Svenskt Näringsliv is the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, a non-profit association of our member organisations – industry or employer associations, or other business organisations. Individual companies hold membership in the Confederation through their direct membership in these respective associations.
The Confederation has two Boards with split responsibilities: The Board and the Executive Board. The Board focuses on long-term strategies and policy decisions. The Executive Board focuses on operational issues.
Our Board of Directors can vary in size, but currently has 83 members, of which 56 are directors, including the Director General, 14 are alternates and 12 are elected by the general meeting. Up to 12 directors are elected at the annual meeting, which also elects the Board Chair.
Member organisations’ representation on the Board of Directors and voting strength at the annual meeting are weighted according to the fees paid to the Confederation by their member companies.
The Board appoints up to three Vice Chairs from their number. The Vice Chairs are also Vice Chairs of the Executive Board. The Confederation Board also appoints the General Director as the most senior operational executive, who also represents the Confederation publically.
The Executive Board makes decisions concerning the Confederation’s operational issues, e.g. the annual budget and operations plan, and decides upon employer issues.
The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is a member representative organisation, which means that we operate under the mandate of our members and that the Board of Directors sets the organisational goals and objectives of these operations. We use our own principle of subsidiarity so that the Confederation only addresses collectively issues of common interest among our member businesses, regardless of industry or sector.
The Confederation is also responsible for all collaborative efforts between our members. We make sure that the Directors General of our member organisations meet regularly with senior executives at the Confederation. This collaboration includes members regularly informing each other, and appropriate Confederation offices, about current operations, and that issues of special importance (such as collective bargaining issues that can affect sister organisations) are also considered centrally at the Confederation.