Message from Asian Institute of International Financial Law within the Faculty of Law
Seminar: International Business: Challenges Experienced in a Global and National Interconnected World
Christer Thordson, Former General Counsel IKEA Group
Friday, 21 March 2014, 12:30 – 1:30 pm
Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower,
The University of Hong Kong
Globalization increases incentives and the development of rule-of-law within and among countries. Countries seeking a share of the increasing flow of goods and capital may find a weak rule-of-law to be an obstacle. High level of crime and corruption may have similar effects. For shareholders, investors and legislators conventional concerns in governance as incentives, ownership and control shall be paralleled with obligations, responsibility, and firm commitments to other stakeholders – not only shareholders. Captains of industry should therefore recognize the centrality of ownership and governance to the strategic positioning of their corporations in the markets.
Christer Thordson served as General Counsel for the IKEA Group from 1999 to 2012, and was globally responsible for the management of the legal exposure and head of IKEA Group Legal Affairs. In 2007, Christer Thordson was appointed as Director to the Management Board of INGKA Holding B.V., the parent company of the IKEA Group. The IKEA Group has had an unprecedented commercial success in creating a truly global business with over 280 stores in 26 countries, and a yearly turnover excessing €28 billion in 2013. Christer Thordson is a Lecturer at the Leiden University, Faculty of Law in International Civil and Commercial Law and Business Ethics. Among other presentations, Christer Thordson was a keynote speaker and participant in business and human rights at the World Justice Forum in Vienna and Hague, Leiden University Faculty of Law and at the Human Rights Days in Gothenburg. Christer Thordson has appeared in various media and debates, such as interviews for Svenska Dagbladet and The New York Times.
Please register online via www.AIIFL.com or email Flora Leung at fkleung@hku.hk to reserve a place.
Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Flora Leung by email at fkleung@hku.hk or by phone at 3917 2941.
