Family Heritage

Letter from Axel

I have always had a deep and personal commitment to our
North American-headquartered businesses.

A common thread among these businesses is their shared passion of competitive entrepreneurship and a sense of purpose. It is our belief that you can create meaningful, profitable businesses that are a driving force of positive change in society if you put in the work.

Axel Johnson Inc. is the result of the work of truly remarkable people, and I am continually humbled and excited to be in the position of Chairman of the Board. I feel a sense of pride to be part of a business that acts as a force for good in people’s lives.

As a privately held family business, I sincerely believe we can act as a counter force to large-scale shifts & events.

We can bring in real light and a sense of purpose. We can provide stability in turbulent times for our employees and the communities that we serve.

Our financial strength enables us to focus on long-term strengths and not get distracted by short-term reactions. If we believe in something, we have the capacity and perseverance to see it through. And as long-term, active owners, we are always deeply committed to our businesses and their communities.

We have the privilege and responsibility to continue to invest in our current businesses, bring in new companies to our family and drive positive change. There is a sense that we can truly make a difference and create a legacy. Simply put, we work with greater conviction and more passionately than our competitors.

Axel Morner

“We’re able to hire the best possible leaders out there; and we are actively looking for new businesses in which to invest. Growth and profit are a consequence of these efforts, never the end-goal.”

Axel Johnon Inc. recently surpassed our 100th year in North America and we operate today in a manner, and with the intent, to continue to grow and prosper for another 100 years and beyond.

Axel Morner

Axel Morner

Chairman of the Board &
Owner in the Fifth Generation

Letter from Antonia

The Family Company

There is something very special about a family company. In a family company the dreams, the commitment and the determination of the family and entrepreneur go hand-in-hand with the professional management of a modern corporation. I believe that this is a powerful combination that allows to do business with a long-term perspective and with a touch of passion.

In our family company, the businesses have changed shape over our more than 150-year history, but not our deep sense of purpose and core values. It all began in Jönköping in the middle of the 19th century, with the birth of my great-grandfather, Axel Johnson, who was the son of a saddle maker.

He became an entrepreneur at an early age. He made his way to Stockholm, where he took up employment with a firm of silk drapers; when he was 29 years old he started his own trading company, A. Johnson & Co. That was in 1873.

If the first generation was characterized by the word “entrepreneurship,” I would say that the second Johnson generation was characterized by “industrialism.” My grandfather took over from my great-grandfather, and from 1910 to 1958 he built a large industrial group with interests ranging from shipping and stainless steel to engineering services. My grandfather, the industrialist, was eventually followed by the third-generation Axel Johnson. I would like to call my father’s generation, and my father, the “internationalists,” who built up the family company outside Sweden, with operations in more than 50 countries.

About-Family-Heritage

The Women

I have often thought about the women in this story of three generations of men. All three women were foreigners – my great-grandmother was German, my grandmother was an English-American born in Shanghai, and my mother was Brazilian. I think that they played an extremely important role. They brought an international dimension to the family table, with discussions and visions that took the business out into other countries.

Driving Forces

I have also thought often about the driving forces that lay behind these three generations of family businessmen. I have found some basic values.

The first was self-renewal – the pleasure and joy of creating, developing and changing. The second was the long-term perspective – perseverance and patience to stick to the business even if it took a long time to build. The third one was the deep and genuine interest in people and the conviction of the importance of developing and learning. And finally the integrity and high standard of business and work ethics.

My Turn to Take Over the Family Business

With this story of three generations of entrepreneurs behind me, I took over the helm from my father when I was just thirty-something.

We soon decided that trade should be our task. I was fascinated by the direct, magical meeting with customers. And so we started a transformation, once again, of the family company, which took shape when we acquired the Saba group in 1988. This was to become the platform for a new era in the Axel Johnson Group and what today is a global diversified group of businesses and the home of more then 25.000 employees.

Why We Do Business?

People often ask, why do we continue to do business? Is financial achievement the main driving force, or are there other dimensions that are not immediately obvious?

My conclusion is that companies are the greatest force for positive change in society. What we do, and the products and services that we sell, take a place in the lives of many, many people everyday. What responsibility should we take for the products and services that we offer? What should our attitude to quality be? What about our commitment to health? How do we view the environment? How do we see the intrinsic values of what we are selling?

This way of viewing business as a vehicle of change is what makes up our basic values and defines all our businesses in the Axel Johnson Group.

About-Family-Heritage-Signature
Antonia Johnson - Circle

Antonia Ax:son Johnson

Owner

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