Message from New Chairman of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

Dear members and friends, 

I’m happy to write to you for the first time in my capacity as Chairman of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China. I have of course been a board member for several years and frequently attend many of the Chamber events mainly here in Beijing, but also sometimes in Shanghai. It was really impressive to visit Style by Sweden last weekend in Shanghai. The exhibits were very nice and interesting and I think the Chamber Team did a tremendous job putting all this together and also securing funding from the Swedish Institute.

I look forward to see all of you at future events, of which there are many to choose from.

I would also like to write to you concerning a New Chamber Initiative. We are all struggling with, what many call, The Perception Gap, the difference in the view of China at our Head Offices in Sweden with the perception we have here who are working on the ground in China. This is a problem for most companies, and we will later publish a Chamber White Paper to explore this issue further.

One thing is clear: the best way to bridge the Perception Gap is to have our Head Office Colleagues visit China. Here they can meet with clients, suppliers, government officials and other partners in addition to their own colleagues and also feel the pace. It is however often also interesting to meet with other Swedish Companies, be it from the same sector or other sectors, to compare notes on their view on China. The Chamber would like to offer a service to connect Members with other member companies in order to set up meetings when there are colleagues visiting from Head Office, so that they can listen to the views of other Swedish Companies. 

We believe in the Board that this can be very useful for all of us. When you are preparing a visit from Head Office, please let the chamber Team in Shanghai or Beijing know and they will provide the relevant contacts to set up a meeting with the appropriate chamber member who will be happy to share their view of the Chinese market, government relations etc.

I hope you all have a great summer and look forward to seeing you soon.

Best regards,

Peter Ling-Vannerus

Chairman of Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China