful.
Continue reading “Gothenburg – past, present and future” →

Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, Transdisciplinary

Posted on by cheryl

The past decade has seen an increasing call for the field of International Business studies (IB) to embrace interdiciplinarity, the interest moving from cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary in nature to one that encouraged the blurring of boundaries and the integration of disciplines to render new insights.

In a recent roundtable session, the terms multidisciplinary (MD), interdisciplinary (ID) and trans-disciplinary (TD) were discussed in relation to the field of IB. As could be expected we all entered the debate with our own tacit knowledge of the field, to be put on the table and to disentangle our various definitions.

The task proved more interesting when one paper on the definitions of these words was placed on the table, that now set a reference point. And then more papers were presented that set a number of different reference points.

We did what we do best in such situations and that was to survey the ground from a top-down perspective, and then break for coffee.

With a single cardamom cookie on the side that came with the Swedish fika in times of brainstorming, and sipping the strong doses of black coffee from the small coffee mugs in hand we set out to consider the various viewpoints.

If I had previously thought, that the list of 164 different definitions of the concept of culture, already back in 1952, by American anthropologists, Kroeber and Kluckhohn was confounding, only because as Apte (1994:2001) wrote in the ten-volume Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, “Despite a century of efforts to define culture adequately, there was in the early 1990s no agreement among anthropologists regarding its nature.“, where Avruch (1998) noted that much of the difficulty of understanding the concept of culture stems from the different usages of the term ranging from high culture to popular culture and then culture as values and beliefs, that are still dominant in general discourse today, then the disentanglement of the three concepts of MD, ID and TD would certainly take more hours of critical reading.

Continue reading “Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, Transdisciplinary” →

With ears to the ground

Posted on by cheryl

IMG_5513 598

The fika break is a Swedish near holy opportunity to stay tuned in on what is really going on.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro 2013

It was 2004.

We were sitting in the canteen of the main administrative building. The canteen was located on the higher floors, with high ceilings and large windows that overlooked three other buildings with chimneys billowing smoke.

At the table where we sat, the aroma of a hot cup of Zoéga coffee wafted through the air.

Coming back to Sweden
The story at hand was how reintegration into the Swedish organisation – coming back to Sweden to work, after having been abroad for a few years – constitutes just as much of a culture and organisation shock for many, as those who go to foreign countries to work.

Little attention paid to reintegration
While most organisations take care of practicalities, even giving their top managers / employees cultural orientation to the new culture they would soon be experiencing as part of their overseas posting to a foreign subsidiary, the aspect of re-acculturation when coming back to Sweden thereafter, is little paid attention to. Most would take for granted that employees would delight in coming back to Sweden and just being relieved doing so, reintegrating right back to where they were.

    – It’s difficult to be back in Sweden for me. I started in Germany, that was during the late 1980s, then from Germany, I was moved to Poland, and then from Poland, I was moved to Latin America. From Latin America they decided it was Japan and now I am back here in Sweden. I have been working for this company for more than twenty years now. And my wife didn’t want to come back to Sweden. She really liked Latin America. Japan, not so much but she would have preferred staying in Japan than coming back here. I come back here, you think my colleagues would be happy to see me? No, you are like an outcast. In fact, some even tell you, it is not good that you have been abroad working, because you forget the Swedish culture and what it’s like to work here. You are in your own world, and frankly, I feel useless. The company should have a re-orientation programme for people like me, to reintroduce ourselves to the home company.

    – You feel, useless? But, you have directorship, or at least, that is your job title.

    – Yes that is my job title but what you do and what you feel, that is different from the title given to you in the company. The title could be because I have been here for very many years, so in a way, they are obliged to give me this position. Or course, it is also merited, I have a lot of experience. But you can say, I feel a little lost at the moment.
    Continue reading “With ears to the ground” →

When in doubt, begin with a custard then go left.

Posted on by cheryl

muffin 110 598

The advantage of being in sniper position and camouflaging is the ability to produce blueberry muffins as one of three food wishes, from limited quantities of frozen blueberries.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013

We were standing loosely, in a group, outside the main office buildings, in idle summer chatter which mostly covered what transpired during the most recent seminar that some of us had just stepped out of. It was lunch time and those present were waiting for a few more colleagues that formed the daily lunchtåg or lunch train, before proceeding to said destination for lunch. Except in Swedish group organization tradition, those present are never really sure who is going to turn up for the lunch train, and there is most often no said destination for lunch. Decisions are made in a much more mysterious manner – you just needed ‘to know’ these kinds of things. This happens too in more formal meetings, where issues other than what is on the agenda are discussed and there seems to be no general agreement on anything at any one point in time. In such meetings, it is also not unusual that the only point in time when people start to take notes would be at the end of the meeting when they are deciding when to meet next. And meetings are planned very much ahead of time, so you could decide on two future meetings already now.
Continue reading “When in doubt, begin with a custard then go left.” →

Multiculturalism, the Liberals’ Dilemma and integrated aperspectivism – when not all perspectives are equal

Posted on by cheryl

Cheryl Cordeiro and Alvin Tan with his art, at Phunk Studio’s Empire of Dreams exhibition, January 2013, Singapore. Phunk Studio is a gallery space that illustrates an integral perspective expressed through art.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013

I’ve been reading Doriane L. Coleman (1996), Jürgen Habermas (1976) and Ken Wilber (2000), where I’m finding a lot of humour in Wilber’s writings in how he incorporates Habermas into his own philosophical reasoning, specifically talking of how some disciplines argue themselves lost into aperspectival space usually at higher levels of development within the individual, the organizational, national and transnational realms. More thoughtful and filled with much less humour is the article by Coleman on “cultural defense” and “the Liberals’ Dilemma”.

This article is an exploration in thought on the dialectic of progress, the nature of multiculturalism (and its consequences when used in court as a “cultural defense”) and aperspectival fallacy.

Continue reading “Multiculturalism, the Liberals’ Dilemma and integrated aperspectivism – when not all perspectives are equal” →

Teahouse in Hangzhou

Posted on by cheryl

Teahouse. 高山流水.
Tea-drinking at teahouses is a tradition in China that goes back to the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Wu and Shu, 220-280 AD.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2010-2013

Walking through the streets of Hangzhou, I could never quite grasp the sentimental feelings of its romantic past even as my eye caught the elegant lines of temples, the fine pagodas and the many intricately carved bridges that made the landscape so picturesque.

But arrive at the calm and mirroring waters of West Lake, and the realization sets in – that the city through numerous phases of transformations, carries within its aura a purity of natural beauty and a sense of timelessness. And it is perhaps this, that rocked the souls of the literati both past and present.
Continue reading “Teahouse in Hangzhou“ →

Conversation about status symbols over cinnamon infused apple crumble

Posted on by cheryl

A mixture of sweet and sour apples render
a nice balance to the flavour of this cinnamon infused creation.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013

It was over a delicate apple crumble dessert served with whipped cream and cinnamon, in the plush setting of the Bar and Billiard Room at Raffles Hotel in Singapore, that the importance of the use of status symbols in Asia was explained to me as a series of unhappy events that a Nordic company experienced in its early years in Singapore, during the late 1990s.

Different views of what defines success

Asia and Scandinavia have different views of what defines success. They also have different ways of showing social / organizational affluence, a lack of understanding on either side on the effective use of such status symbols could well lead to an awkward situation of miscommunication, some small, others needing nothing less than a crisis management strategy.

Some ten years ago, part of how Nordic organizations expanded their operations was to send a core-team of top Scandinavian managers to oversee initial functions in Asia. Chances are, this modus operandi has not changed much since then.

The general idea was to bring with them a set of core cultural values and have them cascade through the new organization, in this case, a Singapore subsidiary.
Continue reading “Conversation about status symbols over cinnamon infused apple crumble” →

Organization identity and the dialogic process of recreating corporate values

Posted on by cheryl

In SvD 19 April 2013, Näringsliv.
Conflict and powerplay between Volvo Cars and Geely.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro 2013

‘Five conflicts stirring Volvo in China’
Just recently this headline in war fonts headed the front page of the business section of one of Sweden’s most respected morning news papers. It was obvious that something had changed.

As one of many who keep a keen interest in the economic and geographic spatial reconfigurations of the global automobile industry, I did not expect a smooth process of acquisition of Volvo Cars by Geely from 2010 onwards.

Research literature charts a five times more likely narrative of a failed attempt at mergers and acquisitions than one of success. In the case of the Swedish then American owned Volvo Cars being acquired by Chinese Geely, language, culture, values and outlook on life per se are but the tip of the ice-berg to the multiple foundational layers of differences that need to be disentangled in this corporate marriage.

In studying Chinese and Swedish leadership and management styles, a field of research that I’ve worked with since 2004 (Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009), to say that China and Sweden have different cultures, is perhaps an appeal too much towards lex parsimoniae, where culture is here defined as a set of values, both explicit and implicit, shared by a collective of people with a shared ideology or mental framework that manifests itself in material action.

The overall picture is far more complex than what the media can at any one point in time represent. What is reflected in the media is often the result of much polishing and trimming of editorials and underlying narratives. And what is happening between Volvo Cars and Geely as reflected in the Swedish media, is but a synchronic snap-shot of a process that is inherently longitudinal in character. Organizational relations are ongoing dialogic processes that can be assessed in a more balanced perspective when placed in the context of a longitudinal timeframe, of years and decades past and what is also to come. As such, media representations of Volvo Cars – Geely relations need to be understood in the context of the larger socio-economic and political relations that have been built over time between their organizations, between Sweden and China.
Continue reading “Organization identity and the dialogic process of recreating corporate values” →

The global trade winds of the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III

Posted on by cheryl

Photo: Kent Hallgren.
The Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III in GP 11 April 2013.
Text © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013

Though I’ve been in Sweden for just about a decade, I wonder if it is only I who have grown tired at the consistent gloomy headlines of the local Swedish newspapers when writing about the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III, the latest headlines reading – No more sailing for the East Indiaman.

I wonder if this sensationalization of headlines is but a low end marketing attempt to attract readership since there is a general consensus of the ship itself being an entity of high interest. But what these pessimistic headlines reflect however, is a probable trend of lack of confidence in what is considered a good investment for the city of Gothenburg, and a business opportunity that can generate great dividends to all.

The Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III cannot help but be a symbol of the international harbour city of Gothenburg, with its rich history of daring merchants traveling the world, establishing global companies and one that have since long twinned its future with cities like Shanghai in China.

That the ship could do with more money is nothing new. What we need to bear in mind though, is that money does not create ideas. It is ideas that create money.

That the ship should be made into a museum even after 2020 without consideration of its larger context would be shortsighted planning and a terrible waste of resources. An East Indiaman ship museum would immediately be compared to the Vasa museum in Stockholm by visitors who know little of the East Indiaman history, compared to the Vasa which has become a monument over time, and a prime example of publicly funded projects.

Ironically, the Vasa was too large, too unstable, catering to prestige rather than function, built to government specification, managed by bureaucrats and naturally sank just minutes after being launched, already in 1628.

The East Indiaman Gotheborg III was founded on a different heritage and set of values that in turn rendered a fully functioning sailing vessel that looks her most glorious when sailing in the open seas.

Photo: Jakob Rempe.
The Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III in its Europe Tour 2013, Leg 1 at sea.

The first East Indiaman Gotheborg came within viewing distance of its home harbour before she hit a rock and sank in 1745. The Gotheborg II foundered outside of Cape Town in South Africa in 1796, and the Gotheborg III made it all the way back home in 2007. This is the true entrepreneurial spirit of the ship, one that does not take a complete failure as a no, but just go for it again since it is the right thing to do, no matter!

Based on such authenticity and integrity, what benefits would anyone reap by turning the Gotheborg III into a museum that would still only be a country side mock-up version of the Vasa?

Tracing the journals that people keep about her, the documentaries and personal experiences of the crew onboard, the Gotheborg III is happiest when she has her people around her, who revel in learning from handling her ropes, her masts and her spirit of freedom.

Waters have more often than not united than divided, and the means for that are the ships – virtual or real. With this general enthusiasm and love for her comes the immense international goodwill for Gothenburg and Sweden set against the background of an increasingly polarized and fragmented EU.

China for example, doesn’t know much about Sweden as a country, but they know about the unique gesture of friendship that the entire project around the creation and sailing of the Gotheborg III was and still is.

While Stockholm might be the administrative heart of Sweden, the city of Gothenburg have always been the port city, with the complementary role of looking out into the world, with its international portfolio of shipping and trade.

As a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of the city of Gothenburg, in 2011, Anneli Hulthén the Mayor of Gothenburg, received the award Entrepreneur for the World in the politicians’ category at the World Entrepreneurship Forum in Singapore.

The building of the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III began as an entrepreneurial effort with a clear purpose of trade and cultural exchange. There is no reason why it should not be kept true to its entrepreneurial roots. That is were she began and that is where she belongs. Even as business climates change over the years, Gothenburg is still where such business giants such as SKF and Volvo AB were born.

That the City of Gothenburg would stop sponsoring the Gotheborg III is not the same thing as that the ship would need to stop sailing. On the contrary. Gothenburg and West Sweden must see itself in an international context where bringing in business and work opportunities is a prime concern, and to not see the potential in using the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III to its very purpose to which she was built, one could argue, is not very clever.

As a first step towards an integrated perspective of the future of the Gotheborg III, the true history of the ship – as being a private venture started by entrepreneurs, needs to be understood – in order for it to fully leverage its goodwill capacities.

The ship also needs to be run in such a way that other entrepreneurs are encouraged to flock around her so as to also leverage the platform of opportunities that she offers.

What is needed is not lamenting the constant lack of money, but rather the realization that there are no ‘costs’. A sponsorship or a business agreement is just an investment that when properly put to work pays huge dividends to Gothenburg, to western Sweden, to Sweden as a whole, and to an ever fragmenting Europe that needs everything it has to keep itself together.

If something, it is time that the East Indiaman Gotheborg III should be placed in the hands of those who can see and do anything with the larger context. One that goes beyond Gothenburg and of Sweden and is in line with for example the European Commission’s Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives for ‘Smart Growth, Sustainable Growth and Inclusive Growth’.

Seen in that perspective, the Gotheborg III though a small piece in the overall picture of things, is much needed. And she is needed, alive and sailing!

As such, the open sea is where the Gotheborg III belongs, where she is more valuable as a sailing vessel than as a museum, beyond 2020.

From Twin Peaks to twin cities: quantum entanglement IRL

Posted on by cheryl

Like many other cities in the world, Gothenburg, Sweden, has a “friendship city” (youhao chengshì) agreement, with the city of Shanghai.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013

The ideas in this post covers at best, an intuitive and metaphorical exploratory mapping of some aspects of quantum physics theory, to phenomenon that can be observed in the material world so governed by the laws of nature. Perhaps a tall argument to make, but I’ll try here to figuratively map the concept of quantum entanglement onto the observation of its potential manifestation in international business, taking the the example of Twin Cities, defined as two cities in different regions that have made an agreement on for example cultural exchange and economic cooperation.

It is here not to apply the theories of quantum physics to the material world, because that cannot always be, due to that the quantum world has different laws than that of the physical world. But just to sketch an idea that what is now being observed and measured to accuracy in the quantum realm with its attached values, named phenomenon A’ {-V(N) to +V(N)} is perhaps manifested in the material world of classical physics as phenomenon A {-V(N) to +V(N)}, if one were to view it from a systems level perspective, here defined as the manner of progression of development.
Continue reading “From Twin Peaks to twin cities: quantum entanglement IRL” →