Exporting to Finland

The economy of Finland is stable and strong. Finland’s GDP is similar to that of other Western European countries, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom. A total of 70.6% of the GDP of Finland comes from services, with industry accounting for 26.9% and agriculture for 2.5%. Finland is an excellent export market for Europe countries, because the number of consumers is considerable, the location is favourable, and Finnish business culture is excellent. For more detailed information on entering the Finnish market, visit the Finnish information bank. You can also find additional information on the website of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce.

Before entering a new market, it is always wise to analyse the environment for the product or service you wish to offer. Once this has been performed, the next step is to devise an export strategy. In business, strategy means selecting a specific set of practices from the available options. The practices you should choose are those which will provide your business with the greatest possibility of achieving the best results with the least effort, i.e. maximum profit for minimum cost. Choosing these practices frequently entails emphasising or realising a competitive advantage.

The most well-known, simple and most widely used method for strategy creation is SWOT analysis.

To conduct a SWOT analysis, write down the strengths and weaknesses of your company, product or service as well as the opportunities and threats in the prospective export market.

Strengths are a list of everything your company is doing correctly. To accurately identify all of your strengths, you should consider the following questions.

• What distinguishes your product from those of your competitors?
• What resources are available to you?
• What kind of assets (capital, credit, technology, customer relationships) do you have?
• What is the strength of your current research and development?

Weaknesses are aspects of your product or service that your competitors do better. To accurately identify all of your weaknesses, think about the following questions.

• What is your product or service currently lacking?
• Which of your resources are limited?
• Is there anything about your product, service or business with which you are not currently satisfied?
• What should be improved about your product or service to catch up with your strongest competitor?

Opportunities are the conditions for the success of your product, service or business in the new market. Think about the following questions.

• What are the current trends in your field in the new market?
• Imagine the future of your product or service in the export market – what would it entail?
• What opportunities are available in the new market?
• How can you make use of these opportunities?

Threats are external conditions you cannot control that could put your strategy or business at risk in the new market. Threats can, however, sometimes be used to your advantage if you have an effective and viable plan on how to deal with them. Think about the following questions.

• Which factors could pose a threat to your business in the export market?
• What could lead to a decrease in your profits or a loss of revenue in the new market?
• What characterises your competitors who are active in the export market?
• Will your marketing activities be as effective in the new market as in your home market?

Once you have considered all of these questions and written down 3-6 strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you will need to analyse them.

To achieve this, distinguish which strengths of your product or service you could further develop to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new market. As you consider this, you should also take into account the threats and weaknesses you noted down earlier. Once you have the answer, you have found the core of your export strategy.