Pursuing Business Opportunities in Scandinavia

By Finn Drouet Majlergaard, Gugin

COPENHAGEN (KWR) In some parts of the global business community there is a tendency to see Europe as representing the past, USA as the present and Asia as the future. The truth is a bit more diversified. Scandinavia, for examples, focuses very much on the future and opens a lot of possibilities for investors and companies looking for solutions to tomorrow’s problems.

Denmark ranks first among Europe's "Global Leaders" in information and communications technology, according to the "eEurope 2005 Index", which measures ICT development and Internet usage among 28 European countries, reports EurActiv.com. Sweden and Norway follow right behind. To Scandinavians this is no surprise -- but many foreign investors overlook the region.

Scandinavians are among the most creative and innovative people in the world. They are fast movers, flexible, and well educated. Furthermore Scandinavian countries are politically very stable and rarely have labor conflicts. An excellent infrastructure combined with swiftness in the collaboration between public and private organizations ensures a high degree of agility in the commercial life. Just as an example it doesn’t take more than a week to register a company in Denmark – and it is free!

Why is Scandinavia overlooked? The main reason is that Scandinavians are quite poor on marketing. They are very focused on creating, innovating and refining and don’t care much about market demands. This means that foreign investors and potential business partners only discover the gold if they have good relations inside Scandinavia already. And good relations are important -- as is a need to understand the Scandinavian cultures. In many ways the Scandinavian are closer to Asians than to Americans – culturally speaking. They rely on relations a lot more than a good bargain. You might have the best offer in the world, but if they don’t know you or the partner who has introduced you, you will most likely never get a deal. On the other hand – when a relationship is established you can rely on that relationship.

Who should look at Scandinavia?: In particular, the greater Copenhagen Area is interesting. The attractiveness of the Region has created the largest metropolitan area in Scandinavia with a population of 3.5 million inhabitants and a high concentration of companies. Approximately 3,400 foreign owned companies have chosen to locate there. Furthermore, 137,000 students attend courses at 14 universities with a scientific staff of about 10,000 researchers.

The industry and research environment in the region have proven to be particularly strong in food technologies, IT and life sciences. These three competence areas have developed over a long time through intensive collaboration between companies, research institutions, and universities.

Companies that are interested in looking at the possibilities are advised to go through the following steps, many of which are relevant to all international expansion strategies:

When you have acquired a company or established a relationship you need to focus on a successful transition in order to maximize the return on your investment. A lot of companies overlook this part – often with fatal consequences. What they need to go through is:

We all know examples on companies and even large multinational corporations who have failed because they didn’t take the transition and business transformation process seriously. Disney is a great example. They were very successful with their theme parks in the US and successfully expanded the concept into Japan. But when they came to Europe it all went wrong and Eurodisney is still suffering. Much of the problem might have been avoided with a more detailed analysis and transition plan.

Scandinavia, in particular, the greater Copenhagen area is an ideal choice for high-tech companies looking for areas of expansion. But there is a need to do things right, which means the need to have a local partner, who can guide one though the process and maximize the return on a corporate investment. Over tree thousand companies have done that already in the greater Copenhagen area alone – so what is stopping you?