greenspanalan schreef op 17 september 2011 09:17:
2011-09-16 09:15
Despite the loyal employees and an energetic leadership seems to have really caught up Saab. But the Swedish automotive industry, the impact of a bankruptcy will be very limited. Rather, it can lead to renewal of an entire region, writes Professor Pontus Braunerhjelm on Di Debate.
Swedish car industry has in the past year have found themselves in the paradoxical situation that one of the companies are crying out for improvement of skills while the other is crying out for support to maintain their competence and to survive. Now it seems that Saab's fate is being sealed.
Despite an almost unreasonable loyalty from employees, energetic action by the management to find long-term and high net worth investors, and probably too much state intervention seems really to have caught up with Saab.
Production ceased several months ago, debts amounting to billions and the brand is heavily into sprained. A bankruptcy appears to be the least painful way to bring both employees and suppliers and other stakeholders to more realistic expectations about Saab's future.
That companies are allowed to disappear, the new can enter the market or that the old will return in new guise is a process that has benefited Sweden's prosperity and economic development since the Industrial Revolution. There are many examples of large corporate bankruptcies after some time has had positive effects on an economy's development - it is part of a renewal process.
For the Swedish automotive industry - as well as Sweden - are the negative effects will be very limited.
Instead, this could be the start of a strengthening of other companies in the labor force carries with it technology and design skills to new employers. Equally likely new businesses to emerge. The emergence of an advanced and export-oriented service business, building on the solid technical expertise in Saab, and has a global customer base, is fully possible.
Nevertheless, the short-term transition to be difficult for Trollhattan, although by no means needs to be crippling. An illustration is the company Ericsson, which was undergoing a deep crisis in the early 2000s when the dot-com bubble burst. A large proportion of the workforce had to stop - about 20 000 in Sweden, compared with just over 3000 interested in Trollhattan - followed by a restructuring of the entire industry.
Today, Ericsson is again a strong company and the skills of the workforce who were forced to leave have been used in other or new businesses. Some places were hit hard but the vast majority recovered relatively quickly. Another example is the tire manufacturer Continental Gislaved where the settlement of a dominant employer, barely visible in the unemployment statistics.
Crucial to this process as smooth as possible is that the measures are provided where they have the greatest effect, that is, with redundant workers and in an improved business climate.
The race is far from driving in Trollhättan, which have a range of strengths: the resort is located in Sweden's perhaps most powerful industrial region, there is excellence and research resources aimed at the automotive industry and a strong tradition of entrepreneurship and industrial activities.
The risk of stagnation and dependency is much higher if the old one at all costs be preserved. Local decision-makers, supported by national stakeholders, must develop a strategy for a renewed Trollhattan.
Pontus Braunerhjelm
Managing Director, Entrepreneurship Forum and Professor, KTH
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