How we do business – are there French and Swedish ways?

This was the title and also one of the questions among several that were discussed during an after-work seminar organized by the French Chamber of Commerce on November the 9th. The seminar was hosted by the member company Steria in their new nice office in Kungsbrohuset. Despite the first snow storm of the winter about 60 people showed up to listen to the interesting panel debate led by moderator Martin Ådahl, journalist and Managing Director of Forum for Reforms, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (FORES). The people on the panel were Bertrand Frohly, CEO of L’Oréal Sweden, Peter Einarsson, CEO of Handelsbanken France and Anders Fryxell, Head of Managed Services, Steria Sweden.
Here follows a short summary of the panel discussion. 

What is better in the Swedish style of management?
“ The engagement of the staff is higher in Sweden. Swedish employees are more focused on results. The open atmosphere in Swedish companies is also characteristic and very positive. “

What are the benefits of the French management style?
Betrand Frohly finds that French are better at paying attention to details and are better at thinking “out of the box”. They are also comfortable with confrontation, opposed to Swedes. What Swedes would call a conflict the French would call a discussion.  It is important to point out that sometimes good and creative ideas come out of confrontation, so it can be positive.  French are also well prepared for meetings.

Is the French hierarchy more of a myth or is it true?
French managers are more of giving orders and they also change their minds often and therefore decisions and directives also change often. This can be very confusing and frustrating for Swedish employees not being used to this way of working. It is very important that the CEO act as a “bridge” between the French headoffice and the Swedish employees.  Prejudges about “the other culture” are as common in the head office as among the staff in the local subsidiary, often worse in the head office. Here the CEO also needs to act as a bridge between the reality on the local market and the stereotype view held by the headquarters.

French believe that the boss is an expert and that the boss should know the answers. In Sweden the boss is more of a team leader, motivating the staff.
Peter Einarsson said that in France Handelsbanken attracts French employees; they appreciate the Swedish management style being less hierarchic. Sweden and Swedish companies have a very good reputation in France.

The language doesn’t seem to be so important on a corporate level but in direct contacts with customers it is of course very important to know the local language. 

Both France and Sweden have a large number of successful trademarks and big multinational companies. In a lot of these companies the corporate culture is more important than the national culture and the nationality is not so important when selecting a CEO. In the l’Oréal group the CEOs of the subsidiaries are not necessarily French. In Handelsbanken it is the same even though the CEO in a new market often is Swedish. 

Anders Fryxell said that Steria is working a lot with India and in that perspective the difference between French and Swedish business culture is very small.

French may be more personal in their business relations. Swedes being efficient they are also more direct. Frenchmen like to establish a relation first. 
How to deal with the challenge of globalization was raised in the audience and the answer was to be close to the market, learn from the locals and being reactive. 

To conclude the discussion: the French rigor and the Swedish more holistic approach is a very good mix and since companies are becoming more and more globalized the differences are getting smaller and smaller. 

After the panel debate Steria invited the guests to a delicious “French style” buffet and the discussions continued for quite some time.
More info about Steria on www.steria.se

Here below some photos from the event:

Panelists Bertrand Frohly and Peter Einarsson arrive.

Anders Fryxell mingles before the start of the seminar.

The audience

Peter Einarsson, Bertrand Frohly, Martin Ådahl and Anders Fryxell

Citroën and Air France discussing

Jérôme Törner Monsenego from PwC, Jean-Claude Celle and Jérôme Chappert from Crédit Agricole CIB

Katarina Barter, CCFS, with Jean-bernard Salvan from Veolia Water
and Stéphane Salto from Michael Page

Text and photos by Kristina Hulteberg, CCFS