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When Ingemar Olson needed a hearing aid, the Swedish retiree had to wait a year and a half before he could get one through the public health care system. Although [...]

When President George W. Bush limited federal funding of stem cell research last fall, he handed Europe a business opportunity that could prove to be better than the most favorable [...]

It is a name instantly recognized around the world: the Nobel Prize. It has been politicized, criticized, glorified, vilified, fictionalized, and made into a movie. Sometimes it has been refused. [...]

Designed to regulate, restore, or replace directly, medical implants address a growing range of health concerns While the cancer slowly, steadily consumes the liver, it too falls under attack. Millions […]

With the Swedish capital taking over as Europe's cultural center this year. Rorschach-like blobs of orange, the promotion's symbol, dot the city. So completely does orange dominate that there is [...]

The contract held by independent power producer (IPP) Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) with the Malaysian government to build the Bakun Dam part of the $6 billion hydroelectric plant may be terminated. After several financial disasters, the Malaysian government has threatened to suspend all IPP projects until 2000 to halt building of unneeded capacity.

The article discusses the 2008 U.S. government bailout of the financial sector. A plan by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, to absorb devalued mortgage-backed securities and assets, has prompted criticism from opponents. Topics include a discussion concerning free-market bailouts, the risks associated with the plan, and alternatives to government ownership of companies such as public ownership.

This article describes how Electrolux redesigned itself and its products to speed up production and boost sales. CEO Hans Straberg called on Johan Hjertonsson, who reorganized the product design team to include not just engineers, but also marketers, designers, and salespeople. The Consumer Innovation Program's goal was to develop consumer-friendly products. Electrolux has now changed into a company that uses innovation metrics to measure unmet consumer needs and how well new products meet them.

The article examines how Swedish retailer Ikea became a global brand. Ikea accounts for just five to 10 percent of the furniture market in each country in which it operates. CEO Anders Dahlvig emphasizes brand awareness and lifestyle. To keep sales growing, Ikea is accelerating store rollouts. The key to the rollouts is preserving the strong enthusiasm that Ikea evokes. The global middle class that Ikea targets shares buying habits. Practices that define Ikea culture include egalitarianism and competitiveness. The company's designers work with in-house production teams to identify appropriate materials and least costly suppliers. Suppliers and designers customize some Ikea products to make them sell better in local markets. INSETS: What a Sweetheart Of a Love Seat;How to Build a Cilt Brand;Swden's Answer To Sam Walton;Need a Home to Go with that Sofa?

Focuses on the rapid decline of Swedish telecom company Ericsson. Question of whether chief executive officer Kurt Hellström can redesign the company; Decline in stock price; Employees that are permanently working outside Ericsson main offices; Changes that could transform Ericsson into a wireless telecom company that is dependent on services more than manufacturing; Impact of Ericsson's decline on the Swedish economy.

Profiles Ola Lauritzson, founder of the Internet startup company EPO.com, which allowed investors to buy shares in initial public offerings. Strategies employed by Lauritzson to build his business; Sale of EPO.com to EO, a British rival; Background information on Lauritzson's career; How Lauritzson became an employee of EO. INSETS: Wising Up;Ola Martin Lauritzson;EPO's Short Ride and Quick Slide.

When Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated on the streets of Stockholm in 1986, it was one of the few times in modem Swedish history that residents of the [...]

Salvatore Grimaldi began his career with cars, rather than the bicycles he now sells worldwide. Born in Italy, his father moved with his family to Sweden, like many other southern [...]

Taking an interesting turn The water sloshing over Arne Ostlin's rubber boots as he hoses down the floor of the fish smokehouse that bears his name flows almost as fast [...]

When the trouble started, Anna Lindquist was bicycling up Gothenburg's Kungsportsavenyn on the way to visit a friend. She and others on the streets of the Swedish city watched in [...]

It's lean, tasty, and equally good hot or cold. As long as you don't think of it as eating Rudolph, reindeer meat is a Swedish delicacy not to be missed. [...]

When Jesper Lundell, a claims adjuster at insurer Skandia Liv, took paternity leave, he didn't realize it was going to improve his job performance. 'When I'm with the kids, I [...]

Grinning from ear to ear, Gothenburg Municipal Commissioner Goran Johansson welcomes his Stockholm guests to lunch, a smorgasbord of specialties prepared by chefs from his city on Sweden's west coast. [...]

Technology's influence extends beyond the office in Scandinavia With Ericsson's stock plummeting 75 percent and thousands of lavoffs looming at the Swedish telecommunication Grown jewel, it might seem that many [...]

Swedes may remain skeptical about the European Union and, especially, European Monetary Union, but they're proving more than curious about what's happening during the country's stint as EU president, from [...]

Tightening European economic cooperation can offset an economic downturn in the United States, says the man currently chairing the Ecofin group of European finance ministers. But Swedish Finance Minister Bosse [...]

Wistfully, European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi summed up his feelings about Sweden's 'three-E' program (enlargement, employment, and environment) during the EU presidency it now holds: 'I'm sorry there's not a [...]

Swedes are a clean and organized people. Nowhere is this more apparent than when they do their laundry. If you live in an apartment building in the States, you probably [...]

CRITICS SAY IT'S UNSAFE, PROPONENTS SAY IT'S CLEAN AND EFFICIENT When German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's government decided shortly after its installation to begin phasing out the country's nuclear reactors, it [...]

Forecasting Europe's Environmental Future It is spring in Warsaw and a gray veil hangs above the city. Below, the murky Vistula River flows through the city, carrying debris and factory [...]

No deal reached at global warming conference It was supposed to be a triumphant meeting, culminating with the release of a definitive, practical system for world climate control. Instead, the [...]

As Sweden takes over the European presidency, Environment Minister Kjell Larsson is trying to practice what he preaches. An advocate of public transportation and other alternatives to cars, Larsson bicycles [...]

A smorgasbord of simple pleasures Looking out from the upper windows of his Forsmark manor house at one end of his iron works complex in middle-eastern Sweden, Samuel af Ugglas [...]

Per capita, it boasts one of the world's highest Internet user rates, but some Swedes are being left behind The small shareholder at holding company Investor's annual meeting was angry [...]