Business leaders have to make decisions on a long-term basis, although the conditions for making international business is changing every day. This book provides you with neccessary analytical tools to understand the complexity of such decision-making process. Besides, the book gives you an unique insight in how individual entrepreneurs since the 19th century have contributed to a competitive business and great wealth in the Nordic countries. - Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of Investor AB, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of SEB, Atlas Copco and SAS, Board member of ABB and the Coca Cola Company. This book finally answers one of the great puzzles in global business history - how could a group of small peripheral countries in northern Europe grow some of the world's most competitive firms, and create some of the world's most affluent societies. The authors of this book combine a provocative hypothesis about the existence of a Nordic model of capitalism with first-rate empirical research on the history of the business systems of the region. This book allows English-speaking scholars to access the rich research undertaken by Nordic business historians, while permiting teachers of comparative business history to include the Nordic model in their courses. - Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History Harvard Business School This welcome volume stresses the micro-economic perspective: including case stories of important firms, remembering the comparative aspect, and not least using a theoretical framework which is very useful for understanding the dramatic changes in economic development. - Per Boje, Professor of Business History, University of Southern Denmark The world has a lot to learn from the recent success of 'Nordic Capitalism' and this book has a lot to teach. With leading companies such as Nokia, ABB and Carlsberg at the centre, the authors offer an authoritative and nuanced account, with rich materials for students, policy-makers and teachers alike'. - Richard Whittington, Professor of Strategic Management, Oxford SaId Business School, UK