On May 26th Nordic Match moderated the Corporate Digitalization Strategy panel organized by Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China.
Nordic Match Partner Tony Wang moderated the panel discussion about “Assessing Corporate Digitalization Strategy for Nordic Companies in China and Why it Matters”, joined by the China Heads of Atlas Copco, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, SKF Group and Hexagon AB.
Key takeaways from the panel can be summarized from four principles of the Corporate Digitalization Strategy.
Digitization is no longer a choice
but a necessity
Digital transformation is forcing companies to change their business models and adapt to the new market reality. Research shows that digital transformation and a focus on customer experience can generate a 20-30% increase in customer satisfaction and economic gains of 20-50%. Meanwhile, digital transformation can also help companies to meet sustainability goals.
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Tony Shen
Vice President of Global Sales, Greater China at Sandvik
Digitalization injects new impetus into the company's development, which represents huge opportunities. Company development will be extremely limited without digitalization.
“
Jackson Bian
Head of M&A China at SKF(China) Investment Co.,Ltd.
Digital transformation means business model change, will also shift the competitive pattern of the original industry, thus shuffling the whole industry.
Digitization is not only a technology, but also a conceptual and organizational capability
Digital transformation is to use digital technology and thinking to address problems that can't be solved in traditional thinking. However, if the company only follow the trend of technology introduction and promotion, it will inevitably have little effect. Thus, digitization is not simply to follow suit. Managers need to have a digital concept and make the right use of technology to achieve successful digitization.
Digitalization’s impact on innovation
With the global pandemic imposing a lockdown, most businesses shut physical shops and offices and transitioned their businesses online. The pandemic is bringing an unforeseen acceleration in the digital transformation of societies around the world. For example, Virtual reality is changing how companies interact with customers.
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Francis Liekens
Vice President at Atlas Copco
To reach more customers, we use Virtual reality technology to display products in a 360 view. We also use the digital twin to realize intelligent manufacturing.
Digitization and localization
Although the domestic digitalization level of internet, finance, telecommunications and other industries have reached or surpassed the international advanced level, the level of information technology infrastructure and application in most small and medium-sized company is still uneven. In addition to the lack of technology, the reasons also include the domestic market economy, backward company management concepts, weak funds and other factors.
For Nordic companies who do not have digitalization strategy in China, Hao Jian, Executive President of Greater China, Manufacturing Intelligence division at Hexagon(Qingdao) Co.,Ltd. said:
“
Hao Jian
Executive President of Greater China,
Manufacturing Intelligence division at Hexagon(Qingdao) Co.,Ltd.
Companies need to answer three questions based on different characteristics and needs at different stages:
(1) Why are you doing this ? (2) How are you going to do this? (3) What tools are you going to use?
"Why are you doing this" helps the company to clarify their essence and goals, as well as their awareness and cognition of digitalization.
"How are you going to do this" leads the company strategy, organization and process, and seeks the digitalization road suitable for China.
"What tools are you going to use" adopts corresponding digital tools and means to provide support in accordance with business needs, market demand and trends.
Therefore, companies should realize that localization impacts what you have to do, and also how you have to behave when communicating and collaborating around the world.
If you are interested in the above topic,
or if you have any enquiry, feel free to contact us
Tony Wang
Partner｜Shanghai
tony.wang@nordic-match.com
Markus Dahlström
Partner｜Stockholm
markus.dahlstrom@nordic-match.com
About Nordic Match
Nordic Match is a boutique M&A and Strategy Advisor headquartered in Shanghai, China. Dedicated to Sino-Nordic transactions, we have a clear vision – to support aspiring corporates and investors in search for value-creating opportunities between Nordics and China.
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