Academic Forum
January 2010
The development of the Swedish Direct Selling Association’s Academic Project
Left to right: Hans-Henrik Ramel, Chairman of the Swedish DSA, award winner, Dominika Senktas and Anders Berglund
A progress update on this initiative, which first appeared in Direct Selling News Europe in November 2008
Anders Berglund received his Swedish Master of Law in 1969. He then joined the Electrolux Group in 1974, where he worked as a company lawyer before progressing on to the direct selling sector of AB Electrolux. In July 1992, he formally assumed the position of Vice President, Human Resources and General Counsel with AB Lux, which was the direct selling arm of the Electrolux Group.
Between 2000 and 2006 (when he retired), he was General Counsel of Lux International AG. Back in 1987 Anders became a board member and legal advisor to the Swedish Direct Selling Association. Since 1989, he has represented Sweden on the board of delegates of the Federation of European Direct Selling Associations (FEDSA). He was Chairman of the Association from 1999 to 2002 and has been Vice Chairman since 2007. He has represented Sweden on the Board of Delegates of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) since 1993 and was Vice Chairman, Governance, of WFDSA from 1997 to 1999.
During 2009, the Swedish DSA’s Academic Project based on the subject of direct selling has developed as planned.
The academician from the University of Uppsala, who undertook the research regarding the social benefits of direct selling in Sweden, has continued her work and has regularly reported to Direkthandelns Forening (DF) about her findings. She has carried out an in-depth study on direct selling by accompanying direct sellers during their working days. She has participated in home parties and worked in the field with door-to-door salespeople and direct sellers to observe them utilising catalogues. She has73 students participating in the course on direct selling, so she is able to conduct meaningful parallel research, with each of the students who participating in at least one direct selling activity, including door-to-door, home party or catalogue selling. The students have each also interviewed two consumers about their experiences with direct selling.
All the students’ work will form part of the final academic report, and the final report is expected in early 2011.
Executives of direct selling organisations have been invited to lecture on the topic of direct selling at several Swedish universities. This is the first step in creating training modules for the future, and four executives have already presented at the University of Borås in December 2009. These executives are from Mary Kay, PartyLite and Amway as well as the Managing Director of the Swedish DSA. Together, they will help educate some 50 students in various aspects of direct selling. This university intends to make direct selling a specialised subject, offering an opportunity for students to study direct selling from a theoretical perspective, along with practical experience being provided by people from within the industry. DF has engaged the organisation Studentkraft (Student Power) as consultants to gain access to students in universities.
Studentkraft has managed to create great interest at the universities, and the next university to participate in this initiative in practical direct selling will be the University of Lund. As previously stated, direct selling is already on the agenda of the University of Uppsala through our academician.
Through Studentkraft, DF has managed to reach out to students with invitations to participate in the DF Academic Award. This was highlighted by a substantial increase of entries for this year’s award. Information about the DF Academic Award is communicated to universities in the form of promotional posters and is also available on the Web sites of several universities as part of suggested subjects for thesis.
The 2009 DF Academic Award was awarded to Pernilla Bredolt and Dominika Senktas for their joint thesis on ‘Relationship Building Through Social Media.’ Their thesis describes the younger generation’s channels for the building of relationships. Knowledge of these channels represents a high value to direct selling, and the authors demonstrated that personal meetings on the Internet can provide direct sellers of the future with new opportunities.
Both authors concluded that, “the respondents showed a strong confi dence in the techniques for fast communication will continue to expand and work as an important relationship builder.” They are as yet uncertain as to the technical platform, whether it will be blogs, ‘Facebook’, ‘YouTube’ or something totally different, but there is no doubt that social media will have an impact on consumer purchasing decisions. Organisations are advised to actively work in social media by observing, responding and communicating with its potential customers. Moreover, the authors suggest that, “retailers should view marketing activities in social media as a core part of the organisation’s overall marketing strategy and integrate activities in various social media forums as part of the daily routine.”
The 2009 monetary award was doubled from SEK 25,000 to SEK 50,000. For 2010, the prize money will remain the same, but there is an intention to split the award into at least two prizes. The subject for 2010 will be more general than in earlier years but, as always, will be related to direct selling. By creating two awards — namely, fi rst and second prizes —
the Association believes that the prestige of the prize will be increased. Coupled with the efforts of Studentkraft, DF expects that entries for the 2010 DF Academic Award will again increase substantially.
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