Swedish Lucia in Singapore

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Swedish Business Association Singapore SBAS gala 2010

Choice of dress for the evening, a gold champagne gown by my good friend and favourite designer Francis Louis Ler of Amor Meus, 36 Purvis Street in Singapore.
J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

The one thing that strikes you when you land coming into Singapore from the Swedish west coast which is right now experiencing one of its coldest winters in a century at -11 C and several inches of snow, is the wall of humidity and the tropical warmth that surrounds your very being. I was instantly relieved and even reveled in the tropical thunderstorm that greeted me when touching down in Singapore.

But as events go, I was not going to miss Sweden this Christmas because I was just in time for the Swedish Business Association of Singapore (SBAS) to host their annual Julbord and celebration of Saint Lucia. Continue reading ”Swedish Lucia in Singapore” →

Visiting the Geely Holding Group in Hangzhou, November 2010

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Geely headquarters, Hangzhou, China.

The Geely Holding Group headquarters in Hangzhou, November 2010
Photo: J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC © 2010

It was with great expectations that I went to visit the Geely headquarters in Hangzhou, the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd, as part of a Swedish delegation from the University of Gothenburg. Geely’s acquisition of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo with their headquarters in Gothenburg was announced on Monday the 2 August 2010 and with that, the Zhejiang Geely corporation had concluded the largest ever acquisition of a foreign car company in the history of China.

Geely headquarters, University of Gothenburg visit 2010.

A warm sign at the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group headquarters that welcomed the visit by the Swedish delegation.

Geely headquarters, hallway.

Just inside the Geely headquarters entrance.

Having followed the Ford and Geely negotiations as well as could be done in the press, I expected this acquisition to be an important opportunity to study the process of top management knowledge transfer between modern China and the West. Continue reading ”Visiting the Geely Holding Group in Hangzhou, November 2010” →

M on the Bund, Shanghai

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson and Yina Huang at M on the Bund, Shanghai.

Sunday lunch at M on the Bund with the Swedish delegates to Shanghai (pictured below) and Yina Huang, Associate Director, Global Local Public Relations Office, Shanghai University’s MBA Center.
Photo © Olof E Johansson, J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Shanghai is a remarkable city. Considering all vicissitudes this unfortunate city has seen over the last century it was with great expectations that I recently got to visit it, and to explore to what extent this city had regained its former glory. And in many ways it has.

The ebb and flow of great fortunes being made and lost ripples through the city, constantly changing its face. What is a constant is the river, and facing it is still the Bund however much widened. Across the river on the east bank, an entirely new skyline of Pudong greets us, the new skyscraper-laden financial and commercial district that also houses the new Pudong International Airport. Continue reading ”M on the Bund, Shanghai” →

Sunrise in Shanghai 2010

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The Hengshan Picardie Hotel, Shanghai

Morning skylight, at the Hengshan Picardie Hotel, Shanghai.
Photo © C M Cordeiro-Nilsson and Per-Olof Larsson for CMC 2010

And I thought I would walk into a city that would be so foreign to me that I would not have understood half of what was going on as soon as I landed. But I was wrong. In fact, the melding I felt to Shanghai was so immediate it was as if I had stepped off the plane, right back home.

One of the things I look forward to whether travelling or at home, is breakfast. Shanghai, being such a dynamic and cosmopolitan city, has no problems providing for all sorts of palates. In fact, settling for both a red bean steamed bun and a mini chocolate muffin at breakfast was just the sort of thing that a Singaporean for example, wouldn’t think twice about either. Continue reading ”Sunrise in Shanghai 2010” →