SSE Today, #1-2007

SSE
ODAY
THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE FROM
THE STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
#1– 2007
“The challenge
now is to find and
attract the most
talented people
across Europe”
ATTRACTING
TALENT
President Lars Bergman on how
SSE is gearing up for global excellence
Are ideas more important than management?
NEW SSE RESEARCH HAS THE ANSWER
Christine Lindbergson, Class of ’03, New York
‘I’M AT THE CENTER OF THE ACTION’
Educating the East
SSE BREEDS NEW GENERATION OF MANAGERS
SUCCESS STORY
OF THE CENTURY
100 years is a great start – now
SSE is preparing for the next 100
Dear Alumna/Alumnus,
‚
WELCOME TO SSE’S NEW
ALUMNI MAGAZINE, SSE TODAY.
It’s not just a magazine – it’s
a chance to find out what’s
happening with your school
and your fellow alumni.
CARL-JOHAN BONNIER
CHAIRMAN, BONNIER GROUP
LARS BERGMAN
PRESIDENT, SSE
STAYING IN TOUCH WITH SSE IS
To you as
a graduate, it’s a great opportunity to maintain and
expand the social network you
started building during your
studies. Many alumni have
told us their careers have
been based as much on the
personal network formed
while studying at SSE as on
the knowledge they gained at
SSE. But networking is, or
should be, a lifelong pursuit.
of your school’s brand. The
fact that SSE has been the
leading Scandinavian business school for nearly a hundred years is not an automatic
ticket to future grandeur. The
new market for higher education in Europe, brought on by
the Bologna Accord, represents the biggest challenge
SSE has faced in decades.
MOREOVER, THE SCIENCE OF BUSI-
MAINTAINING CONNECTIONS IS GOOD
MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL.
NESS IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING.
By
staying in touch with SSE,
you and other alumni get
access to new research in your
chosen field. Re-visiting your
professional roots every now
and then can prove fruitful to
careers in full swing. And, to
put it bluntly, the value of
your diploma is only as high
as the present “market value”
FOR SSE TOO, as
the school needs
the commitment of all those
who recognize its importance.
We may be No. 12 in Europe,
according to the Financial
Times’ European Business
School Ranking 2006, but we
are still a small school in a big
world and we need plenty of
positive ambassadors – such
as yourself.
“Many alumni have told us their careers
have been based as much on the personal
network formed while studying at SSE
as on the knowledge they gained at SSE”
COMPARED WITH BUSINESS SCHOOLS
IN OTHER COUNTRIES, particularly
in the US, SSE has kept a relatively low profile when it comes
to keeping in touch with its
alumni. The leading US
schools, for instance, offer a
wide range of contact platforms
to their alumni. On the other
hand, our Corporate Partnership Program, comprising more
Lars Bergman
(Class of ‘66)
CONTENTS UPDATE 3 SSE best in finance class; Let’s tango; Know the
dragon. 4 SSE events; Defining tomorrow’s leaders. 5 SEB wants SSE alumni;
Bologna – what’s the fuss? 14 Mentoring for inspiration. 15 Facts on funding; Berlin
is brilliant. 16 Mira builds networks; AlumniNet – your network; IFL rewards publishing.
6 SSE PRESIDENT LARS BERGMAN unveils the future strategy.
11 SSE – A CENTURY OF SUCCESS. 18 POST-SOVIET craving for management
skills spurs SSE. 22 NEW RESEARCH reveals venture capital success factors.
21 NEW WORK, NEW YORK, for SSE alumna. 25 ON THE MOVE.
2
SSE TODAY 1-2007
than 100 companies, is unique.
As far as we know, not even the
top US schools offer anything
like this. What SSE has lacked
is contacts with individual
alumni. This magazine and the
AlumniNet community are two
means of bridging that gap.
We certainly
haven’t forgotten you.
DON’T FORGET SSE.
Carl-Johan Bonnier
(Class of ‘70)
SSE Today is published twice a year by the Stockholm
School of Economics, P.O. Box 6501, SE-113 83 Stockholm. PRODUCTION: Spoon Publishing AB. PUBLISHER AND
RESPONSIBLE UNDER SWEDISH LAW: Lars Bergman, President
of SSE. EDITOR: Jonas Rehnberg (Class of ’82). EXECUTIVE EDITORIAL
COMMITTEE AT SSE: Maria Axelsson, Love Centerwall, Hanna Flodmark.
COVER PHOTO: Pontus Höök. Editorial material and opinions expressed
in SSE Today do not necessarily reflect the views of SSE.
Printed by VTT, Vimmerby, Sweden, 2007.
Opinions, comments, advertising, feedback...
Write to us at: ssetoday@hhs.se
PHOTO: ELISABETH OHLSON WALLIN
A MESSAGE FROM
LARS BERGMAN,
PRESIDENT OF SSE, AND
CARL-JOHAN BONNIER,
A MEMBER OF SSE’S
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
UPDATE
Profile
FINANCIAL TIMES MASTERS IN MANAGEMENT 2007
SSE ranked ‘Best in finance’
On September 17, the FT published the results of its latest
Masters in Management ranking. SSE’s MSc program ranked
No. 9 and Best in Finance
among 40 top business schools.
The FT European Business
School ranking, which includes
MBA, EMBA and executive education programs, will be published in December.
SSE President Lars Bergman
is pleased with the prominent
position achieved by SSE.
“Given the increasingly tough
competition among business
schools it is very gratifying to
find SSE among the top ten
achievers. We cannot, however,
rest on our laurels since our goal
is to improve further and firmly
establish SSE at the very top of
the elite level,” says Bergman.
Although the schools included
in the ranking are all based in
Europe, respondents came from
82 countries and the ranking was
open to schools anywhere in the
world that met the participation
criteria set by the FT.
The FT ranking assesses Masters in Management degrees,
which differ from MBA programs
in that most students join the
courses right after their undergraduate degree. Entering an
MBA program usually requires
several years of work experience.
FT carries out annual rankings of the world’s leading business schools, universities, and
other institutions that offer different types of business, management and leadership development programs.
The alumni survey for the
2008 MSc ranking will be distributed in June 2008 to SSE
MSc and IGP alumni who completed their studies in 2005.
THE TOP 10 SCHOOLS IN THE FINANCE CATEGORY
1. SSE
2. HEC PARIS
3. SOLVAY BUSINESS SCHOOL
4. ESSEC BUSINESS SCHOOL
5. WARSAW SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
6. MANNHEIM BUSINESS SCHOOL
7. ESCP-EAP
8. ESC ROUEN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
9. ESADE BUSINESS SCHOOL
10. LANCASTER UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT SCHOOL
In a bid to satisfy the hunger for
academic knowledge about China,
SSE has launched the China Economic Research Center (CERC)
in cooperation with Ericsson.
CERC is Sweden’s first major
institute dedicated solely to the
analysis of Chinese economic
and business affairs, serving as
a competence center for Chinese
economics, business, and trade
developments. CERC aims to
generate academic in-depth
knowledge and to establish links
to policy-making bodies and processes. CERC works in close
cooperation with the Institute of
International Business (IIB) and
the European Institute of Japa-
PHOTO: SCANPIX
Opening the door to China
nese Studies (EIJS) at SSE, and
the China Center for Economic
Research at Peking University.
Magnus Blomström, professor
and operative director of CERC,
says there’s surprisingly little
research going on in Sweden
about China, despite the country’s tremendous impact on the
global economy.
“The CERC program is
designed to support the capacity
of Sweden to follow developments in China, to strengthen
Swedish-Chinese relations in
economics, business and
research; and to understand
China’s impact on the world
economy,” says Blomström.
Over the past 20 years, China
has accounted for 28 percent of
global economic growth. Inside
knowledge about how its unique
blend of communism and capitalism actually functions isn’t just
enlightening – it’s essential.
PHOTO: SCANPIX
In Financial Times (FT) Masters in Management 2007,
SSE’s MSc program ranked No. 9 and Best in finance
among 40 top business schools.
Let’s tango
Besides management
and marketing, SSE
student Ebba Hultkvist
adds tango, jive and
quickstep to her cv.
Into her third year of SSE’s MSc
program, Ebba Hultkvist looks back
on a hectic spring semester, combining studies with months of tough dancing practice and live broadcasts from
the dance floor as a participant in
TV4’s weekly entertainment reality
show “Let’s Dance.”
“It was quite a challenge and I had
to plan my time carefully,” Hultkvist
admits, adding that the physical efforts of choreography and rehearsals
proved an
energizing “When your
break from
agenda is really
books and
full you become
lectures.
very disciplined”
“When your
agenda is
really full you become very disciplined,
but I am not the only student at SSE
who lives a very active life.”
Being broadcast live every Friday to
millions of television viewers offered a
fantastic kick, she says. “My adrenaline rush was probably close to how a
parachute jumper feels.”
Thanks to support from the viewers,
Hultkvist remained on the show for 10
out of the season’s 12 weeks. No newcomer to the public eye, as a
young girl she starred in a leading role
in the popular television drama series
Skärgårdsdoktorn (The Archipelago
Doctor).
1-2007 SSE TODAY
3
UPDATE
SSE Events
FALL 2007
For alumni:
EXECUTIVE MBA ALUMNI MEETING.
Executive MBA’s next alumni meeting will be held
on November 22. Hans Stråberg, president of
Electrolux, is the speaker.
Eagle eye on management
Ingalill Holmberg defines tomorrow’s leadership from
the junction of business, social psychology and technology.
The Student Association:
PIMP MY GRADES. The UU (Utbildningsutskottet, the Subcommittee on Educational Affairs) has
jump-started its main project, Pimp my grades, in
which participants regularly visit Hässelbygårdsskolan to help eighth-graders do their math.
Other:
A NOBLE VISIT. The laureates of the Sveriges
Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory
of Alfred Nobel 2007 will visit SSE on December
12 in conjunction with the Nobel award
ceremonies.
Ranking
is important
SSE is right up there, among the
highest-ranking business schools in
Europe. It’s natural to want to be one
of the best, but do high rankings really
matter?
This is what SSE alumni think,
according to a recent poll on AlumniNet, which asked respondents:
“As an SSE alumna/
alumnus, how important are business
school rankings for
you?”
Very important: 72 %
Less important:
12 %
Not important:
16 %
Cast your vote and check
out the latest poll on
AlumniNet! Visit
http://alumninet.hhs.se
“Do Fredrik
and I really
work for the
same bank?”
FIND OUT AT HTTP://
ALUMNINET.HHS.SE
4
SSE TODAY 1-2007
as a recently concluded project at Ericsson that focused on day-to-day leadership.
The project studied leadership practices
and unveiled a discrepancy between the
leadership ideals endorsed by managers
and the HR staff, versus the improvising
mode of leadership efforts carried out in
everyday work.
“We have a tendency to view leadership
as something that is first
“We have a tendency to view leadership planned and then execuas something that is first planned and ted. Everyday reality in
companies isn’t like that.
then executed”
The importance of everyday leadership is often neglected in favor
leadership has shifted over time, from the
of the grand once-a-year visionary stratevision-oriented style hailed over the past
gy formulations,” Holmberg says.
decades to the communication-focIn one project, the focus was on the
used leadership required in
effects of modern communication technotoday’s increasingly immaterial
logy on managers’ work situations. “As
corporate world. Today’s
the primary tool for communicating with
strong media focus on the
employees, IT has had a tremendous imindividual is also a powerful
pact on the way managers work today.
force in shaping leadership
IT has also created the notion that maideals.”
nagers should be available around the
A highly interdisciplinclock and control every aspect of the opeary research institute,
ration. That benefits no one and only creaCASL was founded in
tes burnout and stress.”
1996 by SSE, the Royal
Institute of Technology
HOLMBERG HAS ALSO examined geographiand the National Institucal and cultural boundaries and found that
te for Working Life.
some critical leadership notions are quite
With a staff of six,
local. “For example, the consensus-based
CASL offers semileadership style favored in Sweden contnars and courses to
rasts with American management philoSSE, IFL at SSE,
sophies that advance charismatic and
and the business
action-oriented leaders as the ideal.”
community and
In studying young leaders and their vaconducts research
lues and identities, Holmberg concluded
on a post-PhD
that identity and personal branding come
level.
first, then the choice of work. “HistoricalCASL draws inly, it was the other way around,” she says.
put from several
The implication to companies is that
networks and
“employer branding” is an important tool
projects conducin recruiting tomorrow’s leaders. “Compated jointly with
nies can’t afford to neglect this,” Holmthe business
berg concludes.
JONAS REHNBERG
community, such
MY POINT OF departure is that leadership is a social phenomenon and not subject to a universal law,” says Ingalill Holmberg, an associate professor and director
of the Center for Advanced Studies in
Leadership (CASL) at SSE. “Leadership is
what we collectively make it, which varies
over time and with cultural setting.
“The idea of what constitutes ‘ideal’
SEB – an SSE hotspot
Judging from AlumniNet statistics, SEB
employs a large number of SSE graduates. How do they rate their employer and
what makes them so attractive to SEB?
PHILIPPA ALLARD (Class of ‘98) has a
background in the investment
banking and structured finance
departments of SEB and now
works with business develop-
ment. “I think it’s the opportunities to work abroad and in many
branches of banking and business that make SEB so enticing,”
she says. “If you ask SSE stu-
Bologna energizes Europe
PHOTO: SAMIR SOUDAH
‚
More than 40 European
countries have agreed
to harmonize their systems for
higher education under an agreement called the Bologna Accord,
which came into effect in Sweden by the 2007 fall semester and is being implemented
in many Swedish universities
and business schools. The agreement involves a synchronization
of the structure and standards
of courses, which makes it easier
for participants to move easily
between European universities
and business schools. The goal is
to improve employability, mobility and competitiveness among
European academics.
According to a report from the
Graduate Management Admission Council, a global business
school association, the system
will bring significant cross-bor-
der competition for bachelor
graduates between universities.
In the area of graduate management education alone, the report
estimates there will be more
than 12,000 master’s programs
across Europe.
“Competition for
postgraduates doing
their master’s will
be almost as intense
as the existing MBA
market”
LARS BERGMAN, SSE PRESIDENT
“In order to seize the opportunities inherent in a more open,
competitive market, universities
need to build upon their strengths
and clarify their academic and/or
research profile,” the report says.
“Once these first steps are taken,
institutions must define, design
and position their portfolio of programs so that they meet the needs
of the new Bologna marketplace.”
“By 2009, when the first bachelors graduate from the new system, the competition is on,” says
SSE President Lars Bergman. “In
a 10-year perspective, competition for postgraduates doing their
master’s will be almost as intense
as the existing MBA market.”
Before the accord, there was
little uniformity in European
higher education. Different countries’ universities awarded different degrees, and it was not
always clear which degrees were
equivalent. These distinctions
made it difficult for graduate
program admissions offices and
potential employers across borders to assess an applicant’s level
of education.
Just a moment
Jessica Wennerstein, Class
of ‘07, with the other “småttingar” (kiddies) at her first
day at SSE:
“This feels overwhelming”
PHOTO: LINUS HALLGREN
PHOTO: SAMIR SOUDAH
FREDRIK LAGERKVIST AND
PHILIPPA ALLARD, SEB
dents where they want “We actively try to recruit
to work, SEB doesn’t
SSE graduates because they
rank very high on their
lists. But once they start are capable and talented”
their careers and can
PETER GERESTAD, SEB
compare different companies, SEB proves to be a very
another means of staying in
attractive employer, as proven by
touch. “There is no formal SSE
the number of SSE graduates
organization here, but I meet
working here.”
new alumni via colleagues and
friends, which only strengthens
FREDRIK LAGERKVIST (Class of ‘01)
my professional and personal
works for SEB in corporate businetwork,” Lagerkvist says.
ness development. “Because
there are so many SSE alumni
PETER GERESTAD IS head of HR
here, students hear about SEB,”
resourcing at SEB. “While many
he says. “I believe it’s positive to
SSE graduates at SEB work in
work with people you know. You
corporate finance or merchant
understand how they work and
banking, they can be found
you have a built-in network.”
throughout the company,” he
Both Allard and Lagerkvist
says. “We actively try to recruit
stay in contact with SSE via
SSE graduates via recruitment
business breakfasts set up by the
days (Handelsdagarna) and our
Alumni Association (Kamratown MBA event and trainee proföreningen) and through private
gram – not because they went to
lunch dates with fellow alumni.
SSE but because SSE graduates
The SSE alumni website,
are capable and talented.”
http://alumninet.hhs.se, is
LARS HANSEN
1-2007 SSE TODAY
5
“The Bologna Accord
is potentially the most
radical external change
that SSE has faced in
a very long time”
6
SSE TODAY 1-2007
Leadership
for the next level
Guided by a clear vision and a detailed strategy, SSE President
Lars Bergman vows to capture a substantial slice of the increasingly
competitive market for higher education in Europe.
Passing through the massive oak doors
of the neoclassical-style building at
Sveavägen 65 in Stockholm requires more
than muscles, at least if you intend to study
at SSE. Last year, fewer than 10 percent of
applicants were admitted. After graduation,
however, most doors seem to be wide open.
SSE Placement Report 2006 shows that
three out of four graduates managed to land
a position even before they graduated.
Nearly a hundred years after it was
founded, SSE enjoys a top-notch reputation
among its students and their future employers, and independent rankings also rate it
highly. Last year, the Financial Times ranked
SSE as No. 12 in its European Business
School Ranking 2006, and the geographical
and educational scope of the school has
expanded far beyond the Sveavägen building.
Once a strictly national institution, SSE is
now active throughout the Baltic region, with
centers in Moscow, Riga and Saint Petersburg.
The school has partnerships in Asia, and
its full-time MBA and international programs
attract students from around the globe.
You would be forgiven for thinking that
being president of such a respectable and
well-established operation requires little
more than the ability to keep a steady course.
You would, however, be wrong.
Lars Bergman, a professor of economics
and the current president of SSE, is in the
middle of a restructuring process aimed at
transforming SSE into an even brighter star
on the market for higher education, with the
help of a clear vision and a detailed strategy.
“My vision is for SSE to be one of the leading business schools in Europe,” he says.
“This will be achieved by streamlining our
operations, concentrating our resources and
raising our standards.”
Bergman aspires for SSE to become a key
player at a time when the school is getting
ready to navigate the uncharted waters
brought on by the harmonization of the European market for higher education envisioned
by the so-called Bologna Accord (see page 5).
“Bologna is potentially the most radical
external change that SSE has faced in a very
long time,” says Bergman.
To comply with the new system, SSE is
introducing a new curriculum this fall semester, with a new three-year bachelor’s program
followed by a new two-year master’s program
in 2009. Simultaneously, SSE will introduce
the new European Credit Transfer System,
ECTS, where one academic semester comprises 30 credits.
“We can become even better”
Bergman argues that the current changes
represent an opportunity that SSE has to
seize. “Even if we are already number one in
Sweden, we can become even better. Not
because we have to, but because we want to.”
In the past, he adds, finding the best bachelor’s students was simply a matter of organizing the line of talent waiting to get in,
whereas competing for Bologna master’s students reverses the process.
“The challenge now is to find and attract
the most talented people across Europe,”
Bergman says. “Our strength has always
been our ability to attract the very best students here at home, and we can of course sit
back and rest on our laurels. However, if SSE
were to back off from entering the competition for Bologna master’s candidates and
focus on bachelors, we would never be able to
retain the quality of professors we have
today. Without a master’s program, there is
no PhD program, and without that there’s
little hope of attracting world-leading
research. We simply could not offer the same
level of expertise as we can today.”
Bergman’s vision for SSE is that the
school will instead compete for the best master’s students on a European scale. “If we
want to remain a leading business school in
an international perspective, it is not enough
to be the best now. If we want to be top 10 in
10 years, we have to act.”
Bergman’s strategy for raising SSE to the
next level involves strengthening the school’s
capabilities in five key areas. To win the hearts
of Europe’s top talent and faculty, marketing and communication have to be improved,
and the admission system must become more
sophisticated. In addition, the plan calls for
competitive terms of employment, development of the curriculum and pedagogical
methods, and a transformation of the school’s
physical environment.
A crucial campaign
The realization of the strategy requires additional endowments of at least 800 million kronor, to be raised during the capital campaign,
which will run until the school’s centennial
celebration in December 2009.
“If you run an operation that delivers
excellent services for which you are not
allowed to charge, you have a slight problem,” Bergman says. “Any businessperson
understands this. SSE is a private institution
and only 20 percent of our income stems from
government contributions. Since we are not
allowed to charge fees, the rest has to come
from somewhere else.”
As a professor of economics, Bergman
implies that SSE, like other public goods, suffers in some ways from the “free rider”
problem.
“One of our challenges is that few individual companies can claim with 100 percent
certainty that ‘Yes, we do benefit from the
quality of what SSE provides.’ But as a
group, the nation’s trade and industry have
without a doubt benefited. Our funding has
to come from people and institutions that are
aware of the extent to which they benefit
indirectly from what we deliver.”
‚
1-2007 SSE TODAY
7
‚
The intimate, long-running partnership with
external investors and the business community has been instrumental to the school’s
success and its reputation.
“It’s good for us, because it makes us work
harder,” he says.
“We’re the best because we have to justify
ourselves constantly. As a small school in a
big world, SSE needs the ambassadorship
and commitment from each and every one,
including our MBA graduates in Sweden,
Russia and Latvia, and the participants of
our International Graduate Program.”
SSE comes full circle
As the centennial approaches, Bergman feels
that the school has come full circle and
arrived at a crossroads brought on by the
Bologna Accord, as well as the challenges
that Sweden and Europe are facing in view
of globalization and their diminishing importance as a world economic center.
“SSE was founded by a handful of farsighted representatives of the then-budding
business community, who joined forces to create SSE and provide training for the future
leaders of Sweden’s industry,” Bergman says.
“To some extent, we are in the same position
today, with the difference that the perspective is now international.
“If we want the Swedish business community to remain a national concern, we must
have a school that is able to attract the really
talented students to ensure Sweden-based
companies have access to a talent pool from
which to recruit tomorrow’s leaders and specialists.”
Bergman adds that if SSE is able to
attract the best students from abroad,
Sweden-based companies benefit by gaining
an even better talent base for their future
recruiting. “We obviously hope that some of
the foreign talents who choose to study for
their Bologna master’s at SSE remain in
Sweden,” he says.
Looking back to the days when SSE was
founded as one of Sweden’s first private
schools of university standing, Bergman
believes it has served exactly the purposes
that its founding fathers envisioned.
“The SSE Group has educated 20,000 individuals, who in different ways have played a
vital part in the development of Swedish
society as well as the fast-growing economies
in the Baltic states and Russia – as leaders,
specialists or entrepreneurs within industry
or government. The body of alumni represents an amazing supply of human capital
that has enriched so many aspects of society.”
Another ambition at the time was for SSE
to raise the visibility of the mercantile class
in society.
“Back then, the leading strata of society
were the military, the aristocracy and the
clergy,” Bergman says.
“Today, there is no denying that business
leaders are respected spokespersons and
community pillars, even if this is obviously
not the result of SSE alone.”
Rewarding challenges
Entering his fourth year in office, Bergman
says being president has been more challenging than he anticipated.
“The diversity that comes with my position is as challenging as it is rewarding. I am
dealing with a spectrum of fairly complex
issues, such as the current restructuring process,” he begins diplomatically, pauses, then
he states firmly: “Being president is nice, but
I’m not here to have a nice time. If you don’t
know what you want, it’s hard to convince
others. SSE cannot be number one in all
areas. That’s why we are phasing out PhD
and research programs within departments
that we feel are no longer part of the school’s
core competencies.
“Given where we are today and the
demand from the business community, we’ll
obviously retain a strong focus on core disciplines like finance and accounting.”
Another essential building block in
Bergman’s efforts is to raise the demands on
its professors.
“Faculty members who have counted on a
lifelong career with us may find the bar has
been raised somewhat,” he says in his beguilingly mild-mannered voice. “A professorship
has to be continuously earned – it’s not a lifetime badge of honor. In order to become a
professor at SSE, it is not sufficient to be able
to get it at another school. You have to be at
least Nordic top level within your field.”
“We’re like the opera”
Asked whether he thinks running a school is
very different from running a company, Bergman replies, “In the past perhaps, but not
today. SSE is a type of organization that is
becoming increasingly common, where the
level of professional skills and competence is
extremely high. We like to compare ourselves
to the opera sometimes, or an advanced consulting business.”
“The management task at hand,” he says,
“is to separate the degree of academic freedom that is a necessary prerequisite for successful research from the need to ensure that
the staff comply with the overall vision for
the school, which in turn requires a streamlined organization.”
But how do you go about managing a faculty with solo performers who are “stars” in
their own right and with outstanding academic track records? Part of the secret, Bergman says, is as simple as age.
“The authority that comes with age is
rather a must when you are heading up a team
of internationally renowned professors. You
don’t have to be better than they are, but you
have to win their respect and their confidence.”
At 62, Bergman says it is a real advantage
for a president of an organization like SSE to
be at the end of a career. “I don’t have to be
afraid of hurting my future career by stepping on people’s toes. I really know SSE. I am
not easily fooled.”
JONAS REHNBERG
From Teacher of the Year to President during the centennial
When SSE President Lars Bergman
says he knows SSE, he is not exaggerating.
A graduate of the MSc program in 1970,
Lars Bergman went on to do research in
economics, coupled with teaching duties,
and eventually to become a professor of
economics.
In October 2003 he was appointed
acting president of SSE, with the “acting”
removed just three months later. He is
looking forward to leading the school over
its centennial in 2009.
8
SSE TODAY 1-2007
“As I work to lead SSE into its second
century, I frequently feel the weight of the
past pressing,” he says.
In 1990, Bergman was elected Teacher of the Year at SSE as well as Teacher
of the Year in Economics and Management in Sweden. His present contact with
students is limited to interaction with the
Student Association, greeting freshmen
and signing graduate diplomas. Does he
ever miss the teaching role?
“I do, actually. Having daily contacts with
the students was very nice. When I have
comprehended a complex concept, I enjoy
guiding others towards the same understanding.”
Confessing to being “a pretty lazy
student, at least in the beginning,”
Bergman recalls the importance of an inspiring teacher in kindling the dormant
scientist’s soul, and he was blessed by
being tutored by Assar Lindbeck, one of
Sweden’s most respected economists of
all time.
“Having Lindbeck for a teacher meant
a lot for my decision to specialize in economics. He made the topic come alive,”
Bergman says.
In his research career, Bergman chose
to focus on subjects related to energy markets and environmental economics, choices that seem particularly farsighted in
view of current issues like climate change
and liberalized electricity markets.
“Incentive-based control of environmental policy is widely accepted today,” he
says. “In general, economic research has
a potentially deep impact on society.”
“If you run an operation that
delivers excellent services
for which you are not allowed
to charge, you do have a
slight problem”
LARS BERGMAN
Title: President of SSE, professor of economics. Age: 62. Management mantra:
“Be yourself and know your organization.”
Family: Married to Lena, an area manager
at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. They
have two children: Malin, 32, who earned a PhD
at SSE in the field of human capital and the
labor market and who now lives in New York,
where she combines a Wall Street career with
fashion modeling; and Jonas, 30, who is an
event organizer in Stockholm.
CV highlights: 1975–1976 Staff member
at the Secretariat for Future Studies, Prime
Minister’s Office. 1978–1979 Research scholar
at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria. 1996–
Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of
Engineering Sciences. 1998–2000 Member of
the Council of the European Association of
Environmental and Resource Economists.
1-2007 SSE TODAY
9
S o m e times speed isn’t par t of the plan.
It is the plan.
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Bank finner du på www.kaupthing.se
Looking back
and moving ahead
PHOTO: STOCKHOLMS STADSMUSEUM
Company presidents, journalists, politicians and entertainers are
among the more than 20,000 students who have attended the
Stockholm School of Economics, which has launched many interesting career paths during its nearly 100 years of existence.
Dressed for success at Brunkebergs
square in Stockholm, where SSE
started almost 100 years ago.
1-2007 SSE TODAY
11
PHOTO: STOCKHOLMS STADSMUSEUM
The new
school bu
ilding, de
by Ivar Te
signed
ngbom, w
as compl
in 1926.
eted
facilities
The new
rary that
lib
a
ed
includ
er in
me a lead
has beco
Sweden.
in
d
el
fi
its
Absolute beginners:
The Class of 1909
1900
1909
1926
1946
SSE starts up
SSE moves to
Sveavägen
The first doctorate
is awarded
SSE was made possible through the
initiative of influential bankers and
businessmen in the early 1900s, among them
Joseph Nachmanson, Olof A Söderberg and
K A Wallenberg.
The industrial era was in full swing, and
these men recognized the need for an academic education that would maintain close
links and open dialogue with businesses and
society at large, and would help raise the status of doing business. With support from more
than 250 private donors, a large donation
from Stockholm’s Enskilda Bank and state
financial backing, the founders were able to
put the wheels in motion for the first academic business school in the Nordic region.
began rather unceremoniously: Stockholm
was in the midst of a major strike, which
resulted in construction delays on the battered premises, and the new furniture from
elegant Nordiska Kompaniet hadn’t arrived.
But there were enough kerosene lamps,
secondhand hotel furniture and enthusiasm
to get staff and students fueled that first year.
Among SSE’s early graduates were Assar
Gabrielsson, one of the founders of Volvo;
Lars Ture Bohlin, founder of Bohlins
accounting firm; Olof Regnstrand, director of
A modest beginning
SSE opened its doors to its first 110 students
in 1909. The school was located in the
Brunkebergs hotel, on the site of what is currently the Riksbank (the central bank of Sweden). The first day on Brunkebergs square
12
SSE TODAY 1-2007
Alumnus Ruben Rausing (left),
founder of Tetra Pak
Stockholm’s Enskilda Bank; and Ruben
Rausing, who became one of the world’s most
successful entrepreneurs.
Rausing began his studies in 1916, paying
for his tuition with money borrowed from an
aunt, who had sold enough fish to save up a
sizable sum. He eventually founded Tetra
Pak, a global company that today has about
20,000 employees in more than 165 countries.
Few businesswomen
Women were scarce in the business world at
the time and, not surprisingly, only 1 percent
of SSE’s 737 graduates during the first
decade were women. In 1912, Märta Hegardt,
the daughter of a businessman, became the
first female to graduate. Today, more than
40 percent of SSE students are women.
By the 1920s, SSE had outgrown its old
hotel quarters, and in 1926 it moved into its
current premises on Sveavägen 65. Ivar
Tengbom, the renowned architect behind the
Stockholm Concert Hall, designed the main
PHOTO: SCANPIX
SSE professor Bertil Ohlin receives his
prize in Economic Sciences from His
Majesty the King.
PHOTO: LINUS
HALLGREN
SCANPIX
er,
am Lind of Trade
Burenst
ter
Staffan
er Minis
t.
rm
fo
’s
residen
Sweden
venth p
SSE’s se
became
PHOTO:
“Småttingar”
(kiddies)
from the Clas
s of 2007.
The dress co
de has
changed sligh
tly
since 1909...
SSE Riga SSE Russia
1968
IFL opens
1975
Institute of International Business
building, on land purchased for just
100 kronor per square meter.
A new era
In the 1960s, when student revolts rocked
campuses in many countries, SSE managed
to keep things going, attracting a broad range
of students, including working professionals.
IFL (Institutet för Företagsledning) was
started in 1968 with the support of engineering, industrial and business organizations.
SSE began moving onto the world map by
initiating international student exchanges
through its Institute of International Business, started in 1975. The first student
exchange was between SSE and New York
University’s Graduate School of Business
Administration. In addition to sending SSE
students to New York, it attracted American
students with some knowledge of Scandinavian languages. As the exchange program
grew in popularity, many SSE courses
quickly shifted to being taught in English.
1986
1991
1994
1997
Executive Education European Masters in
program
Management program
2004
2000
International recognition
Many of the school’s staff and alumni are recognized in international circles. In 1977
Bertil Ohlin won the Sveriges Riksbank
Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of
Alfred Nobel. Ohlin and another SSE scholar,
Eli Heckscher, developed the HeckscherOhlin mathematical model of international
trade, which is still widely used.
Another well-known trade model, the
Linder Thesis, was named after former SSE
President Staffan Burenstam Linder.
Burenstam Linder also published a book
on the increasing scarcity of time, The Harried Leisure Class. Published in 1970, it
instantly became a bestseller and is still
highely appropriate. In an interview with
Time magazine, he said: “I find it paradoxical
that as income rises, we are all running
like hell.”
Burenstam Linder was hardly idle himself. Following a stint as Sweden’s trade minister, he became SSE’s seventh president in
SSE MBA
1986, the same year that the acclaimed
Executive Education program was started.
Across borders
For SSE, the 1990s marked a period of
intense international expansion and networking. In 1991 it became a member of the
Community of European Management
Schools and began offering a European
Masters in Management.
In that same year, the European Institute
of Japanese Studies and the Stockholm Center
for Organizational Research were established
and the International Graduate Program
began. In 1994 SSE expanded into Eastern
Europe with SSE Riga, followed by SSE Russia in 1997. In 2003, SSE admitted student
number 20,000. The following year it began
Sweden’s first full-time international MBA
program, attracting students from more than
a dozen countries. In 2009 it will celebrate
100 years of abiding by its three keywords:
relevance, respect and results.
CARI SIMMONS
1-2007 SSE TODAY
13
UPDATE
The power of mentorship
Nina Linander
views mentorship
as a mutually
beneficial process
PHOTO: SAMIR SOUDAH
The mentorship program organized annually by
the Alumni Association (Kamratföreningen) offers
final-year SSE students a chance to bond with a
professionally experienced SSE graduate. They
gain a fresh perspective on career development,
business decisions and dealing with tricky
corporate politics.
The mentorship program of
2006–2007 involves 15 mentors,
one of whom is Nina Linander
(Class of ‘78), presently an executive search consultant at Stanton
Chase in Stockholm, where she is
also a partner. Linander says she
finds being a mentor “incredibly
rewarding” and she views mentorship as a mutually beneficial
process.
“Getting close to people in
their professional lives and discussing the various choices they
are facing is very stimulating. By
comparing notes and sharing
similar experiences, I learn
things too.”
Linander points out that a
mentor is not expected to come
up with cut-and-dried answers to
everything. “I don’t tell my mentorees what to do,” she says.
“I am a resource to help them
arrive at what is the best decision for them. The openness that
comes from a lack of formal and
personal ties creates a very
relaxed situation.”
The Alumni Association’s mentorship program kicks off with a
dinner where mentors and mentorees get to mingle and mentoring is discussed in general terms.
After that, it is up to each mentor/
mentoree to set their own agenda.
DID YOU KNOW...
Mentor was, according to Greek mythology,
a friend of Odysseus entrusted with the
education of his son Telemachus.
14
SSE TODAY 1-2007
“Getting close to people in their
professional lives and discussing the various choices they
are facing is very stimulating”
NINA LINANDER, MENTOR
“But don’t be too vague on what
you want to achieve,” Linander
says. “I recommend formulating
objectives for the mentorship.”
How often should the two meet?
“In the beginning of the relationship I think it’s good to meet at
least once a month if possible.”
Previously, Linander has also
served as a mentor on other SSE
mentorship programs as well as
at former workplaces. With the
exception of one person, who has
relocated to the US, Linander
has stayed in touch with all of
her mentorees.
joined SSE’s
MSc program in its third year,
transferring from Uppsala UniIN 2003, MEHRAN FARSHID
versity. “I think
SSE offers many
more opportunities
than other business schools,”
Farshid says. “The
contacts with the
business community, for example,
are on quite another level.”
Majoring in accounting and
financial management, Farshid
wrote his thesis at Norsk Hydro
Oil & Energy in Oslo.
HE MOVED ON to
join the finance
trainee program at the Norwegian
energy giant in September 2006
and was soon struck by the abundance of career options that lay
before him.
His mentor proved a valuable
discussion partner.
“As a student, you’re not faced
with a whole lot of choices
besides deciding what to major
in. On a new job, however, it is
rarely staked out in detail what
you’re supposed to “Having someone experienced
do. It’s up to you
to discuss options, thoughts
where you want
and ideas with is incredibly
to go.”
valuable” MEHRAN FARSHID, MENTOREE
Farshid was
pleased to hear
about the possibility of being
When the division of Norsk
assigned a personal mentor
Hydro where Farshid worked
through the Alumni Associaunderwent a merger with
tion’s mentor program. FollowStatoil, he found his career
from a career point of view.”
ing a matching process run by
options needed further reviewFarshid eventually decided to
an external recruitment coming as a result of the complex
leave Norsk Hydro and move on
pany, Farshid was teamed up
new organizational setting.
to Capto Financial Consulting,
with Nina Linander.
“It was very useful to have
originally part of ABB Financial
“I think the mentor program
someone to talk to about how I
Services, in September 2007.
is incredibly valuable. Having
should handle this new situation
JONAS REHNBERG
someone experienced to discuss
options, thoughts and ideas with
is great, and Nina has been able
The Alumni Association
to give me valuable feedback.
“Kamratföreningen” curits members selected
with guest speakers, pub
Nina doesn’t tell me what to do,
rently has 3,300 members news updates about SSE
evenings and homecoming
but she offers her opinions on
and offers a network to
as well as a complete reparties.
my options in a range of areas,
graduates of SSE’s degree gister of SSE graduates.
The Association works
from specific situations at work
programs in Stockholm.
Activities include organi- in close cooperation with
to career planning at large.”
The Association offers
zing the mentorship prothe Alumni Office at SSE.
gram (see above) and social events such as class
reunions, business lunches
PHOTO: SCANPIX
Soaring
Berlin
The rebirth of
Potsdamer Platz
Today’s Berlin is a
thriving city that attracts
people from around the
globe. One of them is
David Pagels, who
received his Executive
MBA from SSE in 2000
and moved to Berlin three
years later.
In recent years, Berlin
has emerged as one of
Europe’s most exciting cities when it comes to big
business, arts and culture.
39, director for
strategic sourcing for
Bombardier Transportation, reflects on the city
that has been his home
for the past four years:
“Berlin is a large city, but
DAVID PAGELS,
For more information see
http://www.hhsalumniassociation.se
doesn’t feel as busy as
Paris or London,” he says.
Pagels loves Berlin and
taking his kids – Hugo, 4,
and Daniel, 1.5 – to the
Berlin Zoo or for walks
around the picturesque
lake Schlachtensee. He
recommends that visitors
spend time at cultural
and historical landmarks
such as Charlottenburg,
Unter den Linden and
Tiergarten. And Potsdamer Platz, where a hitech, futuristic new Berlin
rises on the spot that
used to harbour nothing
but a security zone next
to the torn-down Wall.
“Berlin is a highly cultured city,” Pagels says.
“There are thriving art,
music and club scenes. All
the museums on the
Museum Insel island are
DID YOU KNOW...
Less than 20 percent of
SSE’s budget is funded by
the Swedish Government.
SSE’S PROJECTED REVENUES 2007
33%
Contribution from
the SSE Association
18%
12%
Contribution from the
Swedish Government
10%
8%
8%
7%
4%
External research
grants
(Handelshögskoleföreningen)
well worth visiting.”
He enjoys working in
Berlin but admits that the
German work culture is
different from that in his
native Sweden. “Germany
is much more hierarchical
and titles are still com-
Contributions from
Corporate Partners
and individual donors
Contributions from the
SSE MBA foundations
Contributions from
other foundations
Revenues from
service functions
Revenues from
external education
monly used, even if you’ve
worked for someone for
ten years,” he says.
his time at
SSE, Pagels says: “I
selected SSE due to its
reputation and high ranking. The teachers were
excellent and I had many
interesting colleagues. In
addition, the part-time
structure suited me.”
Pagels is about to leave
his beloved Berlin to take
up a new position as head
of procurement at ITT
Flygt in Stockholm.
“Berlin is not my last
session outside
“Titles are still common- Sweden but we
want our two
ly used, even if you’ve
boys to start
worked for someone
school here in
for ten years”
Sweden,” Pagels
DAVID PAGELS, EMBA ’00
concludes.
LOOKING BACK ON
1-2007 SSE TODAY
15
UPDATE
Pushing for
publishing
Magnus Bratt and
Johan Wennström,
Mira Network
PHOTO: SAMIR SOUDAH
“Just by changing
an address, you
may release a chain
reaction of activities
when several other
alumni log on to
update their own
profiles”
They trigger chain reactions
Ever regretted that you’ve lost contact with your former
schoolmates? Thanks to two SSE alumni, it’s now easier than
ever to stay in touch – for life.
Magnus Bratt and Johan
Wennström, both SSE alumni,
should know the value of keeping contact with former schoolmates. It’s the very idea that has
manifested itself in their company, Mira Network.
“There are three things that
you get from being a graduate of
the Stockholm School of Economics that will stick to you for life –
the education, the diploma and
the friends,” Wennström says.
touch over the years
may not be all that easy when
your old friends scatter with the
wind. That is what Bratt and
Wennström realized when they
were still at school.
In the mid 1990s they joined
forces and developed a virtual
community for one of the institutions at SSE, and so the saga
of AlumniNet was born.
Bratt (Class of ’94) was the
BUT KEEPING IN
16
SSE TODAY 1-2007
webmaster and Wennström
(Class of ’92) the editor of the
Student Association magazine
Hermes, when they realized that
they could benefit from each other’s expertise. They also shared
an interest in the mechanisms
behind social networks.
had formed their own
company, Mira Network. Seven
years later AlumniNet was
introduced centrally at SSE, and
today the community has close
to 2,800 users. And it’s growing,
thanks to active alumni,
Wennström says.
“Just by changing an address,
you may release a chain reaction
of activities when several other
alumni log on to update their
own profiles,” he says.
Mira Network has developed
into a success saga too. Today
more than 20 universities in the
Nordic countries use Mira
BY 1998 THEY
Network’s platform. Among them
are the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in Bergen and the Helsinki University of Technology.
“Expanding
internationally is
natural for us. We
have recently
developed a system
for UBS in Switzerland, and last year
we increased our
turnover by 50 percent,” Bratt says.
Keep track of
Network’s other alumni on
solution includes
http://alumninet.
hhs.se
much more than
the alumni network. A support
system for contact management
has been added as well as a system for fundraising and donor
management. Among the corporate customers are Telia Sonera
and OMX.
ERIK WANNELID
TODAY MIRA
The Financial Times uses 40 journals to gauge a school’s research
activity, and IFL at SSE wants to encourage faculty and researchers to publish in
them. Effective immediately, IFL will offer
a grant to each author employed by SSE
who publishes in one of these key journals. For the first year, IFL has set the
payment at 20,000 kronor per article.
“Now that IFL at SSE has decided to
become an internationally highly ranked
player, it is important to show our customers that our strength lies not only in
top-notch teaching, but in academic accomplishments on the international stage as well,” says Peter Hägglund, PhD
and CEO of IFL at SSE. “This initiative is the first of what I hope
will be a series of new
ideas and methods
aimed at highlighting the goals
and achievements
of SSE’s academic
staff.”
Visit AlumniNet:
Set the ball
rolling
On assignment in Timbuktu or
Nikkaluokta and wondering if
there are any other alumni nearby?
Wondering whatever happened to the others in the Class of ’82?
The search ability of
AlumniNet is the answer
to all of your needs.
AlumniNet, SSE’s vastly
popular networking community, contains the latest facts about what’s
going on at SSE, numerous interest groups and
contact information on
other alumni.
If you haven’t already registered, simply go to http://alumninet.hhs.se
Fill in the application form and you will
receive an e-mail with your personal username and password.
AlumniNet is administrated by the
Alumni Office at SSE.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate
to contact the Alumni Office at
+46 8 736 94 99 or alumninet@hhs.se
The people pictured here have
nothing to do with this advertisement
New skills needed
Russia and the Baltic states have been on an upwardly mobile
roller coaster ride since the fall of the Soviet Union. The highpaced changeover from command to market economy has
created a huge demand for management skills.
JOHAN ANDERSSON, BIRGITTA BERNVALL, ALEXANDER FARNSWORTH
Every year thousands of
Swedes fly east, passing
over a giant market just a few
hours from Sweden. But there
are three good reasons to stop
– a growing Russian middle class,
economic growth and a gigantic
market.
“It is time to demystify Russia,” says Stefan Gullgren, deputy head of mission at the Swedish Embassy in Moscow.
For a long time, Russia was all
about short-term profits and
snappy bargains. The country’s
passage from a planned economy
to a market economy has been
painful, with setbacks along the
way. Today there is a glimpse of
18
SSE TODAY 1-2007
belief in the future, and planning
horizons are longer.
Swedish companies daring to
invest in the Russian market
have everything to win. The level
of education is high, and wages
outside Moscow are still low. But
a concerted effort is necessary,
and personal presence is of great
significance.
It is important to make a
timetable and not to be tricked
into taking short cuts. Corruption is common, and seemingly
smart solutions can pop up along
the way. The best advice is to follow laws and regulations and to
do things right from the start.
This saves problems later.
“Russia has only just begun to
become a developed market economy,” says Ulf Persson, managing
partner at private equity company Mint Capital, which
invests in
unlisted Russian
companies. “But
fast-growing consumption and
company invest-
ments together create an abundance of business opportunities.”
Stefan Gullgren of the Swedish Embassy says that Russia is
an important market that is necessary for Sweden’s development.
“Competitors of Swedish companies are already here or on the
way. There are important positions to conquer or maintain. The
longer you wait, the harder – and
more expensive – it becomes.
Sweden’s advantage is that Russia is close by and Sweden’s
brand is strong here.”
Baltic business boom
We call them the Baltic states, a
little carelessly. But anyone
clumping together Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as a
“Fast-growing consumption
single market would
do best to rethink.
and company investments
“These are three
together create an abundance
countries that really
of business opportunities”
only have their trouULF PERSSON, MINT CAPITAL
bled history under the
Soviet Union in common,” says
Petra Zachrisson, a former Swedish Trade Council manager in Tallinn, Estonia. “They are different
in every other way. Estonia and
Latvia do have a language connection, but they are separate markets.”
The almost absurdly quick
economic development in the
three countries has generated a
growing middle class, with a lot
of money and a strong desire for
design and quality. All three Baltic states suffer from labor shortages. They also frown on indecisiveness in employers and
business partners. Decisions
need to be made on the trot.
Everything goes at express speed
in the Baltics – understandably,
given the states’ extremely fast
economic development. In just 15
years the three countries have
gone through the same stages of
development that Sweden has
seen since the Second World War.
Anyone wanting to do business in the Baltic states or wanting a career on the other side of
the Baltic Sea would be wise to
look over his or her network.
“The best way to make progress is through using contacts,”
says Erik Sprängare at the
Swedish Trade Council in Riga,
Latvia. “If you have been recommended by a person in a network, you will find it significantly easier to do business.”
SSE stirs the East
The dramatic political and economic changes that have transformed Eastern Europe in the
past two decades have provided
fertile ground for a business
school like SSE. Since the school
pushed for eastward expansion
in the mid 1990s, the SSE community has furnished considerable expertise to the new economies of the Baltic states and
Russia through SSE Riga and
SSE Russia.
“SSE has played a vital role
for East Capital from the start,”
Peter Elam Håkansson, chair-
man of East Capital, an asset
manager specializing in Eastern
Europe, says of his alma mater.
“At SSE there has always been a
pool of talented individuals to
recruit from who share our passion for Eastern Europe. This
includes both Swedes and people
from the region itself.”
a joint venture between
SSE and the Latvian Ministry of
Education and Science, opened
its doors to the first class of students in 1994. The idea to start a
business school in the Baltic
states came from former SSE
President Staffan Burenstam
Linder, who had been a minister
of trade for Sweden and who
foresaw the need to train a new
generation of managers in the
Baltic states after the fall of the
Soviet Union.
Today, SSE Riga has become a
fiercely competitive undergraduate institution producing topclass graduates who quickly
make their way into leading positions in the Baltic states as well
as outside the region. Getting
into SSE Riga is roughly as competitive as winning acceptance to
an American Ivy League school
like Harvard, with 10 to 12 applicants per place. Since its inception, SSE Riga has graduated
more than 1,000 BSc students,
and employers
regularly contact the school
to recruit.
In addition to
the BSc program, SSE Riga
offers various
SSE RIGA,
PHOTO: SCANPIX
PHOTO: GETTY
The beautiful Art Nouveau
building designed by architect
Mikhail Eisenstein in the early
19th century is the home of
SSE Riga – Rigas Ekonomikas
Augstskola in Latvian.
of years we have been a bridgeomies should not be underestibuilding institution between
mated,” says
Sweden, the Baltic states and the
Håkansson of
EU,” says Anders Paalzow, PresiEast Capital.
dent of SSE Riga.
“As one of the
“Companies from both the
largest invesprivate and public sectors in the
tors in the BalBaltic states and Sweden are
tics, we concoming to us to train their manstantly meet
agers and executives,”
Paalzow says. “Recent “Companies from both the
Swedish clients
Baltic states and Sweden are
include Telia Sonera,
coming to us to train their
Länsförsäkringar,
managers and executives”
Svenskt Näringsliv
ANDERS PAALZOW, SSE RIGA
(the Confederation of
Swedish Enterprise),
Almi and Swedbank.”
people from SSE in all types of
Tuition is free, but
positions at companies we visit
“At SSE there has always been the Executive MBA pro- and invest in.”
a pool of talented individuals gram costs upwards of
20,000 euro per year
SSE RUSSIA, founded in 1997, was
to recruit from who share our and helps to defray
the first internationally accredpassion for Eastern Europe” other costs. All instrucited business school in Russia.
tion is in English and
Its aim is to support the developPETER ELAM HÅKANSSON, EAST CAPITAL
most of the students –
ment of sustainable business in
executive education programs
enrollment totals about 400,
Russia and to “bestow upon capiincluding an Executive MBA proincluding executives – are from
talism a human face.”
gram – programs that have beneLatvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
“There is a huge need for wellfited corporations in both Latvia
“The strong effect that SSE
educated managers in Russia,”
and Sweden. “In the last couple
Riga has had on the Baltic econHåkansson says. “This is not
1-2007 SSE TODAY
19
‚
Last year saw the Moscow RTS Stock Exchange rise a hefty 71 percent, keeping traders and investors alike happy. Russian economic growth hit a six-year high of
7.9 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2007 and The Economist predicts that
”robust domestic demand may ensure that the full-year rate does not slow appreciably
from the 6.7 percent outturn seen in 2006.”
likely to change for a long time,
and as an employer in Russia we
highly value people who have
studied at SSE.”
After the initial entrepreneurial phase, offering a broad range
of activities, SSE Russia, with
campuses in both Moscow and
Saint Petersburg, is now focused
on its core business – Executive
MBA and related top-level education programs. Unlike SSE Riga,
it does not offer an undergraduate program.
in-class discussions.
“Professors are best off introducing themselves to their Russian classes as persons with
standing,” Liljenberg says.
Degrees and titles matter
more than in Sweden, where the
tendency is to be more casual.
SSE RUSSIA positions
itself in the
market between two poles. On the
one hand are the flashy, rather
lightweight institutions that offer
“edutainment” programs, and on
the other hand are the
traditional university“Our format is much more
styled Russian schools
interactive, but still very
offer more of a onemuch anchored in academic that
way communication
research”
between professor and
ANDERS LILJENBERG, SSE RUSSIA
student.
“Our format is much
still have great opportunities in
more interactive, but still very
light of Russia’s exceptional marmuch anchored in academic
ket development.”
research,” Liljenberg says.
The traditional teaching style
in Russia is rather different from
For more information, see
the SSE ideal – more authoritywww.sseriga.edu.lv
and www.sserussia.org
laden and less inviting of
‘It helps to know a lot of smart people’
SSE Russia’s presence on the Russian academic landscape in the past 10 years
has helped to develop an infrastructure of highly educated “social capital,”
according to Evgeni Terukov, a 2001 Executive MBA graduate of SSE Russia.
“SSE Russia is still the best
and highest-ranked school in
Russia,” says Terukov, 30, who
runs a strategic consulting and
coaching agency for Russian
executives.
Terukov is an active alumnus.
He has helped organize networking events like breakfast meetings, New Year’s parties, case
study meetings, talks by management gurus like Jim Collins, and even art events like the
“Beyond Business Photography”
photo show where alumni could
display their best photos.
“This is my way of building
social capital, as every SSE grad-
20
SSE TODAY 1-2007
uate is a potential client,” Terukov says. “While these efforts
have not really been paid back
in my business,
I still believe it
helps to know
a lot of smart
people.”
Terukov is
married to an
SSE graduate,
but he also admits, “I am married to SSE Russia.”
800 SSE Russia graduates, according to Terukov, 250
are active in alumni activities
and consider themselves part of
the wider SSE family.
SSE Russia is the only business school ranked on an Executive MBA level by Financial Times. While it’s
“There has been tremendous
hard to quantify, Terukov argues that SSE
growth here but it is unstable. No one is looking further Russia’s alumni have
played an important
than one or two years ahead” role in turning Russia
EVGENI TERUKOV
into one of the world’s
OUT OF ABOUT
most vibrant economies, even
if the development of Russia’s
economy has traditionally been
hindered by a lack of infrastructure in the form of roads, telecoms, business and services.
“There has been tremendous
growth here but it is unstable,”
Terukov says. “No one is looking
further than one or two years
ahead. Longer forecasts are still
rare in business, but the government has done a lot to develop
the business infrastructure in
Russia. The rules of the game
are more understandable,” says
Terukov.
ALEXANDER FARNSWORTH
PHOTO: PONTUS HÖÖK
PHOTO: AFP/SCANPIX
Opportunities abound. “We
used to have a broad palette of
activities, which was natural for
an entrepreneurial organization
in the beginning, but today we
are more focused on our core
Executive MBA
program and
related activities,” says
Anders Liljenberg, president
of SSE Russia.
“We definitely
WORLD BEATERS
Where the grass
is greener
Loving everything about New York except the
taxi drivers, Christine Lindbergson mingles
with the movers and shakers of Wall Street as
a corporate strategist at JP Morgan Chase.
‚
New York was not really in the cards
for Christine Lindbergson when she
graduated from SSE in 2005. She had
planned to work in Stockholm, but then she
met an American. Now she looks back on
what has turned out to be an exciting and
educational two years.
“I’m still finding new places to explore and
things to learn and do,” she says. “It’s wonderful, and I love the excitement and diversity of
the city.”
Lindbergson works in the heart of the
financial world as a corporate strategist for
JP Morgan Chase. “Since I’m working at the
global headquarters I’m working with the
senior leadership and movers and shakers. I
feel like I’m really at the center of the action.”
in New York was at McKinsey &
Co., where she says she learned how to get a
lot of things done quickly on projects that
involved many different people. The experience she gained there has been valuable at
HER FIRST JOB
JP Morgan Chase, where she works with the
leaders of the company on a day-to-day basis.
When she first arrived in New York, the
cultural adjustments were the most difficult
to make, she says. “I’ve had to learn the subtle communication cues that Americans take
for granted, such as references to TV shows
they grew up with or lines from old movies.
The subtle things take the longest to pick up,
but having an American boyfriend helps.”
CHRISTINE LINDBERGSON
Class of: ‘03. Age: 28. From: Stockholm.
Major: Economics. Degree: MSc Economics and Business from SSE, MSc Industrial
Engineering and Management from the Royal
Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Favorite restaurant in New York:
Nobu. Favorite store: Barney’s. Must
see: The European and Greek sculpture
gardens in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Avoid at all costs: Times Square – it’s
garish and overrun with tourists. Where
the action is: Below 14th Street, above
Canal Street. Best place outside NYC:
Garrison, New York, a charming artists’ colony
that’s just a short trip up the Hudson River.
of the city. “I go to the beach with my friends
or we visit quaint towns along the coast. It
makes you feel like you are on vacation every
weekend.”
she loves Central Park, especially in the spring and fall, when you can
almost feel you’re in the countryside rather
than in the middle of one of the world’s biggest cities. Another treat is strolling the treelined streets between the park and her
apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East
“Since I’m working at the global
Side. For bars and restaurants, she recheadquarters, I feel like I’m really ommends the West Village, the historic
at the center of the action”
heart of literary Greenwich Village,
and the vibrant East Village nearby.
NEW YORK’S FABLED frightening traffic presented
She’s not sure how long she will stay in
another challenge. “At my first job, I someNew York.
times had to drive in the city and I was terri“It will be a hard decision we will eventufied. Cab drivers are really aggressive here –
ally have to make,” she says wistfully.
they’ll cut you off in a second. But I got used
She misses her friends and family in
to it and it’s actually exciting now.”
Stockholm, but feels enriched by the opportuOn summer weekends she tries to get out
nities the city offers.
IN NEW YORK CITY
1-2007 SSE TODAY
21
ILLUSTRATION: ANDREA SJÖSTRÖM
Put your money o
The horse and the jockey represent
a deep-rooted debate splitting venture
capitalists into two camps. Now it
appears the issue has been settled.
When in doubt, bet on the horse.
venture capitalists what they
look for in a good investment, you may
get answers like a good management team, a
strong product and large market potential.
All of this is important, but is there a way to
quantify the importance of product, strategy
and business plan in relation to the importance of the team carrying it out?
IF YOU ASK
22
SSE TODAY 1-2007
“Both non-human and human capital are,
of course, important for a company’s success,
but if one has to make a call on the margin,
the bet should be on the horse,” says Per
Strömberg, a senior research fellow at SIFR
and associate professor of finance at SSE.
The horse and jockey analogy reflects two
different financing philosophies: Either you
believe the product is the key and bet on the
horse, or you believe management is the key
and bet on the jockey.
“Another way to phrase it is to say that
you either bet on an A-team with a B-idea or
on a B-team with an A-idea,” Strömberg says.
“Many venture capitalists operate on the
assumption that even if an idea isn’t perfect,
it could be made so by the right management, but our research indicates otherwise.
Management teams can be, and are, replaced,
but only good ideas survive.”
Strömberg knows what he is talking
about. Working together with University of
Chicago Graduate School of Business Professor Steven N Kaplan and Assistant Professor
Berk A Sensoy of the University of Southern
California, Strömberg has conducted extensive research into determining the success
factors of new companies, and their findings
are presented in the paper “What Are Firms?
Evolution from Birth to Public Companies.”
The paper is currently under revision for the
highly prestigious Journal of Finance.
“Striking” stability
of the business model
Strömberg, Kaplan and Sensoy based their
research on 50 case companies financed by
venture capitalists that subsequently went
public.
The idea was to trace the companies from
birth as they evolve, with focus on the weight
of non-human capital versus specific human
capital for a company’s success.
The companies were classified and codified
based on financial performance, business
idea, points of differentiation, non-human
capital assets, growth strategy, customers,
competitors, alliances, top management, ownership structure and board of directors.
Specifically, the research compared the
companies at three different stages based on
the early business plan at the time of venture capital financing, the prospectus at the
time of the initial public offering (IPO) and
annual reports once the companies had been
listed three years.
“Management teams can be, and
are, replaced, but only good
ideas survive”
The single most striking finding, says Strömberg, was the
almost complete stability of the
business model.
“It surprised us how little the business
idea changed through the process,” he says.
“In the whole sample, there was only one
case where we found that a company had
made a significant change in its original
idea.”
He noted that as companies evolve, they
either stay true to their original business
idea or broaden it. One such example is eBay.
The on-line auction giant initially intended
to limit its site to trade Pez candy dispensers,
but it expanded the business concept to
include other items.
In terms of human capital, the results
were less clear-cut and the importance of
specific human capital tended to change as
the company evolved.
“Having the right
idea is what counts”
“In an early start-up, the entrepreneur or
inventor is a key figure, but once a company
has important patents, intellectual property
and a business organization in place, the
entrepreneur is less important for its future
success,” Strömberg says.
In contrast to the stability of the business
plan, changes in the management team were
fairly commonplace in the sample. Comparing the start-up business plan with the
annual report, they found that only half the
CEOs and 25 percent of the other top five
executives remained the same.
“One conclusion is that while human capital is important, specific people appear less
so,” Strömberg says. “Having the right idea is
what counts.”
the sample companies’ IPOs took
place from 1998 to 2000 at the height of the
technology boom, and during a relatively
short time frame. They were also all financed
by venture capitalists. This raised the question of selection bias, so in order to address
selection issues the researchers applied their
methodology to all IPOs of start-ups in the
US during 2004. The conclusions were the
same. Specific people are more critical to the
company early on before non-human assets
have formed. Once that has happened, it is the idea that is decisive. In other words: a poor management is much more likely to
be fixed by new management
than a poor idea is likely to be
fixed by a new idea.
A MAJORITY OF
on the horse
CAROLINA JOHANSSON
PHOTO: SAMIR SOUDAH
Financial research makes headlines
Per Strömberg – praised and published
SIFR – the Swedish Institute for
Financial Research – is a private,
independent non-profit organization established by academic and
business interests to conduct
and stimulate research in financial economics. It was founded
in 2001 and its activities are supported through donations from
Swedish financial institutions.
In July 2006, SIFR and SSE
agreed to initiate a collaboration
with the goal of creating a leading
research center in financial economics. Under the agreement,
SSE funds positions at SIFR, whi-
le researchers from SIFR serve
as lecturers and teachers at the
school.
PER STRÖMBERG joined
SIFR in
2004 as a senior research fellow.
He is also an associate professor
of finance at SSE and an adjunct
associate professor of finance at
the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
He graduated from SSE in
1991 and received his PhD from
Carnegie Mellon University.
Strömberg’s research has focused primarily on the areas of bank-
ruptcy and private equity finance.
His work has been published in
the Journal of Finance, American
Economic Review, Journal of Financial Intermediation, and Review of Economic Studies, and
has been presented at numerous
conferences and universities.
His work on bankruptcy auctions was awarded with the 2001
Brattle Prize for best corporate
finance paper published in the
Journal of Finance.
In 2006, he received the SSE
Corporate Partners Research
Award.
Per Strömberg
applies hands-on
research
1-2007 SSE TODAY
23
RES ULTS DO N ’ T J U S T H A P P E N
Bain delivers practical advice that leads to results – not reports.
www.bain.com
ON THE MOVE
Keep in touch and find out what your fellow
alumni are up to.
NEW BOOKS
Jan Lapidoth (‘62)
“When the book Funky
Business first appeared in
2000, it was a call to arms, a
wake-up call for anesthetized
corporate senses,” Jan says.
“To date, Funky Business
has been published in 33
languages, making it one of
the biggest-selling business
books ever. The book’s sequel,
Karaoke Capitalism, carried on
the funky riff and was also an
international bestseller. The
book’s creators, SSE alumni
Kjell Nordström and Jonas
Ridderstråle, have gone back
to the original and intellectually remastered it. Play it loud!
Funky Business Forever can
be played at higher volumes
while still retaining clarity
of funkiness. Funky Forever
contains a myriad of new
examples gathered by Kjell
and Jonas in their worldwide
foraging for the true meaning
of funk. The world is different
but we are forever funky,
funky forever.”
Ola Lauritzson (‘93)
Ola recently published his
sixth book, Pigg, Smal och
Glad – 5 veckor
till ett sundare
liv! (”Fit, Slim and
Happy – 5 weeks
to a healthier
life!”), a follow-up
to his previous best-selling
books about the GI diet, which
have been translated into a
number of European languages. “The new book includes
tips about how to eat healthier,
drink smarter, sleep better, become happier and train better.
Basically, it’s a handbook for a
healthy and happy life.”
Claes Ericson (‘97)
Together with David Cesarini,
Claes published the book Sovjetunionens roliga historia
(”The funny story of the Soviet
Union”) (Ersatz). The book
takes political jokes as the
point of departure for a light
introduction to the history of
the Soviet Union.
Carl Lindeborg (‘98)
Coach, trainer and speaker on
personal leadership, Carl has
released his book
Ditt briljanta jag
(”Your brilliant
self”). “It focuses
on how we can
coach ourselves
to create life from inside out
to an even higher extent, for
higher motivation and truer
self-realization.” Carl has been
A MATTER OF CLASS...
lecturing on motivation at
SSE MBA. Read more at
www.carllindeborg.com
VENTURES
Sam Giertz (‘97)
Sam has just completed a
management buyout of Panopticon Software, a company
he co-founded six years ago
with Willem De Geer, a fellow
SSE alumnus. “It has been an
interesting journey to build a
Swedish BI software company
from scratch to a global niche
leader, producing software
in Sweden and selling to the
financial services sector in
New York and London.”
Peter Kropenin (‘67)
“Same, same but different,”
says Peter about leaving
Omega Film to restart his old
company under the new name
Hob AB. The company has its
headquarters on Fårö, the
island where Ingmar Bergman
lived, with offices in Stockholm
and Luleå. The core business
Graduates from SSE’s three- and four year BSc and MSc programs, and IGP
students, commonly identify with the year of admission. This is why Class of ’95
or simply ’95 refers to the starting year and not the year of graduation.
For MBA, EMBA and PhD program participants, however, the magazine refers
to the year of graduation.
Congratulations!
Christine ‘Stina’ Heger (formerly Nylén),
married Max Heger on May 19, 2007.
They are both SSE Class of ‘96.
is the production of film and
television features, shorts
and documentaries. “The work
from Hob AB will be characterized by curiosity and boldness,
making it always interesting
to take on new challenges in
the media field,” Peter says.
“Don’t hesitate to get in touch,
peter@hobab.se.”
Peter Wallenskog (‘83)
Since 2002, Peter has been the
CEO of Genline AB (www.genline.se), an online subscription
service that provides access
to Swedish historical records
for genealogical research. He
currently owns
10 percent of
the company. The
Genlines Swedish
Vital Records
archive contains
scanned images of 32 million pages of Swedish church
records from the 1600s to
around 1897.
Niklas Tell (‘92)
Niklas is a founding partner
of Tell Media Group AB, a
new research
and publishing
company
focused on asset
management.
“Last year we
started Fondbranschen, the
first and only B2B magazine for the Swedish asset
management industry, and
we look forward to launching
additional publications, both in
Sweden and abroad.”
Åsa Levin (‘85)
Åsa recently founded
1-2007 SSE TO DAY
25
ON THE MOVE
Luminosa Institute, focused on
serving international corporations and their top executives
with unique
services
related to
human potential. The
company
participated in the prestigious
2007 Talent Management
Summit in Montreux.
Carl Jonasson (EMBA ‘00)
After 5 years in the manufacturing and telecoms industries, Carl started Perform
Information Management,
a specialized management
consultancy company, together
with a former colleague. “It is
extremely satisfying to be able
to contribute to the creation
of new job
opportunities,
among other
things. We
help clients
in the manufacturing,
process, and
service industries increase
growth and profitability, reduce risk and improve the work
environment through strategic
solutions for information
management. As an example,
it is estimated that knowledge
workers today typically spend
between 15 percent and 40
percent of the total available
work hours searching for
information and unnecessarily
reworking existing material.
This represents a vast potential for improving productivity
as well as work satisfaction.
For more information, please
visit www.performim.se.”
Anders Östlund (‘95)
Anders and some associates
started the online marketplace Ticket2.com (www.
ticket2.com) in May 2006. “We
launched the
marketplace
to consumers
in July 2006,
and since then
the venture
has been on
a steady climb in terms of
turnover and revenue. Ticket2
is a specialized marketplace
for the resale of event tickets
such as musical, concert and
sport tickets. Ticket2 has an
escrow functionality to make
the transactions secure and
has been named one of the 20
hottest Swedish ventures by
the magazine Internet World.”
Helen Stenberg (formerly
Helen E. Nilsson) (‘83)
In 2001 Helen co-founded
Abridge AB, which offers
professional services within
service management, primarily to suppliers of machinery
and other technical equipment
to the manufacturing industry.
“In January 2007 we set up
the fully owned subsidiary
Attemptare AB. Here we have
collected a number of ideas
that relate to the modern
lifestyle, which is about not
taking anything from Mother
Earth without giving something back. We have developed
a tool to facilitate transportation of sticks, branches and
bushes from the garden to the
recycling center, ReTure. Visit
us at www.abridge.se or www.
attemptare.se.”
Carl Erik Sars and Jimmy
Tjärnlund (EMBA ’05)
Carl and Jimmy have jointly
founded United Logistics
Group, based on ideas developed during the EMBA Business
Development and IT program.
CONGRATULATIONS
Elizabeth Press (IGP ‘03)
Elizabeth has moved back
to Stockholm from Germany
with her husband to work at
Arthur D. Little. “In 2006 I got
married to Jonas Nickel from
“Did Emma become an
ambassador? She always
did love cocktails”
FIND OUT AT HTTP://ALUMNINET.HHS.SE
26
SSE TODAY 1-2007
Striking a new note
After bank jobs in Sweden and Switzerland and 10 years as CFO for Zurich
Financial Services in Stockholm,
Per Ahlander (‘82) wanted a change.
“So I moved to Scotland,
where I am now about to
complete a PhD at the
University of Edinburgh.
My thesis is a biographical study of Mrs. Marjory
Kennedy-Fraser (1857–
1930), a Scottish pianist,
Celtic Revivalist and collector of Hebridean songs. The
Berlin. He works as a global
technical specialist at GM. To
get back in touch, please e-mail
epress78@yahoo.de.”
Tom Hammar (former Larsson) (IGP ‘99)
Tom married Jenny in August
2006. “We decided to take my
grandmother’s maiden name
Hammar as our new surname.
Since January
we live in
New York City
where I work
for a Swedish
consultancy
called BTS and Jenny works as
a freelance photographer.”
Tommy Adamsson (‘64)
As chairman of Stockholms
Grosshandlarsocietet, Tommy
had the privilege of handing
out scholarships to four
students at SSE on May 30
for further studies abroad
after their exams and to three
students running the project
Radon at SSE
Business Lab.
The ceremony
to award the
scholarships,
totalling
235,000 kronor, took place
at a luncheon at Operakällaren
in Stockholm.
NEW HORIZONS
Gustaf Rössner (‘01)
Connections and hard work
brought Gustaf to New York
City and the
Swedish-American Chamber
of Commerce in
2005, and he
completed his
thesis there.
“Since August 2006 I’ve been
with Samsung Electronics on a
long-term trainee program, the
Samsung Global Scholarship
Program. I will be studying
and working in South Korea,
Chicago, London and Stockholm for the next five years.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if
you’re coming to any of those
places or have questions or
thoughts about Samsung.”
Andreas Nilsson (‘92)
Andreas has left EQT Partners
to participate in the PhD
program at SSE with a focus
on financial economics.
Alfred Bretschneider (‘58 &
PhD ‘83)
Recently retired from a
hectic life as an international
consultant to the UN, EU and
Swedish government, Alfred
is now enjoying family life in
Norrköping, Sweden, with his
wife and their teenage son. He
assists his wife with her new
travel agency, which specializes in trips to the Philippines,
her home country. “Time
passes fast.
So it goes,
as Kurt Vonnegut used
to say – well
kept in good
memory in
our hearts.”
research work has been a
fascinating and rewarding
journey through Victorian
and Edwardian Britain.
In addition, it has given
me the opportunity to
lecture around Scotland,
including an appearance on
Scottish television,”
Ahlander concludes.
Ester Barinaga (PhD ‘02)
Ester was invited in May 2006
to spend a year doing research
at Stanford University. She is
spending all of 2007 living and
working in sunny California.
Göran Ahlberg (‘61)
Göran reports from Fréjus,
a small town in southern
France: “For 10 years my
wife Kerstin and I have had
an excellent life here. I have
been in the consultancy field
since 1990. Since turning 65,
I have restricted my efforts to
identifying individuals at risk
for stress-related problems
in order to prevent them. The
procedure, developed together
with a surgeon at Capio St
Göran’s Hospital in Stockholm,
is based on
measuring
cortisol as
an objective
response
from the
body and not by traditional
questionnaires that elicit
subjective answers. To me this
is a meaningful de-escalation
of life in business, grounded
at SSE, EFI and IFL during the
1960s.”
Olof Schyllander (EMBA ‘06)
“I finally got around to making
a complete switch of industry
for my future career,” Olof
reports. “This is something
that I have thought about for
the last couple of years. IT infrastructure outsourcing, my
previous field of expertise, was
often challenging, exciting and
rewarding, but I had this wish
“Am I the only
SSE alumnus
now working
in Beijing?”
FIND OUT AT HTTP://
ALUMNINET.HHS.SE
to work in a more ‘tangible’
industry. I will definitely find
this in my new position at
Kalmar Industries, a global
provider of container and
heavy-duty materials-handling
equipment, automation applications and related services.
I will head the after-sales
organization for Kalmar in
Sweden, comprising more than
200 professionals. The EMBA
program contributed to this
career move by giving me tools
and the confidence to act on
the opportunity. I started my
new position in September
2007.”
NEW CHALLENGES
Anders Borg (‘00)
Since June 4, Anders has been
working at the Boston Consulting Group’s Stockholm office.
“After two years in two entrepreneurial start-up companies,
my experiences with all the
excitement and challenges of
bringing something new to
the market have
made me want
to do something
else. I would
love to go for a
coffee or beer on
Skeppsbron with friends who
are passing by Gamla Stan
(Stockholm’s Old Town).”
Martin Sebesta (‘94)
Martin has been hired as
senior consultant and partner
at 4C Strategies,
a consulting
company in the
risk and crisis
management
profession in
Scandinavia. Previously, he
worked as a strategy consultant at Monitor Group and a
manager at the Swedish Emergency Management Agency.
Lars Lundström (‘91)
Lars has made a career move
to become head of business development at Citat AB, a leading
Nordic communications company
that works with
effective production, consultancy
services and
outsourcing within marketing
and communications.
Anders Sjöman (‘92)
Previously a case developer
with Harvard Business School
at its Paris research center,
Anders is now
a PR and communications
consultant with
Stockholmbased communication consultancy Springtime.
Sophie Haarlem (‘97)
Sophie recently got a new job
as team leader for key account
managers in Sweden at Bergen
Promoting China
Jiexing Yu (IGP ‘03)
Jiexing is now the general
manager of a Swedish company, Tiens Sverige AB, whose
parent company is in China.
The group does direct and retail
selling of food supplements,
health equipment and cosmetics
in more than 190 countries. “Our
goal is to be Fortune 500 by
2010. I am really proud to contribute to a Chinese-Swedish company
to promote cooperation and development of both countries.”
“Our goal is to
be Fortune
500 by 2010”
Energi, one of Europe’s largest
energy brokerage houses with
a focus on electricity, gas and
oil. “We have customers spread
all over Europe and in all sorts
of businesses. At the moment
the Swedish key account team
is responsible for a portfolio
worth about 10 billion kronor
and constantly growing.”
Magnus Marklinder
(EMBA ‘03)
Magnus has been appointed
COO/CIO at
Volvo Truck
Corp. for
Northern Africa
and the Middle
East. “In my
new role, I am responsible for
meeting the goal of increasing
vehicle truck sales by 300
percent during the 2008-2010
business plan period.”
Timothy Ekstrand (‘98)
In the fall of 2004, with only
his master’s thesis left, Timothy went to Japan to work for
Volvo Trucks’ International
Division (ID) partly funded
by a scholarship. “At Volvo I
was working with business
intelligence (BI). After about
two years in Tokyo I got
transferred to Beijing and
then assumed responsibility
for the BI function for ID. One
year later I’m about to start
work in Gothenburg, at Volvo
Trucks ID headquarters. My
new responsibility will be BI
plus two additional functions:
business planning and market
research. I will surely miss my
days in Tokyo and Beijing, both
dynamic cities, although it will
still feel good
to recharge
the batteries
for a while
in Sweden
before I pursue another
assignment abroad. I wish all
SSE alumni good luck in the
future, both professionally and
in their personal lives.”
Steen Nielsen (PhD ‘96)
Steen is an associate professor
at the Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus
University,
Denmark.
“In 1996
I got the
Association
of Swedish
Public Business Economists
Award Prize for my dissertation, for which I also thank
my former committee, Lars S.
Samuelson, Ingolf Ståhl and Bo
Sellstedt. I am now functioning
as coordinator for MSc in
accounting and controlling at
the Aarhus School of Business.
SSE has really helped me get
a better hold on theory and
methods, and at the same time
I was part of an interesting
and innovative research
department at SSE.”
Ian Jens Pohl (‘94)
Ian graduated from Harvard
Law School on June 7 and
joined New York law firm Paul,
Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton &
Garrison LLP
in September
as a corporate
associate in
the capital
markets
department.
After graduating from SSE, Ian
had worked as an associate
for Swedish law firm Vinge. He
became a Swedish attorney
in 2005.
“Did Johan
and Annika
from my class
get married?”
FIND OUT AT HTTP://
ALUMNINET.HHS.SE
Amy Chen Lu (IGP ‘98)
Amy has settled in New York
to pursue a career in the
banking industry. “I graduated
from the IGP program in 1999.
Right now I am a portfolio
manager of fixed income
securities at HSH Investment
Management LLC. I would
love to know if there are SSE
alumni here in New York and
to establish contact, as well as
catch up with old friends who
graduated from SSE.”
Yuliang Chang (IGP ‘03)
Yuliang has joined Goldman
Sachs in Beijing after graduation and is now working
as a portfolio strategist in the
Global Investment Research
Division, focusing on portfolio
strategies in Chinese equities.
Hans Christopher “HC”
Toll (‘90)
After 10-plus years in finance
and accounting roles, mainly
in manufacturing and telecom,
HC opted to
help to take
AIK Fotboll
AB, one of
Sweden’s
oldest and
biggest
football clubs,
to the stock market. “I joined
AIK Fotboll AB as CFO in March
2006, and we were listed on
the Nordic Growth Market in
July 2006. The challenge is to
use business tools and methods
to improve the running of the
company, without losing the spirit and idealism on which every
football club is built.”
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1-2007 SSE TODAY
27
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