Sweden, Practice of Public Relations in

The communication business in Sweden has grown rapidly during the last decade, though the growth has declined in the early 21st century due to a period of recession. Since 1995, the Swedish Public Relations Association has more than doubled its number of members to 4,500, making it the second largest association in Europe and, per capita, one of [Page 831]the largest associations in the world (the population of Sweden is 9 million people) (see Table 1).

The incentive to engage in public relations in Sweden is driven primarily, perhaps even exclusively, by the desire to add positively to the organizations' bottom line. They seem less motivated to view and use public relations as a means for building relationships. No evidence whatsoever shows that Swedish enterprises or public bodies have professional communication unless it affects the businesses. It has become more and more obvious to every professional communicator that you either work in-house or as a consultant.

Almost every second year since 1982, the Swedish Public Relations Association has conducted a member survey, of which the 2003 survey is the latest. The data show clear tendencies: internal communication and media relations are the two areas that will grow most during the coming years. Changing processes and ethics are other issues of great importance to association members, as are corporate branding and strategic planning. The intense debate regarding trust and confidence within the business community has further strengthened the focus on information and communication.

The position of the communication departments is strong in Sweden. In listed companies, 73 percent of the directors of the corporate communication are part of the CEO groups, whereas in public authorities the figure rises to 77 percent. This means that professional communication is part of the business decisions, and that the competence and skills of leading professional communicators must include business administration, production management, political science, behavior science, and management in general.

In the years 1998 to 2003, the Swedish Public Relations Association has arranged a management program called the Communication Executives Program for top senior professional communicators. Organized in tandem with the Stockholm School of Economics to fulfill the requirements heard from many CEOs both in the private and the public sector, this management program provides all the areas described above to give the professional communicator a better platform to have a seat in the CEO team.

In a telephone survey of 800 Swedish public relations executives by Research International 2000, 99 percent of respondents in the private and public sectors declared that they considered effective, professional communication a winning concept. The following areas were also considered of importance:

• Creating good relations with stakeholders and publics (88 percent)
• Advising executives (88 percent)
• Developing communication strategies (87 percent)
• Establishing credibility among stakeholders (84 percent)
• Image creation (83 percent)
• Crisis management (77 percent)

This study was the first of its kind in Sweden. The purpose was to obtain a clear picture of the values and attitudes toward professional communication held by the dominant coalitions.

Since 1995 the Swedish Public Relations Association has been a driving force and participant in the monitoring, measuring, and reporting of intangibles/intellectual capital. In 1996 the association published Return on Communications and has since been involved in different projects concerning the issue within the European Union, OECD, and Nordic Industrial Fund.

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