Background information

The Business Emergency (Företagsakuten) is a company helpline that provides an established and well-functioning method for helping enterprises facing insolvency.   This instrument was initiated by the Secretariat of Industry in the municipality of Gothenburg and the former National Business Organisation. The helpline is run by Business Region Göteborg AB and several partners (including Almi Företagspartner Väst AB, Ackordscentralen, Öhrling PriceWaterhouseCoopers) in the Region Västra Götaland.

Content of measure

The Business Emergency is a helpline that is available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are facing insolvency and have fewer than 20 employees. It started in 1997 in the Gothenburg area and ever since more regions have started their own Business Emergency. The Business Emergency is funded by the regional governments. Coverage extends to the following regions: Västra Götaland, Värmland, Mälardalen, Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Östergötland and Jönköping.

The Business Emergency offers advice and negotiation assistance to SMEs that are suffering a crisis. It is mainly of an economic or legal nature. For example, expert advice can help SMEs to avoid bankruptcy. The helpline gives five hours of consultation free of charge. In some cases, it is sufficient to get them back on track. If not, companies can request further assistance from consultants who are experts in a restructuring of companies and auditors that belong to the network of the helpline service.

The helpline is being led and driven by qualified staff. All cases are treated confidentially and anonymously.

However, according to an evaluation by Västra Götalandsregionen, the Business Emergency helpline had problems reaching troubled companies at the right moment and often support has been provided too late, making it more difficult to save companies.

Use of measure

The Business Emergency was established in 1997 and since then over 1,600 companies have received economic counselling (Business Region Göteborg, 2020)

During 2017, 41 companies received help from insolvency, for a total of 121 jobs (Business Region Göteborg, 2018). In 2019, this number of companies who received help was 137. These companies employed 137 people in total.

In 2017, 71% of the companies who applied for help avoided bankruptcy. In 2019 the success rate had increased by 19 percentage points - the percentage of companies who had applied and avoided bankruptcy in 2019 was 90%

Assessments regarding long-term effects are also available. Between 2014 and 2016, a total of 169 companies received help through the company helpline. Six out of 10 companies who applied for help were still active in 2018. Between 2016 and 2018, the number of companies was 127. Five out of 10 of these companies remained active in 2019.

Within the national Business Emergency program, established during the COVID-19 pandemic, 764 loans had been granted through the programme as of 30 September 2021. These totalled SEK 2.7 billion (€239 million), of which SEK 1.9 billion (€168 million] is guaranteed. Companies within the hotel- and restaurant sector, followed by trade and transport, are the largest groups of loan recipients. More than 90% of the loans have been granted to micro-enterprises (0-9 employees) and small enterprises (10-49 employees) (Swedish National Debt Office, undated).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment		Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Other social actors (e.g. NGOs) Local / regional government	Local funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 01 January 2009: European Commission Enterprise and Industry. Small Business Act-Database of Good Practices (ec.europa.eu)
• 28 February 2018: Business Region Göteborg (2018) Rådgivning räddar sju av tio företag i svårigheter
• 10 February 2020: Business Region Göteborg (2020) Rådgivning räddar nio av tio företag i svårigheter (news.cision.com)
• 06 December 2021: Realtid (2021), Government extends the duration of loans under Företagsakuten (Regeringen förlänger löptiden på lån under Företagsakuten) (www.realtid.se)
• 01 October 2024: Swedish National Debt Office (undated) 'Företagsakuten – garantiprogram för företag' (www.riksgalden.se)