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Core values

Ever since the merchant Elof Hansson founded the Elof Hansson Group in Hamburg in 1897 the company has conducted its activities according to the values held by him while growing up in a farming family in the south-Swedish province of Skåne and later during his trainee years at various business offices in Skåne, England, France and Germany.

When the company expanded at the beginning of the 20th century a consensual value-system was developed that came to characterize the company culture and employees’ values and attitudes in their contact with each other and the world around them – customers, suppliers and other business partners.

The House Rules that Elof Hansson drew up on January 30, 1925 highlight his respect for work and belief in independence. This, the company’s original business philosophy, has been passed down from generation to generation of Elof Hansson employees and will live on in the Elof Hansson of today and tomorrow.

Elof Hansson’s vision
Driven by continuous adjustment, development and improvement of our business professionalism, our vision is to always provide business partners with added value of such quality and competitiveness that we can maintain and strengthen our position on the world trading scene as a leading player in the business areas we give priority to.

Elof Hansson’s business concept
Elof Hansson initiates, develops and maintains worldwide business relations in well-defined business areas.

Thorough knowledge of our business areas together with competence in marketing, sales, financing and logistics means that we can profitably contribute to the growth and development of our customers and suppliers at the same time as we strengthen Elof Hansson’s position as a leading international trading house.

Elof Hansson’s core values
Elof Hansson’s core values are Trust, Commitment and Professionalism.
These core values shall permeate all of the company’s activities, whether it be in our role in various managerial or staff capacities or in our relations with the world around us – customers, suppliers and other business partners.

Trust
Trust is closely related to the concepts of reliability, credibility and confidence. These core values have been in Elof Hansson’s “genes” since the founder wrote, in a memo from 1904, under the heading Advice to My Employees in the Company, “Always speak and write the truth! Truth creates confidence, success. Untruth creates distrust, decline, ruin.”

Commitment
Our vision and business concept stands or falls depending on the commitment and obligation the company imbues among employees regarding the goals and values that we must all agree on. The crucial point is that this commitment permeates the entire Group and is therewith communicated to the market.

Professionalism
Training, experience and knowledge combined with an ongoing learning process are the basis of professionalism. At Elof Hansson, we must know our craft! And if we don’t know, we must be willing to say we don’t know and be open to learning.