Computers in Swedish Society by Per Lundin

Author:Per Lundin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer London, London

From the oral evidence, it seems as if the pattern was repeated in trade and business as well. One example is Rune Brandinger (b. 1931), who studied economy at the Stockholm School of Economics. During the latter part of the 1950s, he started out at IBM Sweden (IBM Svenska AB) as a salesman, continued his education and learning, and eventually became responsible for the Custom School (Kundskolan). At IBM, Brandinger wrote and published one of the very first Swedish educational books on the use of computers. In the mid-1960s, Brandinger was headhunted to a position as data processing manager for the large Swedish insurance company Skandia. In the next 10 years, he held various top positions at different companies related to the investment trust company Ratos. In 1980, Brandinger returned to the insurance industries as CEO for the company Valand, and 6 years later, in 1986, he became CEO for the forest owners’ association Södra Skogsägarna AB. Since 1993, he has been a member of numerous boards.31

Judging from the oral histories, it is striking how many of these participants in central reform projects later advanced to top positions in the government administration or in private firms. This observation, if correct, underscores in particular the central role of rationalization in the strong postwar state and the many reform programs it undertook. The users of computing at government bodies and firms acted as “rationalization engineers,” and this competence, among others, took them in a number of cases to the top.

However, it is important to underscore that the majority of the interviewees and participants in witness seminars did not reach top positions. But, and this is perhaps even more significant since they constitute a large number, very often they occupied key positions just below the top level in government agencies or firms. The physicist Per Svenonius (b. 1926) defended in 1952 his licentiate thesis at Uppsala University, did his military service at FOA the following year, taught at KTH for a couple of years, and returned to FOA for a position as research leader in the mid-1950s. After 10 years at FOA, where he among other things designed and led the organization around the agency’s mainframe computer, he got a position at the Swedish Agency for Public Management, which had a central and strategic role in the rationalization of the public administration, and stayed there until his retirement. Svenonius was the mastermind behind the establishment of a government-controlled and centralized system of data processing centers at the universities. During his time at the agency, he was also an active member of a wide range of government agencies and committees responsible for the computerization of various sectors of the Swedish welfare state.32 The 10 year younger economist Olli Aronsson (b. 1936) graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics in the early 1960s and was employed as a salesman of mainframe computers at Bull General Electric (Fig. 3.3). In the late 1960s, he came to the Swedish Agency for Public Management as a project leader.

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