Jan Carlzon

Jan Carlzon (born June 25, 1941) is a Swedish businessman. He is most noted for being Chief Executive Officer of SAS Group from 1981–1994.

Jan Carlzon graduated with an MBA from the in 1967 and immediately started his career in the international hospitality industry at Vingresor. He rose to the position of President in 1974. In 1978 he joined Linjeflyg, the Swedish national airline, as President before becoming its CEO in 1980. From 1981 he also served as President & CEO of SAS Group, the holding company for the national airlines of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, better known as Scandinavian Airlines System.

At the time when Jan Carlzon took over the at the helm of SAS the company was facing large financial difficulties and losing $17 million per annum and had an international reputation for always being late. A 1981 survey showed that SAS was ranked no. 14 of 17 airlines in Europe when it came to punctuality. Furthermore, the company had a reputation for being a very centralized organization, where decisions were hard to come by to the detriment of the customers, the shareholders and the staff. He revolutionized the airline industry through an unrelenting focus on customer service quality.

One of the first things Jan Carlzon did at SAS was to introduce the world's first separate cabin for Business Class while at the same time doing away with First Class on its European routes.

Within one year of taking over, SAS had become the most punctual airline in Europe and had started an ongoing training program called Putting People First developed by Claus Møller of Time Manager International ('TMI'). The program was focused on delegating responsibility away from management and allowing customer-facing staff to make decisions to resolve any issues on the spot. Jan Carlzon said at the time: "Problems are solved on the spot, as soon as they arise. No front-line employee has to wait for a supervisor's permission.". These changes soon impacted the bottom-line as well and the company made a profit of $54 million in 1982. Several case studies about the turn-around are available and it has been referenced widely in management literature

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