Svedea

New Company in an Aged Market

Author

Simon Cederholm

Simon Cederholm

School

Jönköping International Business School

Jönköping International Business School

Professor

Guenola Nonet

Guenola Nonet

Global Goals

5. Gender Equality 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

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Summary

The company of Svedea mainly works towards economic growth and the creation of work opportunities for the community. This can be connected to Global Goal number 8 which concerns working conditions and stable economic growth with an intent to reduce unemployment and increase labor productivity. Although Svedea might not specifically work towards this goal it does achieve much of it by operating its business in an ethical and sustainable way. Meaning that the interest of sustainable economic growth at the company can allow expansions to be realized and thereby also create further opportunities for the community to take advantage of.

Innovation

The insurance market in Sweden is very strong since we have a lot of insurance companies, such as Länsförsäkringar and Trygg Hansa. However, the difference between them and Svedea is that they are working with all types of insurance meanwhile Svedea chooses to work with a select few. The competitors have the same types of insurance as Svedea but these big organizations often have daughter companies that work similarly to Svedea, for example, Agria which is a part of Länsförsäkringar.

Today, Svedea has around 125 employees, mainly divided into two different lines of business. The first line, the private line, is focused on the private market, where they work with providing insurance for individuals. Within the private market department there are multiple subdivisions that works with different areas of insurance, like boats, motorcycles or cars etc. Within the private line they have an organization department that takes care of the sales and claims. The other business line, the commercial line, works towards companies, where they have two main subdivisions. The first one deals with direct insurance to companies, and the other one works with group insurance.

New Company in an Aged Market

Inspiration

Svedea is a company which highly encourages individual responsibility and advocates for its employees to form their own work process. Svedea also states that their employees are their most valued resource and that they try to give them the tools to optimally conduct their duties and responsibilities. However, it is also important for the company that its employees operate within a certain set of limits and that there exist oversight even for those who have proven to be very efficient with individual work. Furthermore, individual responsibility at the firm is distributed on the basis of position at the company in combination with the employee's work performance. Svedea explains that in some areas where the individual can work well independently they try to allow the person to take own initiatives. Meanwhile, they adopt a more strict leadership role in other areas which is more appropriate when the maturity level is low.

Overall impact

He stated that the company does work extensively towards creating a fair workplace and continuously measures its efforts in the area with regular surveys covering everything from management to employee satisfaction. These efforts to ensure a well-working environment is a key concept at the firm to create a coherent workplace experience for employees and employers alike. And even though the company might work towards the goal unconsciously, it can, by operating its business fairly well and with an intent for further economic growth and be considered to comply with much of what the SDG says and intends to convey

Similar to the previous point, Svedea stated that simply complying with Swedish law can go a long way for organizations operating within its borders as the legal framework to support such efforts exists. However, he further explained that the company tries to incorporate extensive efforts intended to mitigate the problem and that it is an issue they try to solve and improve continuously. They mostly work with the issue especially in areas in which a gender is over-represented, such as in their IT department, where mostly men are employed, to better incorporate female coworkers. Furthermore, Svedea also state that the company values a diverse workforce and that it tries to incorporate it in on every level of the organization.

Business benefit

This could enhance the business image and bolster creativity which is increasingly important in order to create competitiveness in the marketplace.

Svedea can also benefit by working with sustanabilty as it can allow for greater visibility for the company .

Social and environmental benefit

Another significant factor to consider is Svedeas work towards social responsibilities and sustainability. Although the company might not have the most extensive efforts in the field of sustainability but that they do in fact work towards it and have some initiatives in place such as Svedea dagen in order to contribute to the community.

The interest of sustainable economic growth at the company can also allow expansions to be realized and thereby also create further opportunities for the community to take advantage of.

Interview

Anders Brändström, Head of Communication

Photo of interviewee

Business information

Svedea

Svedea

Stockholm, SE
Business Website: https://www.svedea.se/
Year Founded: 2010
Number of Employees: 51 to 200

Svedea is an insurance company based in Sweden with the head office in Stockholm. The main product is insurance but they are specialized in some areas and it is cars, motorcycles, boats, jet skies, ATVs, snowmobiles, dogs, cats, sports, and companies. Their slogan is, “At Svedea we do not ensure everything, but what we do ensure we really good at” and it describes the company's core idea about offering a small number of specialized insurances.