In 1876, Lars Magnus Ericsson established a company that would grow from a small Swedish workshop to a leading exporter under his leadership. Since then, Ericsson has survived five or six major shifts in technology and three or four financial crises. Ericsson’s history is a significant part of the story of telecommunications over the past 150 years. The telephone brought people closer together, linked continents and enabled the rise of globe-spanning businesses. Digital data transfer has ushered in new media, revolutionised production processes and transformed life and work for billions of people. Playing a key role in all of these developments is Ericsson, an engineering company that is now one of the world’s leading telecoms companies.