Kjell Nordström

Enfant terrible of the new world of business

Funky Business Author

Kjell Nordström
English · Swedish

Kjell Nordström is the enfant terrible of the new world of business. He talks to audiences all over the world, he writes books and articles and reads – everything from Playboy to Architectural Digest to Pinter. His performances are high touch, dynamic, highly interactive, thought provoking and always in line with time. The 2009 Thinkers 50, the biennial ranking of management thinkers, ranked him at number 23 globally and put him on the top-five list in Europe. His dynamic style makes him a highly appreciated speaker throughout the world.

Kjell Nordström has 20 years of experience of working with multinational companies and has served as an advisor/consultant to several large multinationals throughout the world.  Kjell Nordström holds a doctoral degree in International Business from the Stockholm School of Economics. His research and consulting focus is on the areas of corporate strategy, multinational corporations and globalization. Kjell Nordström has published three books and numerous articles on the internationalization process of firms.

Kjell Nordström has been responsible for the International Business course at the Stockholm School of Economics and is one of the founders of the schools most prestigious management programs, “The Advanced Management Program – AMP”. AMP is a five week top-management program that attracts the elite of Scandinavian executives.

The book Funky Business: Talent makes capital dance (co-authored with Jonas Ridderstråle) is a manifesto of what our time requires from business firms and their leaders. The book has been featured on CNN and CNBC, and appeared in Fortune, Fast Company, Time Magazine, Financial Times, Paris Match, etc. It is an international best seller, so far translated into 32 languages. Funky Business was rated one of the five best business books of the year, by both Amazon.co.uk and Management General, in 2000. The book was also ranked at number 16 in a survey of the best business book of all time.

Kjell Nordström second book Karaoke Capitalism: Management for Mankind (co-authored with Jonas Ridderstråle) is a new manifesto for how to make it in the world of Karaoke Capitalism. Individuals with endless choice dominate the karaoke economy. The trouble for business is that the karaoke club is also home to institutionalized imitation. Copycats abound. Only imagination and innovation place societies, organizations and individuals centre-stage. Karaoke Capitalism is a call to arms. To date Karaoke Capitalism has been contracted for publication in 23 languages

Talent Makes Capital Dance


Articulate and Tacit Knowledge

Multinational Corporations, Recipes and Global Tribes

Creating and Defending Competitive Advantages

The Role of the Leader When We are Free to Know, Go, Do and Be

The Ultramodern Multinational: Strategies, Structures and Leadership

FUNKY BUSINESS: Talent Makes Capital Dance -1999

In Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance, Kjell A. Nordström & Jonas Ridderstråle launch a manifesto for the new world of business. Forget what has come before; this is the future for organizations and leaders. We are all condemned to freedom. We cannot delegate the understanding of what drives tomorrows society to politicians and executives. The funky future is here and now it’s all up to you. Funky Business is essential reading for those trying to learn the language and recipes of the new economy.

FUNKY BUSINESS:  Talent Makes Capital Dance -1999

KARAOKE CAPITALISM-2004

In the long-awaited follow-up to the international best-seller Funky Business, Jonas Ridderstråle and Kjell A Nordström launch a new manifesto for how to make it inthe world of Karaoke Capitalism.

The karaoke economy is dominated by individuals with endless choice. The trouble for business is that the karaoke club is also home to institutionalized. Copy-cats abound. Only imagination and innovation place societies, organizations and individuals center-stage.

Karaoke Capitalism is a call to arms. Kjell and Jonas are rebels with a cause. With their unorthodox combination
of academic rigor, forceful logic and funky free-thinking they once again re-write the rules for evolutionaries.

This is a true work-out for the wits. Free your mind! The book teaches us how to successfully compete on competencies, create capitalism with character, and
how to have a great life while also making a living. It is required reading for all those wanting to be a first-rate version of themselves rather than a second-rate version of someone else.

KARAOKE CAPITALISM-2004

Funky Business Forever- 2007

When Funky Business first appeared in 2000, it was a call to arms, a wake-up call for anesthetised corporate senses. The world surrendered. To date, Funky Business has been published in 33 languages making it one of the most sold business books ever. Now comes a completely updated and reinvigorated classic edition of the original bestseller: Funky Business Forever. Kjell A Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle have gone back to the original and intellectually remastered it. Funky Business Forever contains a myriad of new examples gathered by Kjell and Jonas in their worldwide foraging for the true meaning of funk.

Funky Business Forever- 2007