Ericsson

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Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
Type publicly traded
Founded 1876 (Stockholm, Sweden)
Founder(s) Lars Magnus Ericsson and Carl Johan Andersson
Headquarters Stockholm, Sweden
Area served worldwide
Key people Michael Treschow (Chairman); Sverker Martin-Lof (Deputy Chairman); Marcus Wallenberg (Deputy Chairman); Carl-Henric Svanberg (President, CEO, and Director); Hans Vestberg (EVP and CFO)[1]
Industry telecommunications
Products telecommunications and networking equipment
Services managed services, consulting and education, systems integration and customer support[2]
Revenue 29.35 billion USD (2007)[3]
Operating income 3.615 billion USD (2007)[3]
Net income 3.459 billion USD (2007)[3]
Employees 74,011 (2007)[1]
Website http://www.ericsson.com

From Hoover's Online: "Ericsson opens all lines of communication. The world's leading maker of mobile broadband infrastructure provides the equipment that telecom service providers use to build and expand networks. The company also provides wireline broadband, metro-area Ethernet, and optical transport equipment. Ericsson's joint venture with Sony, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, ranks among the top providers of mobile handsets. The company is controlled by two groups: Investor AB, the investment vehicle for the Wallenberg family, and AB Industrivärden, which control 19% and 13% of the voting power respectively."[1]

Company History

Ericsson was founded by Lars Magnus Ericsson and Carl Johan Andersson in 1876 as a mechanical engineering shop which came to provides its own telegraph receivers to Swedish railway companies.[4] Within a decade, the company had expanded to 70 employees from the original five, and it began producing telephones and related equipment.[5]Ericsson was a multinational company by the time of World War I, with its most important overseas plants in Russia and the UK.[6]


Historical Financial Information

Historical Stock Prices


Business Strategy

Ericsson "vision and values"
"Vision and Core Values" accessed July 2008</ref>:

"Our vision
To be the Prime Driver in an all-communicating world.
This means a world in which all people can use voice, data, images and video to share ideas and information whenever and wherever they want."

"Core values
Respect, professionalism and perseverance are the values that are the foundation of the Ericsson culture, guiding us in our daily work - how we relate to people and how we do business."

Political and Public Influence

Political Contributions

Lobbying

By summer 2008, Ericsson, Inc., hired the lobbying firm Clark and Weinstock for $100,000.[7] That figure was $220,000 in 2007 and $240,000 in 2006.[8][9]

Corporate Accountability

Labor

Ericsson is a customer of Volex Cable Assembly Co., Ltd. "Volex is a global producer of electrical and optical fiber cable assemblies and power cords (plugs, cables and connectors)" which "operates offshore manufacturing facilities in Asia, Europe, and North and South America. In Asia, the Volex Group currently has three manufacturing facilities based in mainland China (in Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Suzhou), and factories and/or offices in India, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In total, the group manages over 30 production centers worldwide."[10] According to a May 2008 Report published by SACOM and Bread for All, the Volex factory in Zhongshan City, China, found that the factory employs 1500-2000 workers, and that while workers' overtime still exceeded the monthly legal limit by up to 84 hours a month, this figure was less than up to 140 hours of mandatory overtime per month employees worked in 2006.[11] In addition to work days that last a minimum of twelve hours (with two 45 minute breaks), workers are not given any days off during peak production times.[12] Occupational health and safety are problems at the Volex plant, where workers' hands often become swollen and blistered from handling cables and are not given any sort of protective gloves.[13] The past policy of deducting meal charges of 102 yuan per month from workers' wages whether or not they ate in the canteen is no longer in effect.[14] Volex management reported that the EICC has been presented to workers in 2007, but as of the beginning of 2008 workers did not claim any knowledge of either its contents or their implementation.[15]

Human Rights

Environment

Consumer Protection and Product Safety

Anti-Trust and Tax Practices

Social Responsibility Initiatives

When Ericsson began moving much of its manufacturing operations to Asia in 1998, it developed an extensive Supplier Responsibility Code detailing safety requirements, fair and honourable business practices, human rights, workers rights, and child labor, as well as monitoring and compliance practices.[16] However, Ericsson is still not a member of the EICC as of May 2008.</ref>.[17]

Business Scope

The reach of Ericsson's telecommunications networks is vast, accounting for 1000 networks in 175 countries and 40% of all mobile phone calls. Ericsson holds over 23,000 patents, and through its joint venture Sony Ericsson produces mobile handsets in addition to the networks maintained by the parent company.[18]


Customers Suppliers Creditors Competitors
Customer 1 Volex Creditor 1 Competitor 1
Customer 2 Supplier 2 Creditor 2 Competitor 2
Customer 3 Supplier 3 Creditor 3 Competitor 3
Customer 4 Supplier 4 Creditor 4 Competitor 4


Financial Information

Ticker Symbol: ERIC
Main Exchanges: NASDAQ
Investor Website: http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/investors/index.shtml

Shareholder % Total Shares held
Brandes Investment Partners L.P. 14.06%
Tradewinds Global Investors, LLC. 11.22%
Primecap Management Company 10.36%
Lazard Asset Management LLC 6.75%
Vanguard/Primecap Fund 6.02%
Vanguard/Windsor Fund Inc. 4.91%
North Road Capital Management, LLC 4.59%

Largest Shareholders[19]


Geographic scope paragraph

Country Revenue Profits Assets Employees
Country 1 Revenue 1 Profit 1 Assets 1 Employees 1
Country 2 Revenue 2 Profit 2 Assets 2 Employees 2
Country 3 Revenue 3 Profit 3 Assets 3 Employees 3
Country 4 Revenue 4 Profit 4 Assets 4 Employees 4

Governance

Board Member First Elected Holdings in Ericsson Other Affiliations
Michael Treschow 2002 820,043 Class B Shares ABB Ltd and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
Marcus Wallenberg 1996 710,000 Class B shares AstraZeneca PLC; Stora Enso Oy; the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; FAM-Foundation Asset Management
Sverker Martin-Lof 1993 52,000 Skanska AB; Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA; SSAB
Roxanne S. Austin 2008 None Abbott Laboratories; Teledyne Technologies Inc.; Target Corporation
Sir Peter L. Bonfield 2002 22,000 Class B shares Mentor Graphics, Inc.; Sony Corporation; TSMC
Borje Ekholm 2006 108,803 Class B shares Investor AB; AB Chalmersinvest; Husqvarna AB; Scania; KTH Holding AB
Ulf J Johansson 2005 32,176 class B shares Jump Tap Inc
Nancy McKinstry 2004 None The American Chamber of Commerce, the Netherlands, TiasNimbas Business School
Anders Nyren 2006 33,428 class B shares Association of Exchange Listed Companies; Association for Generally Accepted Principles in the Securities Market; Sandvik AB; Svenska Handelsbanken; Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA; AB Industrivarden; Skanska AB; SSAB; Ernstromsgruppen
Carl Henric Svanberg 2003 15,781,966 class B shares Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB; Assa Abloy AB; The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise; Melker Schorling AB; Uppsala University
Monica Bergstrom 1998 4,757 class B shares None
Anna Guldstrand 2004 4,723 class b shares None
Jan Hedlund 1994 2,040 class B shares None
Pehr Claesson 2008 1,628 Class B Shares None
Kristina Davidsson 2006 3,401 Class B Shares None
Karin Aberg 2007 4,877 Class B Shares None

Board of Directors[20]

Contact Information

Company name: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
Company address: TORSHAMNSGATAN 23, KISTA
164 83 STOCKHOLM
SWEDEN

Phone: +46 8 719 00 00
Fax: +46 8 18 40 85

Articles and Resources

Books on the Company

Related SourceWatch Articles

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hoover's Online: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson Factsheet accessed July 2008
  2. Ericsson Business Offerings accessed July 2008
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Yahoo! Finance Annual Data" accessed July 2008
  4. Ericsson History: 1876 accessed July 2008
  5. "Ericsson History:1886" accessed July 2008
  6. "Ericsson History: 1916" accessed July 2008
  7. Open Secrets: Ericsson, Inc. 2008 accessed July 2008
  8. Open Secrets: Ericsson, Inc. 2007 accessed July 2008
  9. [http://opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?year=2007&lname=Ericsson+Inc Open Secrets: Ericsson, Inc. 2006
  10. Jenny Chan, the Research Team of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) and Chantal Peyer (Bread for All). “High Tech – No Rights? A One Year Follow Up Report on Working Conditions in China’s Electronic Hardware Sector.” May 2008. p. 37.
  11. Jenny Chan, the Research Team of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) and Chantal Peyer (Bread for All). “High Tech – No Rights? A One Year Follow Up Report on Working Conditions in China’s Electronic Hardware Sector.” May 2008. p. 37-8.
  12. Jenny Chan, the Research Team of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) and Chantal Peyer (Bread for All). “High Tech – No Rights? A One Year Follow Up Report on Working Conditions in China’s Electronic Hardware Sector.” May 2008. p. 38.
  13. Jenny Chan, the Research Team of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) and Chantal Peyer (Bread for All). “High Tech – No Rights? A One Year Follow Up Report on Working Conditions in China’s Electronic Hardware Sector.” May 2008. p. 39.
  14. Jenny Chan, the Research Team of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) and Chantal Peyer (Bread for All). “High Tech – No Rights? A One Year Follow Up Report on Working Conditions in China’s Electronic Hardware Sector.” May 2008. p. 40.
  15. Jenny Chan, the Research Team of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) and Chantal Peyer (Bread for All). “High Tech – No Rights? A One Year Follow Up Report on Working Conditions in China’s Electronic Hardware Sector.” May 2008. p. 40.
  16. Joseph Wilde and Esther de Haan. The High Cost of Calling: Critical Issues in the Mobile Phone Industry SOMO: Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, November 2006. p. 51.
  17. Jenny Chan, the Research Team of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) and Chantal Peyer (Bread for All). “High Tech – No Rights? A One Year Follow Up Report on Working Conditions in China’s Electronic Hardware Sector.” May 2008. p. 43.
  18. "Ericsson in Brief" accessed July 2008
  19. "Yahoo! Finance" accessed July 2008
  20. Ericsson Board of Directors accessed July 2008

External Resources

External Articles

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