You know where the business needs to be. Getting the organisation there is the harder part.
I work with founder CEOs and leadership teams, wherever the company is headquartered, when the business in Asia Pacific or Europe is growing, changing or stuck. I find what is holding it back, take senior responsibility for it, and stay until the business is running differently.
Håkan Sundström, Hong Kong and Stockholm
overseas subsidiaries are losing money.
of those were already losing money 18 months ago.
of software companies' first moves abroad are still unprofitable two years in.
In my experience, the cause is rarely the market. The region is measured wrong, run from too far away, and left to drift.
Sources: Deloitte, Lost in Translation: Global Markets, 2026. Gartner, survey of software providers, 2025.
How I work: interim and fractional leadershipBusinesses rarely struggle because nobody knows what good looks like.
More often, something inside the organisation is holding it back. It is usually visible from the outside long before it can be named from the inside.
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Growth has stalled
The team is working hard, but revenue has gone flat. More effort is not changing the result, and nobody inside can say why.
Interim and fractional leadership -
Opening a new market
You are moving into a country where you have no team yet. The first hires and the first year decide whether it works.
Interim and fractional leadership -
A key seat is empty
Your regional head or commercial leader has left. The search will take months, and the business cannot wait that long.
Interim and fractional leadership -
A bigger role, a heavier load
Someone senior has stepped into a bigger job. The decisions are getting narrower and the load heavier. You can see it before they will say it.
Coaching -
A deal or a move
You are buying a business, being bought, or moving an operation to another country. What breaks is the knowledge nobody wrote down.
Consulting
Asia Pacific at Dealogic: India, China, Singapore and Sydney added to Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Asia Pacific at Guidepoint, across seven countries.
In teams I built and led across eight countries.
Integrated, plus two changes of ownership.
Three ways of working with a business.
“What Håkan brings is not a framework you can copy, but a combination of patience, ownership and results. He notices what is not being said, who is protecting what, and where the stumbling blocks are.”
Companies
If something in the business needs to be built, fixed or moved, start there.
Tell me what is happening and what needs to be different.
Start a conversation