Royal opening of ESBRI

The following text was also published in Entré No 1, 1997:

In bright sunshine and with almost 300 invited guests, King Carl XVI Gustaf inaugurated ESBRI. This was followed by a symposium on the theme “Creating growth and new jobs”, which was attended by several prominent researchers, including the American David L. Birch, who is known for his research on fast-growing companies, known as gazelles.

ESBRI’s Managing director Magnus Aronsson began by welcoming everyone, after which he handed over to King Carl XVI Gustaf, who in his opening speech emphasized the invaluable importance of entrepreneurship for Sweden’s welfare development. He also mentioned the fact that Swedish and international research shows that most new jobs are created in small businesses and that interest in small businesses is therefore increasing, as is the need for research:

– Thanks to a generous donation from a successful entrepreneur, such activities will now be carried out within the new Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research, which is also linked to a professorship in the subject at Stockholm University. This initiative shows real entrepreneurial spirit. It is my hope that ESBRI will provide a meeting place for Swedish and foreign researchers, whose focus corresponds well to the interdisciplinary nature that research in the field of entrepreneurship and small business must have.

– I will follow the activities to be carried out here with great interest. I look forward to the promised dissemination of knowledge and ESBRI’s participation in the public debate, where the factual arguments can never be too many,” concluded the King, and then declared ESBRI inaugurated.

He then declared ESBRI inaugurated by tying two blue and yellow ribbons to mark the collaboration between academia and industry.

The Rector of Stockholm University, Gustaf Lindencrona, also welcomed the creation of ESBRI: “The fact that we can now appoint a small business professorship is extremely gratifying.

ESBRI founder and donor, entrepreneur and inventor Leif Lundblad, spoke about the legitimacy of entrepreneurship and small business:
– My goal is that it should be nice to be an entrepreneur.

It is about individuals being seen and given the chance to succeed. The aim of ESBRI’s activities is to increase knowledge and understanding of the conditions for entrepreneurship and small businesses, thereby creating the conditions for more growth companies and new jobs in Sweden.

At the subsequent symposium, which had the specific theme of creating growth and new jobs, all the speakers – small business researcher David L. Birch, Professors Gunnar Eliasson, KTH, Carin Holmquist, Umeå, Bo Hedberg, Stockholm and Per Davidsson. Jönköping – the need for changing attitudes as well as the need for role models for businesses to want to grow.

David L. Birch said that Sweden meets all the criteria that American small business research has found to be most important for creating growth – all except one – the entrepreneurial climate must be improved.
When Birch studied the ten cities in the United States with the greatest growth, he found that all had universities, airports, were pleasant to live in and had a good entrepreneurial climate.

– Sweden has more universities per capita than the US, the Öresund Bridge gives you access to another world airport and Sweden is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, so one point remains: what is your attitude towards entrepreneurs? You have been very entrepreneurial in the past, but are you proud enough of your entrepreneurs today? Sure, you can cut taxes and simplify regulations, you have done that, but it has not brought the growth you hoped for. The US can learn a lot from Sweden and you can learn from us in terms of attitude towards entrepreneurs. That is why the creation of ESBRI is so important. It can be a meeting place for exchanging experiences on entrepreneurship.

Per Davidsson, who has researched the psychology of growth, has concluded that role models are very important for business growth. Where there are many businesses, the propensity to start a business is greater, as well as for those who have entrepreneurs close to them – in the family, for example.

– Most businesses are and will remain very small. Everybody knows that there are 400 000 – 500 000 companies. If they employed 10 people, that would create 4 million jobs. But only one million people work in small businesses. The lack of growth is not necessarily a problem for businesses, but perhaps more a problem for society,” said Davidsson.

Gunnar Eliasson said that the Swedish team syndrome means that there are perhaps too many role models of the kind that are satisfied with a certain size of company.