Skip to main content

IN FINLAND

In a week when the Finnish Ambassador to the Court of St James was visiting Wales, I am returning the favour.

I am currently in Finland, where I have been attending a meeting of the  MBA4PhD international project between Wales, Gothenberg and Turku, as well as exploring ways in which the University of Turku can work more closely with the University of Wales over the next few years.

As the picture shows, Turku is a paradise in the summer although it is hard going at this time of year, with snow still falling yesterday.

I have had some interesting discussions with colleagues about the state of the Finnish economy, with many worrying about Nokia's future, especially given its dominance in such a small country.

However, it would seem that exports are helping the nation to recover from recession. According to the Finance Ministry, gross domestic product will grow by 3.6 percent this year, before growth slows to 2.7 percent in 2012 and 2.4 percent in 2013.

Certainly, innovation remain key to developing the future Finnish economy and the University of Turku, through my old friend Professor Antti Paasio, is reorganising itself in the field of .commercialisation to ensure that academics can make the transition from the laboratory to the market-place. If his initial successes are anything to go by, then the University, and the Turku economy, has a very bright future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is
Read more

THE MANUFACTURING STRATEGY FOR WALES

Last night, I received the following comment on the previous post relating to a piece I had written back in early 2007 about the state of the manufacturing sector in Wales. "Dylan, you seem to be ignoring the fact that manufacturers in Wales have written the manufacturing strategy. Small and large manufacturers, all represented at the Manufacturing forum, have co-written this strategy. WAG has recently supported this strategy and have funded a co-ordinator with resources. Manufactures are happy with this progress as they are following the strategy they wanted. I know that the Conservatives have attacked the strategy as they seem to think that WAG wrote the strategy. They couldn't be more wrong. The Manufacturing Strategy was written by manufacturers, for manufacturers and is supported by WAG. If you don't agree with this, then I can invite you to the next Manufacturing Forum and you can explain to the manufacturers how their strategy is wrong....I appreciate that there is
11 comments
Read more

INTRAPRENEURSHIP

Whilst we often consider entrepreneurship to be associated predominantly with new start-ups, larger firms - in order to compete effectively in fast-changing global markets - are adopting more innovative and enterprising approaches to management within their organisations. One of these approaches is the development of entrepreneurship within a corporate environment (or intrapreneurship). Research has shown that intrapreneurship is not easy, and there are considerable differences between an intrapreneurial and a traditional corporate culture, with the latter having an emphasis on a culture and reward system that tends to favour caution in decision-making. For example, large businesses rarely operate on a "gut-feeling" for the market-place, as many entrepreneurs do. Instead, large amounts of data are gathered before any major business decision is made, not only for use in rational business decisions, but also for use as justification if the decision does not produce optimu
Read more