Day 14 - Denmark!

This afternoon we arrived in Denmark! After a brief plane ride from Sweden, we stepped off the plane in Copenhagen. I was expected Danes to look similar to Swedes, however they look very different. There are far less blondes, and the people are less attractive in general.  I also saw more overweight people in my first day in Denmark than I did in two weeks in Swedish.  After walking for what seemed like hours with our luggage (we we're given instructions to the wrong Cab Inn location), we arrived at our hotel in downtown Copenhagen.  We are a short walk away from the central train station, thee Royal Palace, the shopping district, and even from Copenhagen's infamous red light district.  We were given explicit instructions to not go there under any circumstances, and were warned of the dangers from the mobs and gangs that fight for control of this area. This is one example of how Sweden was a little safer; Danes aren't necessarily as friendly, and while Copenhagen isn't an unsafe city, caution should be taken.  One positive difference is the amount of cyclists here.  There are hundreds of bikers constantly riding at breakneck speeds in bike lanes, and they do not brake for pedestrians (a couple members of our group were hit by bikers).  The architecture was also much different, as most buildings in Copenhagen seem to be built out of red brick, and often adorned with corroded copper statues and decorations.     This will be a completely new adventure to explore, and I wish we had more than two days!

Day 13 - Wireless Car

For our last full day in Sweden, we visited Wireless Car, a subsidiary of AB Volvo. Wireless Car is like the European version of OnStar, which they describe as "Global telematics with local flavor".  And they are quite global;  their products are in BMW and Volvo cars, Volvo Trucks, and Volvo Construction Equipment in 50 countries across the globe.

Wireless car is a "white label" company, meaning their product is never visible to the end-user. They provide the information technology to to Volvo and BMW, who integrate it in their product and give it their brand.  This has many mutual benefits; Wireless Car doesn't have to market to the end-user, they can piggy-back of the Volvo and BMW brand (who spend millions to sustain and improve their image), Wireless Car doesn't have to worry about call centers and can therefore focus almost exclusively on product development.  The amount they put into development shows through all the feature they are able to offer. As I was listening, I realized their service blows OnStar away; not only do the offer emergency services in the event of a crash, they automatically forward a crash summary to the emergency dispatcher, such as where impact(s) occurred and the extent of the damage, how many passengers (and if they were in child seats), how many airbags deployed, the speed prior to impact, and GPS location. They also offer many fun products,such as integration with Google, Facebook (it can update your status with your current location), and a concierge service that locates restaurants and can book reservations. In addition to this, they offer a web browser interface and iPhone app that offers many services online. I was fascinated to learn you can check fluid, fuel, and battery levels, remote start the engine and turn on the heat or AC, lock and unlock doors, open and close windows, and check the real-time location of the car.

Day 12 - University of Gothenburg lectures, the Fish Church, and Romantic Dinners

The day started with another return to the University of Gothenburg for a lecture titled "Doing Business in Europe; The Creation of a Single Internal Market" with our contact, Professor Claes G. Alvstram. He discussed the integration of the European Union and market as it deepened and widened post-WWII, and the steps taken forward for the legal, political, and economic alignment of Europe.  In addition, he covered the different levels in the European economies, starting at the supranational level and working down to the household level, and explained his support for free trade and the potential of borderless transactions. It got even better when he began to discuss global and European marketing, and European geography.  The best part, however, was when Professor Alvstram opened a dialog between his class and our group on Swedish culture and our opinions of it.  I hope we didn't come off as too critical; many of the things mentioned by our group could have been misinterpreted as complaints or whiny. However, we mentioned our favorite parts, like the safety and cleanliness of Gothenburg and Sweden, how friendly Swedes have been, and how sophisticated the city is as a whole.

And then we asked them what they thought of Americans in general... their responses were much more polite than I expected. The Swedish students laughed; it was a combination of nervous laughs and exchanged looks as if they were all sharing the same inside joke.  I heard some anonymous students jokingly blurt "***holes!" (and worse) and some tried to be nice by awkwardly and halfheartedly saying things like "some are... nice...".  However, they made sure to reassure us that we weren't bad and didn't fit that stereotype. Possibly one of the most funny embarrassing comments was when a Swede asked if we really were from Wisconsin, where "That 70s Show" is set.  Everyone in the class started laughing as they made the connection, and all I could do was pray they didn't assume we all smoked pot in our parent's basements and got into trouble in Small-Town, Wisconsin. So i'm going to blame America's bad international image on my parents and everyone else from the 1970s.

Afterwards, Alex and I went to a local landmark: the Feskekorka, or Fish Church. Its a famous fish market in a church-like building, and the food and fish they had there looked worthy off worship.  There were vendors with every type of fish, crustacean, mollusk, and sea-dwelling animal imaginable; I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a seahorse kebab if I asked around.  I saw huge bins of shrimp on ice, salmon steaks bigger than my arm, and completely indescribable delicacies.  I could easily have spent several hundred dollars in here if I had the means and a capable kitchen.

While the kitchen in our hostel wouldn't do those ingredients justice, Alex and I used it to its full potential tonight with a "bromantic" Italian/Swedish dinner, which just means we put cheap Swedish meatballs in cheap pasta sauce and poured it on pasta.  But for a meal costing $2.50 (most "cheap" meals are $10-15 in Sweden), it was excellent and very filling.  As they say here in Sweden, Smaklig måltid! (Bon Appetit)

Day 11 - ABB Robotics part II and Skapa

We embarked back to ABB Robotics for the second part of our meetings with them, and once again we had a blast.  Bertil Thorvaldsson gave another extremely professional and remarkable presentation to us, and started with an overview of product management and what product managers do. Every product has a product manager, who is responsible for every aspect that makes the product successful.  This includes everything from research and development to post-project analysis, which he showed through ABB Robotics "Market Driven Model for Managing and Marketing Technology Products": (disregard red text)

I found the position of product manager interesting because it encompassed all aspects of a business, and merged the technical with the creative.  Thorvaldsson taught us that as a product manager, there will always be something to do; there is never a moment when everything necessary has been achieved.

We also were able to witness ABB's robots in action; we went down to the workshop where and engineer demonstrated RobotStudio and a couple mid-sized robots. The software looks technical, yet easy to use and easy to adjust.  We also witnessed how precise these robots can be. 

Night 9 - Frolunda Indians, Italian with Reindeer, and the Ritz

To start the night, the group went downtown to witness a Swedish pastime, hockey. We watched the Frölunda Indians, home, crush their opponents. The game was slightly different than NHL, as the rink was much bigger, which caused player's to focus more on speed. Also, Swedish hockey fights are rare and quickly  broken up. Watch the following videos of the crazy pre-game show/introduction.

Afterwards, the group headed across the street to a high end Italian restaurant with divine food. Members of our group ordered lobster with crab and lobster ravioli and steaks, and I chose to order a pasta dish with a special ingredient- reindeer. Rudolf was delicious (far right). 

We ended our night with a crazy trip to a high end bar called the Ritz.  Alex Braatz and I were walking down the main avenue when we met some piss-drunk Swedish guy who asked what our plans were for the night. We tell him we don't have any yet, and suddenly he yells "Hey group! Slow down!!!" and a group of eight girls and two guys (all just slightly older than us) stop yelling and laughing and turn around.  After brief introductions, we were all best friends and are having a party while walking down the sidewalk.  We didn't know where they were taking us, but at the time it didn't seem important.  We wind down a road off the avenue, walk around the corner of a building, and suddenly our destination: the Ritz nightclub. It definitely lived up to it's American namesake; it was a nightclub in a Swedish castle. It looked like some royal family should live here, and definitely not any place that would Alex and I in. As we walk closer, we can see colored lights occasionally flashing out windows and feel our chest cavities pulsing and reverberating from the sound system within.  I was starting to get worried about how we'd get it in, and was sure we'd get rejected.  There was a long line, and Alex and I certainly didn't look like we fit in with all these cosmopolitans and the Swedish upper class. So we followed our drunk guide as he marched up to the front of the line. He said a couple slurred words in Swedish, and then the bouncer smiled and lifted the rope for all of us. No questions asked, no cover charged, and certainly no miracle wasted. We walked in, and were blown away the second we saw what we had in store for us. It was the most posh, upscale, lavish, crazily European nightclub imaginable. And drinks were affordable! We stayed until closing at 3:00 AM, and the time FLEW. We found heaven on our last big party night in Gothenburg. I'm not sure who that drunk Swede was or how he got us in, but I like to think of him as our late-night guardian angel. 

Part of the main dance floor while the club is shutting down

Day 9 - Museum of World Culture

On our second free Saturday, Alex Braatz, Bryan Soderholm, Max Grothman, and I decided to explore the city before tonight's group activity.  We visited one of the attractions we researched prior to departure, the Varldskulturmuseet, or the Museum of World Culture. According to the museum website:


The museum interprets the concept of world culture in a dynamic and open-ended manner. On the one hand, various cultures are incorporating impulses from each other and becoming more alike. On the other hand, local, national, ethnic and gender differences are shaping much of that process. World culture is not only about communication, reciprocity, and interdependence, but the specificity, concretion and uniqueness of each and every individual.


I felt the exhibits showed this.  The first exhibit was all about travel and why humans travel across the globe.  Some reasons include religious pilgrimages, seeking refuge, migrant work, or for vacation. We had fun just looking around at the exhibit and how the information was presented.

 Then we moved on to the main exhibit, Kimono Fusion.  We entered the wild world of modern Japanese fashion, design, and culture, and wander around in awe.  The only way to describe what we saw was foreign. 

Also, we were able to see a massive, mixed-media, graffiti mural by Koralie and SupaKitch, two world-renowned street artists from France.  Watch the mural being made in the following video.

Then, to end the tour of the museum, we visited the children's exhibit. The plot of the exhibit is that aliens come to planet Earth, and give us their analysis of the impact we humans have on the globe, and how much damage we have caused and potentially could cause. While it was for kids, we still had fun in the exhibit.

Day 8 - Volvo Presentations at the University of Gothenburg and the Student Union

We are very fortunate for the hospitality from the University of Gothenburg; today they gave us another wonderful opportunity by allowing us to attend final presentations by graduate students on proposals for Volvo Car's expansion in Asia.  But we weren't the only people in attendance; Hans-Olov Olsson, the Vice Chairman and former CEO of Volvo cars was there to evaluate the presentations.  

Hans-Olov Olsson

Three groups presented in the style of a consulting group, and all had similar plans. Like almost every other international corporation, they focused mostly on China's emerging consumer market; they recognize it as a potential goldmine, especially with Volvo's new Chinese ownership.  While they disagree on the proposed locations, all three groups planned for 2-3 new factories across eastern China. They also discussed product modifications specifically for the Chinese culture and market, marketing campaigns, and how to protect Volvo's brand image as a premium Scandinavian company.  Hans-Olov Olsson gave accolades to all the students, and then gave lots of excellent feedback and insight from his vast experience.  While fairly small in stature, he had a commanding presence, and also displayed warmth and appreciation for the student's work. It was a great experience just to hear the students present, however Olsson made this more than memorable.

Afterwards, the University of Gothenburg's Student Union treated us to delicious, traditional Swedish pastries coffee at an upscale cafe. The pastries were like a warm donut filled with creme and almond paste, and topped off with powder sugar even though they weren't overpoweringly sweet.  The coffee was excellent as well; usually, I have to force down the bitter and strong Swedish coffee, but this was smooth and rich while remaining up to Swedish strength. We had great conversations with the Swedish students about Swedish and European culture, and were also able to share information about ours.  

Night 7 - Michelin Starred Chefs

Skagen Toast with Salmon and Egg
(most were prettier, this one was made
"special" for me)

After last night, I think Gothenburg is about to get its first Michelin stars, with the chefs being none other than us students.  For one of the most delicious meals I have had in a while (and by far the best on the trip), we went to a high end "restaurant,"  called Barbros Matskola, by the docks where two chefs instructed us how to cook in their kitchen, and also provide a menu and ingredients. This establishment has earned a stunning reputation in Gothenburg's culinary circles, and has been visited by royalty and the Swedish Prime Minister. Only top-end,  fresh and carefully selected ingredients are used to prepare contemporary Swedish dishes. We were broken into groups of three or four, and assigned a task; Alex Braatz, Connnor McComas, and I were assigned to the first appetizer, Toast Skagen with Salmon and Egg.  Using sushi-quality salmon, we created a delicious delicacy, and even artfully garnished the dish with fresh dill and a lemon slice.  Move over Rachel Ray, we're about to start a culinary revolution.

Herring Ball on Crisp Bread

Fried Plaice Fillet with Risotto

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberries

Day 7 - Institute of Shipping Analysis 2011 Executive Meeting and Ascom

The day started off with our return to the Institute of Shipping Analysis 2011 Executive Meeting, which opened with a seminar on the European Maritime Transport Strategy for 2018. This strategy can be summed into a focus on quality and of increased competitiveness of shipping in Europe and worldwide. The focus on quality is mostly comprised of increased safety, environmentalism, technology, and efficiency for new ships. Also, the increase in European competition may lead to a rapid growth of the Short Sea Shipping industry, which is freight being shipped over very short distances, usually only a couple hours away.  This would revolutionize European transportation not only on the sea, but also on the roads as less trucks would be used, which would be very advantageous for Europe's congested and over-crowded roads and trains. Short Sea Shipping has much potential, however must first overcome complex European laws and shipping procedures, and also implement new technology for a faster fleet. Finally, both new and existing ports would need to be developed for heavier traffic.

Following this presentation and a presentation on Arctic shipping, we visited Ascom Holding AG, a telecommunications company focusing on mission-critical communications. Ascom employs 2,500 worldwide, and also owns subsidiaries in 20 countries. While their corporate headquarters are in Zurich, Switzerland, we visited their Wireless Solutions  division's headquarters here in Gothenburg.  The vision of Ascom Wireless Solutions is "To establish wireless solutions as a world leader in enterprise mobility for mission critical communication".  In short, they make state-of-the-art phones that work on independent networks in hospitals, industrial settings, elderly care facilities, the retail sector, hospitals, and secure establishments. They have over 75,000 installations worldwide, and use industry-leading technology and security.  Ascom Wireless Solutions credits its competitive advantages of having the most premium products, the highest audio quality, the highest positioning precision, and high durability for its success.

Day 6 - ABB Robotics and Institute of Shipping Analysis 2011 Executive Meeting

The day started out with a trip to Professor Shield's former employer- ABB Robotics, which is the robotics division of the Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation, ABB. ABB is not only one of the largest engineering companies in the world, but also one of the largest conglomerates in the world with 117,000 employees in around 100 countries. Divisions include power products, power systems, discrete automation and motion, low voltage products, and process automation, leading to roughly $31.5 billion in revenue for 2009.

ABB Robotics has installed over 175,000 state of the art robots worldwide.  A few of these companies include: IKEA, Ford, Honda, Audi, BMW, Sony, Dell, Apple, Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Astro Zeneca, Cadbury, Nestle, and Foxconn. These robots assist in manufacturing, and can be broken into two divisions: Hard Automation (programmed to operate independently) and Flexible Automation (operated by humans).  These incredible pieces of machinery range from lifting 3kg to 650 kg, and can perform operations such as arc welding, spot welding, painting/coating, cutting, press tending, finishing, material handling, machine tending.

We were also very lucky to be able to attend the 2011 Executive Meeting of the Institute of Shipping Analysis through the University of Gothenburg.  It is a conference for big players in international shipping; there we're CEOs, owners of commercial shipping fleets, economists,  and government officials and policymakers.

The first lecture was on global hot spots and geopolitical meltdowns; while the world is a much safer place as a whole today compared to a few decades ago, there is still violence.  This violence is mostly contained to the Middle East and Africa, and can greatly affect global trading and transport.  In the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan are considered the major conflict zones.  The session discussed possible end scenarios for the conflict in Iraq, the differing perspectives in regards to Iran, and a brief summary of current operations and strategies in Afghanistan.

The second seminary, Piracy; Orchestrating the Response, followed up on the previous topic by discussing violence and threats to shipping around Africa. Here are some staggering figures on piracy in 2010:

•  90% of all pirate attacks were off the Horn of Africa
• 728 hostages were taken throughout the year
• 445 attacks occurred, leading to 53 hijacks
• 1186 people were endangered
• 8 people were murdered

This issue can devastate individuals and their families and friends, corporations, and international trade; an organized global response is crucial to resolve a matter that can afflict any and all nations. This seminar also examined how corporations should react if they are a victim of a pirate attack.

Day 6 - Digital Marketing Lesson

One major concept discussed at ABB Robotics was the difference in technical/ computer literacy between generations. He described my parent's generation as "digital immigrants," and stated we are "digital natives".  We learned how marketing to these two demographics differ, due to the two groups processing information differently.  He also took this into consideration when creating his project, RobotStudio.  RobotStudio is ABB Robotic's one-of-a-kind, in-house software for setting up and programming their robots.  It is an "optimized solution" for reducing end-user investments, reducing production down time, increasing productivity, and improving quality, and is a huge competitive advantage; it helps ABB Robotics lead the industry in not only precision and productivity, but also user friendliness.  Along with this, ABB Robotics has also created RobotStudio Community, which is an online community for ABB Robotics users and integrators. While originally  created for the "digital natives," it contains tutorials, forums, success stories, a blog, and content sharing. For having such a narrow niche, this community is huge; I saw posts on the forums with thousands of replies and comments, which is a massive number for any forum.

RobotStudio and RobotStudiohave led to a huge change in ABB Robotic's business model; everything is online today.  Today, their are less training costs, less need for customer service, customers can buy RobotStudio online (instead of having a physical inventory of CDs, which is incredibly efficient), and no travelling to conferences or industrial trade shows, all while significantly increasing market share and customer satisfaction.

Day 5 - AutoAdapt and AB Volvo

Today was one of the most educational days of my college career; I sincerely believe that I learned more in this one day than in an entire semester of Intro to Business.


We started the day at AutoAdapt, which is owned by Bruno (a company we analyzed and visited prior to coming overseas). AutoAdapt develops and manufactures car adaptation equipment to meet the needs of the physically handicapped, and has a highly international presence. It was started 20 years ago with 5 employees in a home garage, and today has evolve to a multi-million dollar international company. One common theme of the entire visit was the amount of respect and hospitality we received; AutoAdapt arranged and paid for a private bus to transport us there and back, provided us with and excellent lunch, gave us a tour, and most significantly gave us a private meeting with both the CEO of the company and the vice president of marketing and sales. We were never treated like college students; everyone spoke to us as if we were professionals and colleagues.

We also ate lunch with the VP of Marketing and Sales, Peter Wahlsten. Wahlsten's heavily involvement in the international aspect of AutoAdapt gave him great insight into international business and foreign cultures.  He gave us examples from his past about some of the challenges he has overcome, and taught us a lot about the obstacles for trading internationally. I learned about inter-Scandinavian business, what its like to trade with Russia, proper customs in Japan, the cons of traveling to Germany, the economy of China, the and the subcultures within Sweden.  He was both extremely friendly and extremely proficient and capable, and I feel very privileged to have eaten lunch with him.


After that, we moved to a much larger company, AB Volvo. It is important to note that this is a separate company from Volvo Cars, which is not owned by AB Volvo, but rather the Chinese holding group Geely. AB Volvo makes commercial trucks (and owns Mack Trucks, Renault Trucks, Nissan Trucks, and Volvo Trucks), buses, construction equipment, leisure boat engines and industrial engines through Volvo Penta, and aerospace components.  It is a huge company (much larger than Volvo Cars), and had roughly $32.5 billion in revenue for 2009, and employs over 90,000 people worldwide. At AB Volvo, we were given a brief history of the company, and overview of the current world economy (with emphasis on its impact on AB Volvo and with anticipated future conditions.  They described current challenges facing Volvo, and Volvo's competitive advantages, and I asked how they share and maintain their brand image with Volvo cars. While the presenter admitted someone from marketing would know better, she explained how the Volvo Holding Group owns the brand and helps market and maintain it.  Although we played with the semi-trucks and heavy construction equipment in the display room, we were still treated strictly like professionals.  I could get used to that.

Day 5 - Products, Internationalization, and Leadership Lesson

To due AutoAdapt growing so rapidly and consistently, the presentation we received from the CEO, Håkan Sandberg, was on how to foster and sustain growth. Sandberg's experience and knowledge was highly evident, and if we had another presentation on this trip half as good as his, we'd all be destined to be billionaires. He covered twenty topics and ideas he feels are essential for success in today's business environment. Some of the most prominent topics covered were creative financing, creating a market niche (rather than fighting for market share), finding a "product flower," or unique product that has a competitive advantage, product control (constantly developing and evolving products at a high tempo), and having efficient distribution control with a high capacity. Also, internationalization was discussed heavily; with a changing global economy, this is imperative for any business with ambitions.  Finally, effective leadership encompassed several topics, as we were shown how management's quick decisions, commitment, values, ability to recruit well, set goals, and use experience to be absolutely crucial in any business or organization.

My favorite quote from today was during the presentation by Sandberg, describing the necessary vision for a business he called the "lead star".

      "The lead star is almost a religious conviction, an expression of will, seldom emerging from democratic discussions, but rather from an individual's heart, often the owner of the company".

Day 4 - Gothenburg University

Gothenburg University's School of
Business, Economics, and Law

I learned the hard way that rough Monday's are an international phenomenon; this morning my roommate and I either slept through all four of the alarms we set, or all four alarms didn't go off. We were woken five minutes after our set meeting time by our door being banged on like with a Norse battering ram; actually, an angry Viking would have been a more pleasant way to wake up. I was out the door in thirty seconds, and embarked with the group to Gothenburg University's School of Business, Economics, and Law  (our group got lost on the way, of course).

View of the school's courtyard

We received outstanding hospitality from the University, as we received a special tour of the school and were also privileged enough to have a private audience with two excellent professors. Both professors gave lectures to us, and we learned very much about Swedish history and culture,  Scandinavian and Swedish economics, as well as Gothenburg's economics, Swedish corporations, and sports marketing. This was all followed up by a highly engaging presentation from Professor Shields on sports marketing, brand image, and the impact of effective design.

The business school's library

On the way back, we stopped at a British bar called The Bishop's Arms, which was great choice. The pub was what I envision as the quintessential British pub.  It was filled with wood tones, warm lighting, bookshelves, a fireplace, and comfortable armchairs and bar stools. Behind the bar, there were shelves of scotch and whiskey, and every known beer either on tap or in bottles (they even had beer from 5 of the 7 Trappist monasteries). I actually tried one such beer, a abbey-style Belgium Trippel known as Rochefort 10. It weighed in at 11.3% ABV, and if I bring one souvenir back, it will be a few bottles of this.

The Bishop's Arms