Project acronym BENCH
Name of project Beneficial Business Relations between the Central Baltic Region and China
Partner number and name CB23 Linköping University P4
Milestone and reporting period M 7 / 10 May 2012 - August 2012
BENCH project WP3 activities report
(MS1
-‐
MS7)
Achieved results from seminars, workshops and network activities (MS1-‐7)
(LiU p4, Cleantech Östergötland P2, Östsam P3; Sweden)
Doc version Time Modification parts By
Pa1 2012-05-11 1st draft of whole
document
Ya Zhang (P4)
Pa2 2012-05-14 Table 2 Ya Zhang (P4)
Pa3 2012-05-15 Few spelling errors Ya Zhang (P4)
Pa4 2012-05-15 Table 3 (6#) Ya Zhang (P4)
Pa5 2012-08-20 Whole document Ya Zhang (P4)
1 Purpose statement for BENCH seminars, workshops and network activities in
this report ... 2
2 BENCH seminars in Östergötland, Sweden (MS1-MS7) ... 2
3 BENCH workshops in Östergötland, Sweden (MS1-MS7) ... 7
4 BENCH network activities in Östergötland, Sweden (MS1-MS7) ... 8
5 BENCH coaching activities in Östergötland, Sweden (MS5) ... 8
6 Summary of achieved results from BENCH seminars, workshops and network activities in this report ... 9
1
Purpose statement for BENCH seminars, workshops and
network activities in this report
The overall objective for WP3 in BENCH is to increase the knowledge of what kind of support the SMEs need in order to do business with China, and to facilitate the development of business contacts. In order to achieve this general objective, we mainly from two different angles to investigate exist knowledge and explore new knowledge in China business related topics. From an academic angle, we use literature/ document research, survey and case studies to increase our knowledge and
understanding. This part we reported separately in previous survey report and will continue the case studies reports in later milestones.
From a practical level, for facilitating knowledge sharing and exchange, we organized 6 different seminars and several workshops in order to create a good platform for knowledge diffusion and different network activities. We invited external expertise and experienced small companies to join us and we facilitate and stimulate an open discussion for supporting small firms to gain more knowledge and find more accessible external resources through BENCH. Therefore, our seminars and workshops are our important ways to train and support local small firms in order to improve their knowledge and competence in doing business with China. This report is about BENCH seminars, workshops and network activities in Sweden.
2
BENCH seminars in Östergötland, Sweden (MS1-MS7)
From June 2010 to now, in previous 7 milestones with joint efforts from LiU (P4), Cleantech Östergötland (P2) and Östsam (P3), in Sweden, we organized six seminars in total. 5 of them
delivered according to plan. Among them four seminars is related to WP3 and one is related to WP4. For seminar no. 4 (HK seminar), we cooperated with four external partners (Mjärdevi Science Park and three HK partner organizations) and it was unfortunately called off, because the number of registered SMEs didn’t reach the minimum requirement from other partners.
41 companies joined our different seminars. They gained new information and knowledge from different topics related to China business. Except for our all four Swedish BENCH partners1’ contribution, we invited external expertise and partners as well as experienced SMEs form 13 different organization/ companies to share their knowledge and experience with local small
companies. A summary of seminars participants and seminar topics is showed from table 1 to table 3.
Table 1. BENCH seminar summary of participants (organization counts) Notes:
1) Several people from same company/ organization only count as one 2) Organization types:
SMEs; Other org including external partners organizations; BENCH partners (LP, P2, P3 and P4) 3) Seminar 5 is a WP4 seminar about China investment
Table 2. BENCH seminar summary of SMEs participants list (organization counts)
Company Name Seminar1 Seminar 2 Seminar3 Seminar 5
2 Seminar6
(Linköping) (Linköping) (Åtvidaberg) (Linköping) (Norrköping)
11/8/10 1/19/11 4/12/11 5/23/11 3/6/12
AB Svensk Kylindustri 1 2 3 5
Awapatent AB 1 3
DOLPHIN SWIM AB 1
Finess Hygiene AB 1
1 CAB, LP; Cleantech Östergötland P2; Östsam, P3; LiU (CAM) P4 2 Seminar 4 was called off and Seminar 5 was for WP4
0! 2! 4! 6! 8! 10! 12! 14! 16! S1! S2! S3! S5 (WP4 )! S6! SMEs! 16! 15! 10! 5! 9! Other Org! 2! 1! 9! 4! BENCH ! 4! 4! 3! 4! 4!
Front End AB 1
Gothia Logistics AB 1 3 6
Import Ant AB 1
Libra Euro-‐Asia AB 1 2
Linköpings City hotell
&Vandrarhem 1
Modernt Larmsystem i
Norrköping 1 2
RSKonsult 1
Säljtema AB 1
UnoBench AB 1
Vacuum Design AB 1
CybAero AB 1
Ocean Modules 1 2 3
AN Import Handelsbolag 2 3
Lars Johansson AB 2
Netadmin Systems 2
Nordfarm Maskin AB 2 6
Shapeline 2 6
Spaceadvertising 2
Språkservice/Företagarna
Lkp 2
Exir Technology Co. 2
JohnBauerGymnasiet 2 6
SwedAccess 2
RCI AB 2
Novael Production AB 3
Näringslivscentrum i Åtvidaberg AB 3 Trifilon Technologies 3 Polyamp 3 3 clean combustion.se 3 JudyShie Consluting 5 Configura 5 NuLink AB 5
Bizea Trade and
Investment 5
PPAM 6
Concent AB 6
Svenska Hus & Bygg i
Linköping AB 6
Carbex AB 6
Merx Svenska AB 6
Total counts for SMEs
(41)4 16 15 10 5 9
Table 3. BENCH seminars topics summary
Seminar Theme Time Location
1# How to do business
in China
11/8/10 Konsert & Kongress, Linköping, room: Sonaten
13.00-14.20
Moderator Speakers Organizations Topics P4
Annika Holmström & Charlotte Magnusson
CAB (LP) &
Introduction to BENCH-project Magnus
Holmström P3
Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck & Ya Zhang
P4 Result from BENCH-survey
Gert Kindgren P2 Cleantech – a business opportunity in China
Claes Drougge Ocean
Modules How to do business in China – a case study
2#
Resources For Small Companies
Interesting In The Chinese Market
1/19/11
Linköping University (House A – 2B:844) 8.00-10.30
Moderator Speakers Organizations Topics P4
Annika Holmström LP Introduction to BENCH-project Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck Jens Wernborg Swedish Trade Council (Shanghai)
Doing business in China
Camilla Lejon
East Sweden Chamber of Commerce
East Sweden Chamber of Commerce – resources for the regional companies
Anna Öhrwall
Rönnbäck P4
Companies support companies – regional network for China business, idea-sketch
Benny Aronsson
Exir
Technology Co.
Experiences of doing business in China
Gert Kindgren P2
How the delegation trip to China in November 2010 could contribute to businesses
Jens Wernborg
Swedish Trade Council (Shanghai)
Chinese market: purchase in China
3#
Resources for Small Companies that Wants to Do Business With China 4/12/11 Industrigallerian Åtvidaberg 8.00-10.30
Moderator Speakers Organizations Topics P4
Mattias Flodström P3 Brief presentation about BENCH Magnus Holmström Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck & Ya Zhang
P4 Brief update BENCH study
Xiaohong Song P2 China Policy Update (Environmental related)
Gert Kindgren P2 Update China business related activities
Nicklas Ojakangas &
Robin Berzelius Awapatent AB
IPR and China – the situation now, trends and opportunities for smaller companies in the region
Christer Andersson
Swedish Trade Council (Linköping)
Support from Sweden Trade Council for small enterprises export to China
Xue Leng & Claes Drougge Industrigallerian Chinaforum in Industrigallerian
5# (WP4) How to create contacts in China 5/23/11 Drottninggatan 22 Linköping (Missionskyrkan) 10.00–14.00
Moderator Speakers Organizations Topics P3
Annika Holmström LP About the BENCH-project
Mattias Flodström
Sören Pettersson, Invest Sweden
Invest Sweden
- Investment from China to Sweden
How do you build a network? What is the role of Invest Sweden?
Economic and Trade Office in Sweden
Professor Hans
Jansson, & Linnaeus University
Experiences and effects of Chinese investments in Kalmar and Europe Susanne Sandberg, PhD Student 6# To Do Business n China – From a small company perspective 3/6/12 Kammarforum, Östsvenska
Handelskammaren, Dalsgatan 13, Norrköping 8.15-11.40
Moderator Speakers Organizations Topics P4
Annika Holmström LP Update information about BENCH-project 2010-2012
Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck
Professor Tomohiko Sakao Linköping University Innovation to China: A Swedish company network develops for the Chinese market
Professor Tony Fang Stockholm
University
Critical learning points for Swedish SMEs to succeed in China
Björn Jönsson Nordfarm
Maskin AB
Nordfarm´s experiences concerning Chinese partner
Gert Kindgren P2
How could the companies use the network Östergötland got in Jiangsu-province?
Elisabet Söderström, Sweden China
Trade Council
China – one country, many impressions -- Emphasizing the importance of using others’ experience and knowledge
Christer Andersson & Christofer Eriksson, Sweden Trade Council How do you improve the result of your China business?
3
BENCH workshops in Östergötland, Sweden (MS1-MS7)
Four WP3 seminars were followed by workshops. In workshops sections, companies raise their different questions and discussed them with each other and us. Workshops offered an opportunity for an open discuss about some specific questions for small firms regarding to China business related issues. Table four is a summary of workshops in Sweden.
Workshop Time Location Moderator
1# 11/8/10
14.45-15.45
Konsert & Kongress, Linköping, room: Sonaten
Magnus Holmström
2# 1/19/11 10.30-12.00 Linköping University (House A – 2B:844) Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck
3# 4/12/11
10.30-12.00 Industrigallerian Åtvidaberg
Magnus Holmström
6# 3/12/11 11:45-12:15 Kammarforum, Östsvenska Handelskammaren, Dalsgatan 13, Norrköping Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck
Note: 1. the no. of workshop corresponds to no. of BENCH seminar. 2. Participants in workshops are same in corresponding seminars.
4
BENCH network activities in Östergötland, Sweden (MS1-MS7)
Our network activities take several ways – the main network activities were during and after each BENCH seminars and workshops. After workshop no. 3 and seminar no. 5, we also offered joint lunch for helping communication among small firms and expertise through more social approach. All of our 4 Swedish partners also involved in some individual network activities to help local SMEs reach potential partners and resources. In past 6 milestones, BENCH has (fully or partly) contributed to seven Swedish SMEs regarding to qualified China contacts information.
Table 5. Companies got China contacts information through their different connections with BENCH (Östergötland, Sweden) Company Name Calluna Cybaero AB Svensk Kylindustri Shapeline Gothia Nordfarm PPAM
Top management teams from two of our case companies also got our further voluntary supports by individual coaching sections (3 sections for each company, on site) for developing their China business plan.
Table 6 Coaching sections Company
Name Date Place Section Theme
BENCH partners
Calluna 2011-08-23 Linköping
1. Situation analysis (vision, mission)
P4 & P2 2011-10-05 Linköping 2. Strategic goal P4 & P2 2011-10-24 Linköping 3. Business plan P4 & P2 Ocean Modules 2011-09-13 Åtvidaberg 1. Market analysis P4 & P2 2011-10-05
Åtvidaberg 2. Situation analysis (vision, mission)
P4
2011-11-07
Åtvidaberg 3. Strategy map and Business plan
P4 & P2
Notes: Calluna hasn’t joined any BENCH seminar and workshops Ocean Modules joined Seminar and workshop No. 1, 2 and 3.
6
Summary of achieved results from BENCH seminars, workshops
and network activities in this report
Through our efforts in organizing BENCH seminars, workshops and network activities, we achieves the following BENCH expected results
ü One network of companies that support each other and share experiences in Östergötland.
Ex. One of our case company OM started Chinaforum in Industrigallerian, their holding company, in order to create a platform for SMEs in our region help each other by sharing knowledge and resources. Case company Gothia start to use Ocean Modules’ resource in Beijing.
By involving various background expertise from different public organizations and universities in our BENCH seminars and workshops and working together for a common public good, we also form our new cooperation network among public actors. (Ex. Swedish Trade Council; East Sweden Chamber of Commerce; Invest Sweden; Sweden China Trade Council; CAB Östergötland; Östsam; Cleantech Östergötland; Linköping University; Stockholm University; Linnaeus University; KTH etc.)
ü A training program with at least 20 participant in Östergötland
We designed our serials of seminars and workshops to cover a wide range of topics of China business related issues. Different internal and external expertise bring a good knowledge base for training. Knowledge and experience exchange among SMEs also added value for their learning from each other. In past 7 milestones, 41 companies joined our different seminars and workshops.5 Through participating our seminars and workshops, they gain more knowledge and hopefully build more competence in doing business with China.
ü 5 BENCH-companies have developed qualified business contacts in China
Table 5 shows that we helped seven companies got China contact information. We will keep working on it during the later milestone as well.
