Handheld Wins Third Consecutive 'Gazelle Company' Award
16 November 2010
Since 2000, Dagens Industri (DI), the leading Nordic business magazine, has named the fastest-growing companies in Sweden as 'gazelle companies'. Despite the economic turmoil and a challenging sales environment, Handheld has made the list again in 2010 – for the third consecutive year the company has met the award's standards for growth.
The basic criteria for 2010 gazelle companies is an increase in sales every year from 2006 to 2009 while remaining profitable. Fewer companies have been awarded the Gazelle designation in recent years, according to DI.
"With the economic turmoil and a 5% dip in the GDP in 2009, this year is an acid test of gazelle companies, to show how they have managed through extremely tough times," the magazine reports. "Historically the gazelles get through economic dips in the world market better than other companies, because they find new business ideas, new markets and new customers."
The term 'gazelles' was created by American scholar David Birch of Cognetics, who differentiated fast-growing companies (gazelles) that create the most new jobs in the economy from the 'elephants' – huge companies that are always striving for efficiency and therefore reducing the number of jobs. He considered the Gazelles to be the dynamic intermediate layer of the industry.
"For Handheld to be named a gazelle company for the third year in a row is an exceptional honour," says Jerker Hellström, CEO of Handheld Group. "It's a testament to our ongoing success, which is the result of a great staff that works extremely hard to achieve our shared goals. We've been fortunate to continue growing even in challenging times, and we foresee more positive results ahead."
The gazelle criteria are strict; fewer than 1% of Sweden's joint-stock companies meets the requirements to classify as gazelle companies, according to a survey done by the Stockholm School of Economics.
According to DI, a gazelle company must meet at least the following criteria:
- Its sales must have increased continually for the past three years
- For this same period, it must have at least doubled its overall sales
- Its total operating results for the past four financial years must be positive
- It must have essentially grown organically, not through acquisitions and mergers
- It must have sound finances
