Strengthening Sweden from within: SSE and SES launch initiative on corporate sponsorship
How can businesses help strengthen Sweden’s social cohesion while creating long-term business value? A new initiative from the Stockholm School of Economics’ Center for Sports and Business and SES – Sponsrings & Eventsverige will explore how more companies can invest in sport, culture and community life.
As Sweden mobilizes to address external threats, the foundations of its internal resilience also deserve attention. Sport, culture, associations and shared meeting places bring people together, support health and build confidence in the future. What role can corporate sponsorship play in sustaining these foundations?
This question brought representatives from leading corporate sponsors to the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) for a roundtable convened by SES - Sponsrings & Eventsverige and SSE’s Center for Sports and Business.
The discussion focused on what it would take to encourage more companies to invest - and to make sponsorship a strategic priority for senior management.
Public support and business potential
A Sifo survey commissioned by SES points to strong public support for sport and culture. According to the survey, 86 percent of respondents consider sport and culture important for Sweden, while none say they are not at all important.
The findings also suggest a reputational benefit for sponsors: 57 percent of respondents report a more positive view of companies that sponsor, compared with 2 percent who report a more negative view.
Together, these results provided a starting point for discussing how sponsorship can contribute both to society and to a company’s business objectives.
The roundtable also addressed the proposal to broaden tax deductibility for sponsorship, including recognition of its role in building corporate reputation.
Bringing sponsorship into the boardroom
A shared conclusion emerged from the discussion: increasing investment requires sponsorship to receive greater attention at the highest levels of business.
Participants highlighted the need to move the conversation from sponsorship managers to executive leadership, and to assess sponsorship as an investment with strategic objectives rather than simply a cost.
This means considering how partnerships with sport, culture and community organizations can support business goals while helping sustain the institutions and activities that connect people.
A joint initiative to encourage investment
SES and the Center for Sports and Business are now launching an initiative aimed at encouraging more companies to strengthen Sweden’s social foundations while developing their own businesses.
The initiative builds on the roundtable’s central question: as Sweden mobilizes resources to protect itself against external threats, how can the business community also mobilize to strengthen the country from within?
Companies represented at the discussion included Swedbank, SEB, ICA Gruppen, Ahlsell Sverige, OBOS, Spendrups, Sandvik, Folksam, SJ, Sundström Safety and Grant Thornton Sweden.
