A visit to Volvo Car Corporation, Chengdu Plant

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Faculty members of the Centre for International Business Studies (CIBS) at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, together with faculty members of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), visit the Volvo Car Corporation Chengdu Plant (VCCD), China.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro, Sweden 2015

On 9 April 2015, faculty members of the Centre for International Business Studies (CIBS), at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, together with faculty members of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) had the opportunity to visit the Volvo Car Corporation Chengdu Plant (VCCD).

Reconnaissant Renaissance

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Stockholms stadsbibliotek

At the rotunda of the Stockholm Public Library, Sweden
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro, Sweden 2015

The advancements made in the field of information communication technologies (ICTs) in the past few decades that has redefined our relationship towards information, has in the same process redefined the status and role of the city library in our midst. With all things quick and digital, why even bother visiting a concrete building that houses dusty shelves of well worn books?

I had the opportunity to visit the visually striking Stockholm Public Library. With its tall bordered entrance modeled after the entrance of an Egyptian tomb that promises (and delivers) the fiery treasures of knowledge as you ascend the stairs to Enlightenment, the architecture of the building, designed by Erik Gunnar Asplund, contains in itself ideas and symbolisms from various cultures spanning the globe.

Sustainable luxury in Singapore 2014

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View from the Marina Boulevard paseo, Singapore.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 2014

If there was a favourite place to withdraw when in Singapore, it would for the moment be the expansive Marina Bay area overlooking the waters, marked by an urban space that lacks a crowd during office hours. The slowly undulating movements of the river water taxis navigating the bay lends a different rhythm to the adrenaline rush of the skyscrapers. This difference in bio-rhythms is a contrast in symbiotic urban city living that I find interesting.

In asking for directions to get from Raffles Place (steps away from Collyer Quay) to Marina Bay Sands (MBS), I was advised by more than one person encountered, to take a taxi. I smiled and nodded and proceeded to find my way on foot, to the Marina Boulevard paseo.

A magic night at CHIJMES. The Swedish Business Association Singapore (SBAS) Mid-Winter Ball, 2014

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Swedish Business Association Singapore (SBAS) Mid-Winter Ball 2014 at CHIJMES, at Victoria Street.
Text & Photo © KD Cordeiro, JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

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PS Café at Ann Siang Hill, Singapore. Knowledge intensive service industry with a cherry on top.

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A CIBS “selfie of the day” at Amoy Street, Singapore.
Text & Photo © P Ström, JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

I recently found myself navigating a number of historical streets in and around the central business district of Singapore. If this somehow is an epigenetic memory or not, I don’t know, but I do find myself very much at home around here, it being the very place in Singapore as to where I want to bring my friends.

In Singapore together for this study visit were colleagues from the Centre for International Business Studies (CIBS) of the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Across the outdoor patio seating of Ristorante Da Valentino in Singapore, 2014

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Visiting Valentino’s in Singapore have by and by become a meeting with the Valtulina family. It is pleasant beyond description to be welcomed by familiar faces and even better having your own guests treated as if you were just a big family having waited much too long to finally see each other again.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

Across the outdoor patio seating of Ristorante Da Valentino in Singapore is a small spice garden. The restaurant is the venture of the Valtulina family. A place I have over time come to regard as a little home away from home, and a place I am always happy to revisit as occasions occur.

Regarding the little garden. We had actually talked ourselves into this little gem mainly in the care of Gianpiero Valtulina, or Papa Gianni, by showing a genuine interest. And while excusing himself for “its many shortcomings”, he showed us around, showed us what were to be and complained – as all true farmers at heart – about the soil, the weather, the sun, the rain and the climate in general, with a smile.

Singapore narratives, from white Mercedes-Benzes

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ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

Taxi drivers. They make some of the most understated ambassadors to a country, in particular, if that country is Singapore, if only because most taxi drivers are quite loquacious individuals who love spending time in transit to get to know their passengers.

Having not been back in Singapore for a couple of months, I had expected some kind of feedback when I landed in Singapore from Sweden, from family or friends about the climate, not just literally about the haze from Indonesian forest fires, but rather the political and cultural climate of the country. It seemed I had that opportunity however, on the incoming flight from Scandinavia on the airplane, sitting next to Ben, a 1980s born young man who had five years ago, married a woman from Malaysia. She was in fact, seated in an adjacent row with her sister. In the course of conversational exchange, Ben mentioned that he and his wife had no children as yet, “Even though we are five years married already.”

China Goes Global 2014. Zhouzhuang water village, China

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Wilted, at Zhouzhuang water village, Jiangsu, China.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

As if apologetic that all I’ve experienced this time in Shanghai in terms of weather was rain and grey skies, the weather took a turn for the chirpier on the day I was to visit Zhouzhuang, deciding to turn on sunshine at full blast. This was not so much seen as already felt in the early hours after sunrise. Standing under the concrete shelters of the hotel, I had already begun to swelter.

China Goes Global 2014, Visit to ZTE Corporation, Shanghai

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ZTE Corporation, Shanghai, China.
Text & Photo © C Lattemann, JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

Founded in 1985, ZTE Corporation is China’s first dual listed company. Listed on both the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges, ZTE is a giant of a corporation hidden in plain view with its revenue in 2013 hitting a cool 12 billion USD. And it is growing rapidly yet. The telecommunications equipment and systems company that plays a principal role in supporting China’s massive constructions of 4G networks, surpasses the more renowned Europe based Siemens, Ericsson and Philips in patented innovations, reporting a sustained triple digit profit growth in its nine month forecast in 2014.

Reflections on a visit to Shanghai 2013

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After Shanghai.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

It was in November 2013 when we paid a study visit to Shanghai, China. But it was only on the eve of the Lunar New Year 2014 that all colleagues had a chance to gather in an early spring kick-off session to share and compare some reflections, insights and lessons learnt from that visit.

The afternoon was spent in a lecture hall, numbering altogether about thirty persons, somewhat amused that this might be the first time ever that we met as a group. Located in the same administrative building, at most a few floors apart from each other and some even sharing the same corridor, it took a joint visit to Shanghai in order for us all to get together face to face.