2011-2016

Introduction
Presented below is the final report of the Centre for Business History project entitled Sources for Swedish Business History in Russia.
The project has been partly financed by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation.
Project organisation
The project has had the following organisation
o Alexander Husebye, Project Manager
o Vadim Azbel, Archivist and Project Coordinator
o Martin Kragh, Associate Professor and scientific expert
The project's reference group has comprised the following:
o Thomas Tydén, Professor and Chairman of the Nobel Family Society
o Sven Hirdman, Ambassador
o Bengt Jangfeldt, author and authority on Russia
o Erik Norberg, former Head of the Swedish National Archives
o Helene Carlbäck, Associate Professor and Russia researcher
Purpose of the project (changes)
The purpose of the project has been to promote research on Swedish business history in Russia, primarily during the period between the 1860s and 1917. This period has been selected in order to allow for the analysis of an important but hitherto inconspicuous part of the joint Swedish-Russian history.
The time period has been changed during the project. It has been extended to 1920, partly to cover the initial impact of the Russian Revolution and partly to correspond to the periodisation that several Russian archives use.
Project results
Digitised material
The main outcome of the project is the digital database that makes thus far little-known source material available to scientific and source critical studies. The database is available to users on cfn-online.se and can also be accessed via a link from the site branobel.com. It currently contains totally 148.611 documents (as of September 29 2016) divided into 27 collections (companies and other archive holders). The database presents the documents' origins along with contact information for the archival institutions that have participated in the project. The database is continuously updated and supplemented gradually with the project material and other publications in pdf format.
The material in the digital database is freely available to users, which has been a starting point for the project's participating partners.
Seminar in Stockholm
The project's first public seminar was held on 18-19 November 2013 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (with the financial support of the same). The aim was to take stock of ongoing and past research, and enable Russian archival institutions to present collections of interest. Researchers from Sweden, Russia and Germany presented papers, which were also published in a collection booklet.
The seminar was documented on film. More elaborate contributions were published in Swedish Business History in Russia, 1850-1917 (Volume 9 in the Business History series).
For Russian colleagues, the project also organised a visit to the Centre for Business History and other archival institutions in order to pursue collegial exchange and discussion on the project.
Seminars and conferences in St. Petersburg
On 17-18 November 2014, the project held a symposium in St. Petersburg, with special support from the foundation Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (research initiation) and with the Consulate General of Sweden as partner. A detailed description of this in terms of the design and implementation has been provided in a previous report to RJ.
The purpose of the symposium was to summarise, report and evaluate the project's interim results for the Swedish and Russian project partners (especially archival institutions) and researchers. In connection with the conference, the monograph Doing Business in Russia 1850-1920 (see below) was also launched. Most attention was focused on the presentation of the first version of the digital database of scanned documents from Russian and Swedish archives. In connection with this, the database was also examined by the invited Swedish and Russian researchers. The results then went on to form the basis for further processing of the digital database, as well as for additional scanning in Russian and Swedish archives.
Publications
The project's publications are presented elsewhere in the final report
Involvement from the business community
During the project's run, the business community, and in particular those companies that have been active in Russia before the revolution, has become aware of the value of the early history. For example, the project was given permission to digitise archival material from the archives of Ericsson and Atlas Copco.
Unforeseen technical and methodological problems
One of the project's objectives has been to establish a scientific archive and research cooperation with Russian archival institutions. This requires mutual trust and consensus regarding the project's purpose and goals. We can conclude that the implementation succeeded beyond expectations, not least because the project was established early on at the right level in the Russian archives system, and also owing to the good relations between Swedish and Russian researchers and archival stakeholders. The following changes affected the project implementation:
o During the project, we had to adjust the digitisation process due to differences between the Swedish and Russian archival order systems.
o There have been delays to the planned schedule, mainly due to the Russian archive authorities' decision-making processes. Issues regarding the publication of source material online have also led to discussions, until a consensus was reached on non-commercial terms for use of the database.
o Certain changes in working method have been necessary among the Centre for Business History staff. The complexity of the databases has required further customisation of the Centre for Business History's technical platform and the web tools with which the digital database is made available - EPiServer.
The work's integration in the Centre for Business History
o Network building. The Centre for Business History network has expanded through the project. The success of the project has been dependent on good cooperation at the collegiate level with the Russian archival institutions. A development factor has also been the discussions on a principle level regarding making archive material available online and transparency in the selection of material that has be digitised.
o Research service online and for visiting researcers. The Centre for Business History has for more than fifteen years disseminated digital material via the internet. Today, over twenty unique websites are hosted with content consisting of both text and images, as well as original documents. The results of this project have broadened our contacts with researchers and other users of the source material.
Sustainability of results - the project's continuation
Through publications and the accessibility of the digitised material online, the project has laid the foundation for its continuation. The sustainability of the results over time will be promoted by the following:
o Through the Centre for Business History's ordinary activities, the website is maintained and research requests are coordinated. The publications are distributed through its own channels, for example as e-books.
o Forthcoming support from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation ensures both the development and maintenance of the digital database, as well as recurring seminars for the evaluation of material and presentations of ongoing research.
o Contacts with Swedish and Russian partners for further selection and digitisation will continue with support from the Wallenberg Foundations.
o A future project, In a World of Risks: Swedish-Russian Business History, ca. 1840s to 1918, will be led by Associate Professor Martin Kragh at Uppsala University.
New research questions generated by the project
The project's research objective was to formulate and discuss possible research on Swedish-Russian corporate history on the basis of the archive material inventoried and digitised in the project. Among other things, the following three aspects are interesting:
1. Why did Swedish companies see Russia as such a central market, and what was involved in the establishments on this market? What was the long-term view of the Russian market held by Swedish businesses? What risks were considered to be found in direct foreign investments? Relevant material is available from, among other sources, L.M. Ericsson, ASEA, SKF and Ludvig Nobel's machine-building factory. Russia was these companies' most important market and this aspect has not been subject to in-depth study. Thus, there is important knowledge lacking on Swedish industry's foray into internationalisation.
2. What significance did Swedish banks and insurance companies have for corporate establishment in Russia? In 1910 Ericsson revenues in Russia amounted to approximately 50% of the parent company's total sales revenues. SKF supplied the Russian industry with over 80 % of all ball bearings during the First World War. All production required extensive capital investments, but we know very little about how these investments were financed. How did Swedish companies interact with banks in Sweden and Russia? Did the banking sector share many industrial companies' perception of the Russian market as lucrative and adequately stable from a risk perspective?
3. The Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik seizure of private property constitutes a little-studied episode from the Swedish point of view. According to tentative estimates by Martin Kragh, the losses for Swedish industry in Soviet Russia between 1917-1920 were comparable to the total losses for the Swedish banks in the crisis of the 1990s. Depending on the choice of estimate, the Swedish losses amounted to between 6-15 % of the Swedish GDP in 1917. Swedish industry export lost 30 % of its foreign market. This aspect of Swedish-Russian history has not only economic significance, but also political and human.

Publications

•    Sources on Swedish business history in Russia; conference papers (Stockholm 2013)
•    Swedish Business History in Russia, 1850-1917; Näringslivshistoria nr 8 (145 sidor, utgiven av CfN, Stockholm 2014)
•    Doing business in Russia, sources to Swedish Business History in Russia 1850-1920 (96 sidor, utgiven av CfN, Stockholm 2014)
•    Rysslands historia: Från Alexander den II till Vladimir Putin. Martin Kragh (2014) Bygger delvis på arkivmaterial som digitaliserats inom projektet.
•    Projektet har avsatt ett digitalt nyhetsbrev samt artiklar i tidskriften Företagsminnen (numera Företagshistoria), på webben samt i sociala media.
•    Projektet har även uppmärksammats av svenska och ryska tryckta media.