Skandia gains recognition as one of the world's most admired companies

Skandia gains recognition as one of the world's most admired companies Skandia has been named as one of the world's 20 Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) in the 2001 MAKE study. MAKE Award winners are recognized for their world-class efforts in managing knowledge and superior performance. The MAKE study is conducted by the independent knowledge management research company Teleos in association with the KNOW Network. The Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises are selected by an expert panel of senior executives at Fortune Global 500 companies, who narrowed down the field to some 100 companies. These were then scrutinized by 300 executives and specialists of other knowledge companies, before finally selecting the top 20 finalists. The MAKE Award winners were analysed with respect to eight knowledge performance dimensions. Skandia was awarded for its "ability to manage knowledge and generate shareholder value." Skandia is the only Swedish company on the list and was ranked number 8 in the world (no. 11 last year) and number 3 in Europe. At the top of the list were General Electric (USA), Hewlett-Packard (USA), Buchman Laboratories (USA), the World Bank (International), Microsoft (USA), BP Amoco (UK), and Siemens (Germany). Following Skandia among the top ten were McKinsey & Co. and Cisco, both of the USA. Commenting on the award, Lars-Eric Petersson, President and CEO of Skandia, said: "By building up our aggregate knowledge and without excessive means, we have rapidly been able to establish Skandia as a global company in long- term savings. This requires an organizational philosophy in which leaders and employees have a positive attitude and an unrelenting willingness to change and develop themselves and Skandia. The 2001 Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises Award will help us achieve our goals for the future." In a related area, Skandia has been named to the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for achieving dramatic success by becoming a so-called Strategy- Focused Organization. The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative is a professional network for creating Strategy-Focused Organizations. Skandia uses its own model of the Balanced Scorecard, called the Skandia Navigator, which facilitates a balanced planning, management, follow-up and communication of the company's long-term profitability. This entails that financial as well as nonfinancial key ratios are weighed together, and that traditional budget reporting has been done away with. Skandia shares this honour in 2001 with two other European companies, Siemens IC Mobile and Borealis. For further information, please contact: Henrik Danckwardt, COO Business area Knowledge Management, Skandia, tel. +46-8-788 4644 Birgitta Hammarström, Press Manager, Skandia, tel. +46-8-788 27 55, or +46-70-378 27 55 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/06/11/20010611BIT00340/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/06/11/20010611BIT00340/bit0002.pdf