Internationalization — an essential strategy for a Swedish textile firm?

Corporate strategies and results of three Swedish textile companies are discussed against international trends. The country's high wage level and low import duties have prompted the surviving companies to resort to improved quality and design, sophisticated production technology and, in particular, internationalization. Internationalization is seen as a manifestation of the structural necessity of capitalistic companies to expand, with monopoly as the ultimate goal. Internationalization has implied both the establishment of new product lines abroad and the transfer of existing lines from Sweden. Diversification has also proved successful although the firms have increasingly lost their character as textile companies. Government subsidies have been instrumental for continued domestic textile production but detrimental to corporate growth.