Chapter 1: Ericsson as a global company

Aims of the exercise

• To become familiar with navigation on corporate websites


• To identify key features of Ericsson’s corporate governance


• To assess Ericsson’s global corporate strategy and CSR profile

Getting started
Go to Ericsson’s homepage at www.ericsson.com. Here you will find links to a wide variety of information about the company. To gain an overall picture of the company, browse several of these links on different topics. On some topics, there are numerous further links, which give a variety of information.

Ericsson’s website highlights a number of topics that are relevant to students of international business, including links to investors, technology and CSR. In the ‘investors’ section you will find links of particular interest for this chapter. These include corporate governance and corporate responsibility. There is also a link to annual reports. The annual report of any company contains a wealth of information, often making it a rather long and seemingly unwieldy document. Rather than try to read it from start to finish, go to selected topics (often the same as offered in the investors’ menu).

Tasks
Answer the following questions based on information provided on Ericsson’s website.

A. Corporate governance

1. Looking at the ‘investors’ section of the Ericsson site, what are the principles governing Ericsson’s corporate governance? You will find that Ericsson has a single-tier board with union representatives, making it a hybrid of the two models described in Chapter 1. What are the benefits (or drawbacks) of this arrangement? How international is the board of directors?


2. Ericsson has a dual share structure of Class A and Class B shares. What are the differences between these two classes, and what is the purpose of this structure?

B. Ericsson as a global company

1. Looking at Ericsson’s 2007 annual report, what are the company’s key strategic goals? What growing markets is it stressing?


2. Turn to information on the group management team in the annual report (also under group management team under investors). How international are the top executives?


3. Return to the homepage and follow links which describe the joint venture Sony Ericsson. How does this joint venture fit into the overall strategy?


4. What do you learn about Ericsson’s CSR strategy and activities from the website, and what is the contribution made by Sony Ericsson?

C. Reflection

1. Having looked at various aspects of Ericsson as a company and its businesses around the world, in what ways are you impressed favourably by this company? You will have noticed that careers are one of the headings – would you be interested in working for Ericsson?

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