Success story : Swedish company DORO locates its R&D in France

Intervju med Jérôme Arnaud, VD för DORO - ett svenskt företag inom telekom-lösningar för äldre.

JPEG What are Doro’s main activities ?

Doro is a Swedish company focussing on telecommunications’ solutions for seniors. The company was created in 1974 and first produced landline telephones. Since I became CEO of Doro, in 2007, we changed strategy and abandoned this declining market to focus on a forward-looking sector : the seniors’ market. We produce a wide range of telecare systemsbut also software and electronic devices, including mobile phones since 2008, developed for elderly people. Thanks to this new positioning, Doro has a strong growth and pursues an international expansion centred on France.

Why did you choose France?

We chose to locate our software development center in France because we were looking for certain skills that we found there. It is not easy to find seasoned workers in seniors-focused software development, because this sector can appear less fashionable.
Moreover, France represents a very wide and interesting market, and its strategic geographic position allows us to centralize all our European activities there. Our development center employs around ten people. Since Doro has a very strong growth, this center should come to get bigger and we intend to create new jobs in France.

How did the Invest in France Agency help you?

Swedes are not always comfortable with French people from a cultural point of view. Their working methods as well as their ways of thinking are totally different. The Invest in France Agency therefore offers a reassuring framework that allows investors to better understand the French market and how to undertake their investments in the best conditions possible. On our part, we most appreciated the advices we were given, that allowed the financial department to better manage our French investments.

What advice would you give to a company willing to invest in France?

Swedish companies settling in France can tend to isolate themselves: they bring their own counselors and workforce and try to avoid too much contact with the locals, mostly because of enduring clichés. For instance, it is not true that French people work less than Swedish people: it is quite the opposite! If they want to have a better return on investment, Swedish firms should not go it alone but rather learn how to use the assets and knowledge of the French workforce and to trust them.

Senast uppdaterad 14/08/2014

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