Since 2005, a number of roads, bridges and tunnels in Finland, Norway and Sweden could be labeled "One Skanska Made" thanks to a close cooperation between Nordic and Slovak or Czech units. Through internal collaboration Skanska's Central European units share both expertise and laborer. The Nordic projects gain competitive edge while creating job opportunities for the Czech and Slovakia colleagues.
The win-win concept is a proven success. Since 2005 hundreds of Czech and Slovak colleagues participated in Nordic projects for longer or shorter periods. And the "Nordic branch" of Skanska CZ & SK last year had sales of about SEK 105 Million.
Looking for new opportunities
Ivan Magdolen, District Manager for the Nordic venture, and Roman Pračko, sales manager, are scouting for Nordic projects that could be suitable for Central European teams.
Roman is sharing his time between the Nordic capitals. He is a familiar face in Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm. Both Ivan and Roman have many years in the industry including numerous international projects and about ten years in Skanska. Now they both focus on the Nordic markets.
"Our task is to add value at both ends. Our expertise and experience in certain project types, like concrete structures and underground work, can definitely help the Nordic units to win new contracts and to outperform in the production phases," Roman says.
Collapsing home markets
"This also creates good work opportunities since our home markets more or less collapsed some years ago."
"We have employed approximately 200 staff which in turn resulted in 200 satisfied families. Most of these employees would most likely have been unemployed without this cooperation," Ivan says.
"This is obviously benefitting both employees and the company – satisfied and highly professional employees are great asset."
A perfect match
The Nordic market is larger and offers more projects with interesting and technical challenges. And the cooperation is a perfect match in Ivan’s and Roman’s view.
"The Nordic staff is dedicated to planning and technical preparation in the office and our people are better at tackling production challenges and executing complex technical solutions on site. It is an ideal combination for a successful project execution."
"Our laborers are more efficient and work with higher "drive". It is satisfying them personally more in comparison to the Nordic workers."
Constructive atmosphere
Ivan and Roman find the work atmosphere very positive.
"Negotiations are always very effective and held in constructive atmosphere. We have made great friends in the Nordic organizations," says Ivan.
"Nordic colleagues are cooperative, open minded and target focused. I feel both sides have learnt a lot from the cooperation and we are confident it will prove successful in the future too. Hopefully, we can be part of the new interchange and bypass projects Nya Slussen and Förbifart Stockholm as well as other potential Nordic Civil construction projects. Next year we can celebrate the 10th anniversary of the cooperation," Roman concludes.