Rapid Swedish business expansion into Shanghai brings in the influx of Swedish expats. What are their struggles? Amy Cheung reports.   On June 7, SEB Bank releases a China Establishment Analysis that put quite a few attractive numbers in the air. According to the report, only in the first half of 2006, there are 44 new Swedish companies set up in China and Shanghai remains to be the most popular point of entry. While this equals to one new Swedish establishment every 4 days, 61% choose to establish in East China and out of which 66% choose Shanghai. Behind the glamourous statistics, how do the working Swedes in Shanghai position themselves?   For most foreign enterprises, the business environment in Shanghai is in need of a pattern. Mats Johansson, the Chairman of Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and also the General Manager of Fagerhult, says that in this transition phrase, Western expats are more in demand because of their knowledge, values and more importantly, their ability to be a bridge between the headquarter and the new establishment. “Expats get paid more because they have something the company wants. The business environment in Shanghai is like the messy traffic out there at the crossroad. Chinese buys a car before learning how to drive. On the contrary, westerners have had driving license for years. Experience is what differentiates an expat and a local Mainland Chinese when it comes to exposure to international business.”   Sweden is a small country with 9 million in population. Most of the Swedish companies that are newly established in China are mostly middle-sized and even small-sized companies. They lack the infrastructure and experienced human resources organization to expand into a market as competitive as China. Johansson expresses that under such circumstances, Swedish expats are the easiest alternative to be exploited as they understand the unique Swedish management style that the mother company wants to plant in its branch. Charlotte Rylme, the General Manager of Swedish Trade Council in Shanghai, states that as most of the Swedish companies think that it is important to have Swedish managers particularly at start-up phases, apart from senior managers that are sent out from the headquarters, junior staff, trainees and interns are placed as support to China operations. “There is a new trend of locally employed Swedish working in China. It is a more cost effective way for many companies, “Rylme explains, “These people speak fluent Swedish and English, plus necessary Chinese skills to integrate with the Chinese staff. They can be good assets to the company.” Fredrik Hähnel, Vice-president of Commercial Banking at SEB Bank Shanghai adds that “it is more and more common that Swedish expats with experience of setting up a factory, after their contract expires, moves on to another company to assist them to set up or run a similar operation in China. They already have the experience and are willing to stay on in the market.” Can everyone take the environment to his or her own advantages? Karin Jonsson, a 28-year-old locally employed Swedish interface designer in a Swedish company after her graduation and an internship, earned twice as much as a local senior designer. She claims that including housing and paid taxi transportation, the company is willing to offer her that much because of her student loan in different scale and more expensive living standard. However, she emphasizes that her working life here in Shanghai is hardly an expat one. “I work very long hours and I have attitude from local colleagues,” she says, “after working here for some time, I don’t mind working with only Westerners who know what they are doing.” Because of the lack of coordination and disorganization that differs so much from her own culture, she is leaving for Sweden by the end of June.   Maybe those who can really be an asset to the company are those who understand China is a place to go to because it is tough and different corporation style is anticipated. Håkan Larsson, a 25-year-old working in a Swedish computer engineering company, tries to look for better opportunities to come on the side of an internship. “Chinese generally are not yet familar with international corporate habits and their ways of doing things are so different from mine. However, I’m still working hard to explore a challenging path to develop my future career.” Instead of technical implementation, he takes the investigation now on the development chain and process to gain an in-depth understanding of how things work.   Expat is a phenomenon that brings a sharp contrast to China. At this transition stage which an efficient business code and pattern is yet to be established, Western companies tend to turn to expensive human resources. However, as Johansson comments, this will probably change in 5 to 10 years’ time when Mainland Chinese are trained to know how to do professional business. Until then, not only the Swedes need to bridge the difference in business operation and communication style.