We want the companies of today and tomorrow to have the best possible opportunities to start, run and develop their businesses. We make proposals for measures and reforms that support the business climate. We share knowledge and build opinion. We represent companies in talks with trade unions and authorities. We give Swedish enterprise a voice in the EU.
Confederation of Swedish Enterprise brings together some 60,000 companies and 49 industry and employer organisations. We represent enterprise in Sweden.
Our vision is that the companies of today and tomorrow have the best possible conditions to start, run and develop their businesses. Sweden should have higher growth than other countries and Swedish enterprise should grow faster than its global competitors. We must become the best knowledge and innovation economy in the world and attract more inward investment. Sweden should be a well-functioning market economy with good relationships between employers and employees. This is how we build our continued prosperity.
Confederation of Swedish Enterprise wants to contribute to a society that is firmly based on democratic principles, the rule of law, property rights and business freedoms. These characteristics form the basis for free enterprise that in turn paves the way for an open, sustainable, inclusive and successful society: a Sweden that is even better to live in, now and in the future.
Laws and regulations at state, municipal, regional and EU level, as well as cross-sector agreements with trade unions, authorities and within business set the rules of the game and conditions for running and developing businesses in Sweden. These are therefore areas that Confederation of Swedish Enterprise seeks to influence.
Our capacity to exert influence is based on three things:
Firstly, we represent the entire Swedish enterprise community. Confederation of Swedish Enterprise member organisations – that have daily contact with the companies in their industries – pursue issues that are important to their industries and provide information and advice directly to member companies. Member employer associations advise on employer issues and negotiate collective agreements with trade unions. And via our boards, regional representatives and our digital entrepreneur panel of member companies, we are able to quickly understand companies’ needs and the issues on which we need to focus, thereby giving weight to our collective voice.
Secondly, we have expert knowledge in areas that are important to companies and enterprise. Together with industries and individual member companies, our experts collect and disseminate knowledge and make concrete proposals on how the business climate can be improved.
Thirdly, we have the influence and capacity to get enterprise a voice at the table. Our advocacy work is often conducted through dialogue with investigators and decision-makers in municipalities, regions, government and EU institutions. We share experiences and knowledge from enterprise, develop solutions and react to proposals. For much of the time our work is undramatic and does not grab the headlines. But our work delivers results that are important to companies.
One of Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s most important roles is to act as a meeting place for businesses to drive collaboration across boundaries of industry and size. This role is crucial in contract negotiations in which individual industries make their own agreements but co-operation between different industries is necessary to achieve results that are favourable for enterprise as a whole. Confederation of Swedish Enterprise also represents businesses and employers in negotiations with trade unions on agreements that cover all industries.
We protect the interests of employers and strive to establish and maintain good relationships with employees and their representatives. We protect the right of association and employers’ rights to lead and allocate work. Negotiations may concern employment rules or pensions, and insurance related to collective agreements, for example. Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s collectively agreed insurance agreements provide employees of member companies with protection at low cost to companies. If a member company is affected by union action, such as a strike, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise provides compensation to the company. We work to ensure that existing conflict resolution rules are balanced and appropriate.
Confederation of Swedish Enterprise strives to disseminate and deepen knowledge about enterprise and its crucial role for society. Entrepreneurship creates wealth and companies’ innovative drive addresses many of society’s challenges. Therefore, enterprise plays a decisive role in efforts to achieve social, economic and environmental sustainability. Profitable companies are good for the development of society. Enterprise creates the conditions for and finances a well-functioning society in which people have opportunities to develop their individual potential. Setting out these benefits to each new generation is one of Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s core tasks.
Confederation of Swedish Enterprise supports schools with free educational materials about entrepreneurship and finance, we help municipalities understand what makes a good business climate, and we ensure that facts and statistics about business, the economy and society are available to all.
In addition to helping society understand enterprise, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise also helps companies understand and stay informed about what is happening in society and the wider world. Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s “Tidningen Näringslivet” is a news service for anyone who is interested in entrepreneurship, economics, the labour market and business policy. It provides news and in-depth analysis from the point of view of enterprise. It also focuses on the Swedish labour market and companies’ role as employers and job creators.
Free enterprise is vital to Sweden’s prosperity. Entrepreneurship creates growth, welfare, jobs and the goods and services that improve people’s living standards. Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is therefore an interest organisation like no other. We represent enterprise and the public interest.
More than three million people work in enterprise and are directly dependent on companies for their livelihoods. Everyone else is also dependent on businesses because those who work in enterprise create demand and provide goods, services and tax revenues that maintain the economy and welfare at state, regional and municipal level.
A large proportion of the goods and services we consume comes from businesses. All the goods and services that do not are dependent on businesses to be financed, produced and delivered. Enterprise is the engine that drives the private and public sector.
Many of the products and services that surround us are innovations that have been developed by businesses. And many scientific discoveries from research institutes and universities become practical solutions with the help of enterprise. To create is also to take risks. Not all risks are successful. So, risk should be spread, as is the case in a free and healthy economy.
Entrepreneurship creates prosperity and companies’ innovative drive addresses many of society’s challenges. Therefore, enterprise plays a key role in efforts to achieve social, economic and environmental sustainability. Profitable companies are good for the development of society. Enterprise creates the conditions for and finances a well-functioning society where people are given opportunities to develop their individual potential.
Enterprise benefits from easy access to as many global markets as possible. Free trade without unnecessary obstacles and with clear and predictable rules is good for Swedish imports and exports. Sweden must be included in the associations and communities of the free world, where the EU’s single market plays a vital role and is the most important market for the majority of Swedish companies. Trade between people, companies and countries benefits everyone and it is enterprise that makes it possible.