On May 2nd – 7th CITO representatives Victor, Nils and Erik traveled to Shanghai to meet up with the following companies: Fingerprint Valmet Swedish General Consulate Tongji University The purpose of the trip was to learn more about what opportunities Swedish students have in China, and also get some insight into why studying and/or working in China can prove to be a very valuable experience. More information about the trip can be found here – with answers to questions such as “How is work culture different in China?” and “Why should I consider moving to China?” CITO would also like to reach out and thank all the company representatives in Shanghai who took their time to meet with us!
Background In addition to being one of the biggest economies in the world, Japan is also the second biggest export market for swedish products and services in Asia. With 1500 Swedish companies active in this cultural and technology leading country it is an interesting place to learn from and crate relationship with. According to a study made by Business of Sweden the majority of Swedish companies operating in Japan view positive results both in terms results and market shares. It would therefore be educational to get a first hand sight how the combination of swedish values combines with the japanese business culture and why this has been successful. Japan has huge focus on future global problems such as energy efficiency, environmental technology and an increased portion of aging and retired population. Most countries sooner or later need to face this and Japan sees Sweden as a role model in especially the health care issues and therefore a visit to Tokyo could lead to a greater understanding of these problems. Purpose Purpose and goals with trip based on own interests and Operations Plan. We hope our visit will give us first-hand experience of Japan’s business culture and how it differs from Sweden’s. Japanese manufacturing processes and R&D are world famous and we think it would be a great opportunity to see it with our own eyes. Electrolux Electrolux is a global company with offices all over the world. The company is one off the biggest makers in appliance good and is divided into three fields, small appliances, major appliances and professional appliances. Electrolux Japan follow the organizational structure from the head office in Stockholm and reports upwards in the respective functionality fields that the company is divided into, small, professional and major. This means that the daily operations in Japan […]
On May 1st, CITO 17/18 arranged their last event with an release of the 30th issue of Asia Magazine. Asia Magazine is a joint effort carried out by every Chalmers exchange students in Asia, coordinated and compiled by us exchange students at the Chalmers International Taiwan Office (CITO). The magazine is meant to act as an informative, entertaining and inspirational source of topics regarding Eastern Asia. With this dynamic region in focus, it features articles on cultural, political, economical and social subjects. Many local and exchange students attended the event and took a copy of the magazine! In addition to this, we celebrated the Swedish tradition “Fettisdagen” (a little to late) by serving the pastry “Semla”. The Swedish pastry was highly appriciated by all the students, and many brought one extra semla back home after the event. We would like to thank you all for coming! Lastly, if any of our readers are curious about what it’s like to live in Taiwan, we highly recommend you to check out the blog Renegade Writings, written by former CITO-member Anders Twetman.
The last company visit for CITO this semester was H&M. On December 1st, James Chang welcomed us to the H&M office in Taipei located on the 23rd floor of the building. Mr Chang, who is PR Manager in Taiwan, began to describe and explain H&M’s business in Taiwan. He told us that the company launched on the Taiwan market in 2015 and now has 12 stores around the country. This year in May, H&M opened the online store on the Taiwanese market. The company has three types of offices in Taiwan with different purposes. The Taipei based office is a Support office while Area and Distribution offices are located around the country. The first market for H&M to launch on in Asia was Hong Kong. This market was aimed to function as “traning” for future launches. Mr Chang explained that Taiwan is a different market compared to Mainland China. In Taiwan, the decisions are taken locally but they have to some level be controlled by Hong Kong. Regarding marketing on the Taiwanese market, Mr Chang and his work team have to follow directions from Sweden. Still, they can put a local touch on their work. For example, they could influence the Asian campaigns and they are able to decide the sizes of the different campaigns that are launched in Taiwan. James Chang was furthermore asked how a regular work day at the Taipei office would look like. Firstly, he mentioned that he takes part of new information from Sweden. This could be information about PR plans or press releases. Other work during the day are usually connected to how H&M should work with influencers, which is a relatively new field in Mr Chang’s work as a PR Manager. At the end of the company visit, James Chang took us to […]
On November 30th CITO representatives traveled to Taipei to visit Svenska Handelsbanken. The CITO officers were greeted by Amy Chen, chief representative at the Taipei Representative Office. Amy described the function of the Representative Office and how it aims to better assist Handelsbanken’s Nordic, British and Netherlands corporate clients operating in the region. She provided the CITO officers with a lot of valuable insights in how the Taiwanese banking system functions and how it differs from the Swedish system. Svenska Handelsbanken is a full-service bank with a nationwide branch network in Sweden, UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Netherlands. Founded in 1871, Handelsbanken is one of Sweden’s leading banks with 822 branches in 24 countries, and more than 11 500 employees. The Asian network consists of branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore with additional representative offices in Beijing, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai. Part of the services offered by the Taipei Representative Office is providing market and trade information, providing contacts with Taiwanese business community and banking industry, assisting in business negotions, trouble solving logistics and providing interpretation services. Furthermore Amy Chen shared with the CITO officers many interesting stories about Taiwanese history providing a deeper understanding of Taiwanese culture. Business etiquette and cultural differences are crucial when doing business in Asia and the CITO officers are very grateful to Amy for taking the time to share her personal experience operating in the banking industry with us. CITO would like to thank Handelsbanken for hosting us, and specificly Amy Chen for providing such an insightful visit and friendly reception.
To celebrate the Swedish pastry ”kanelbulle”, CITO invited student to the event ”Cinnamon Bun Day” on October 17th. Beyond trying out cinnamon buns, the guests were able to take a look at the latest issue of Asia Magazine. At the end of the event, all 150 cinnamon buns were eaten. We gladly take this as proof of tasty cinnamon buns! Furthermore, we would like to thank the guest for coming by and we hope to see you soon again. We all had a really good time!
Noodoe is a Taipei based IoT company who “creates magical experiences” for people and businesses through smart, technological solutions. On October 27th, CITO got the opportunity to visit the innovative company and meet the founder John Wang. Noodoe has been visited by CITO before, in 2015. The visit was much appreciated, making current CITO keen to visit Noodoe and take part of their successful journey and business story. John Wang is a former Chief Marketing Officer at HTC and founder of the company’s innovation center Magic Labs. Wang was highly involved in HTC’s success by transforming the branding of the company. He explained thoroughly about his own journey at the tech company, as well as about how the company developed during his operative years. For instance, Mr. Wang described how HTC and Apple competed against each other to be the first company to launch a smartphone. Owing to Apple’s strong brand, HTC benefited from the situation and did a successful launch. In 2013, Wang founded Noodoe who was named Cool Vendor of the Year 2016 by Gartner. The company integrates technological solutions as cloud services, software design and user experience design into products. In cooperation with KYMCO, a personal vehicle brand, Noodoe has integrated a personal social display to improve the user experience. Noodoe Service Block, which let restaurant visitors to communicate restaurant staffs, is also a innovative product developed by Noodoe, which has improved the service industry and increased restaurant’s efficiency. At the end of the visit, Mr. Wang showed CITO around the office. He described how Noodoe values an open office landscape where all employees, regardless of position, share the same work place. By having an open office they could increase both work efficiency and promotive innovation. CITO would like to thank Mr. Wang for his kind reception […]
On October 2nd, The Swedish Chamber of Commerce arranged a company visit at SHL Group in Taoyuan. CITO, together with students from Linköpings University got the opportunity to take part in the visit and get an insight in the company’s business. SHL Group, established in 1989 by Swedish Roger Samuelsson, is a world leading solution provider of advanced drug delivery systems. The company consists of four group companies: SHL Medical, SHL Healthcare, SHL Technologies and SHL Pharma, which together design, develop and manufacture devices such as auto and pen injectors to equipment for home and hospital use care. The visit at the Taoyuan office was primarily led by Ulrich Faessler, who are a Managing Director and has worked for the company for more than ten years. Ulrich, together with other employees at SHL Group, presented and introduced the company by explaining the company operations, the steps from idea to product, and how they work with and include the company’s core values in their everyday work. Ulrich was open for a lot of questions throughout the whole visit, letting the students ask questions that came up during the presentation. Furthermore, he described how the they work together with the U.S. and European based business of the company, the company’s goal to automate as much as possible of the production in Taoyuan, and the company’s customization of orders. The visit also included a factory tour, letting the students take part in the manufacture of the company’s products. The tour took the students through the molding and tooling department of the manufacturing, giving a good insight in how products are created through processes as injection molding and detailed, manual processing of material. CITO would like to thank Swedish Chamber of Commerce and SHL Group for an interesting and enriching visit.
On October 2nd, it is finally time for the Opening Ceremony of the CITO Office. This year, it is hosted by CITO 17/18 and we hope to see as many as possible there. The event will include Swedish “fika” and fun activities. If you want to know more about CITO, Sweden or just get to know some Swedish people, you should come! The office’s opening hours this semester are as follows: Tuesday: 12.15 – 13.00 Wednesday: 12.15 – 13.00 Thursday: 12.15 – 13.00 Stay tuned for more information about the office and upcoming event!
On May 3 – 5th, CITO representatives Linnea Johansson and Tom Diedrichs traveled to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia where they visited the following companies: – Atlas Copco – EY – German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology – UL Equipment Co. – Sandvik Read more about it here
