Finland's government and Nokia's reciprocal economic and strategic partnership

Finland and Nokia

The reciprocity of Finland's educational and technology investment strategies at the government level are specifically designed to give its telecommunications companies competitive advantages in global markets. This is also driven by the deliberate strategy within Finland of creating a myriad of telephone systems that purposely did not integrate with each other, as the nation wanted to make it as difficult as possible for the Russians to communicate if they chose to invade from the east (Doz, & Kosonen, 2008). These two factors if exceptionally high levels of investment in education and the deterrent of making their telephone systems as incompatible with each other as possible are the catalyst that make the relationships between the Finnish government and Nokia so unique globally (Kautto, 2007). The implications of this strategy on government, economy, education, religious systems and the national technology maturity are discussed in this paper.

Government

Just like the U.S. government, the Finnish government has judicial, legislative and executive branches of their government. Their president is elected for six-year terms, and can serve two terms, just as American presidents can. The president also appoints the Prime Minister, the equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of State. The Finnish government is governed by a 200 member parliament that is elected according to population densities of regions, which each Member of Parliament serving four years. There is no House of Representatives and Senate, as is the case in the U.S. Instead the Parliament presides and defines laws for the entire country over time. Ironically the political landscape of Finland in many ways mirrors its telecommunications legacy in that both are highly balkanized, fragmented, with highly individual priorities and agendas (Kautto, 2007). Despite the highly balkanized nature of the political landscape however the country has been able to survive intact through exceptionally challenging recessions through the 1994 -- 1996 timeframe that bordered on economic depressions (Westerholm, 2009).

Education

Finland's commitment to investing in education has consistently placed it in the leadership position of OECD nations with regard to the total government budget allocated to higher educational institutions and research. One-fifth or 20 per cent of the monies from the additional government funds went directly to universities, which also saw an increase in external funding. This level of financial commitment to the Finland educational system is critical as the mix of colleges and universities are predominantly public with the minority being private yet very expensive. Finland's government and national priority is to lead all OECD nations in educational investment, an accomplishment the country has consistently attained (Westerholm, 2009). Engineering is the most dominant academic discipline that Finland's students get advanced degrees in, with medicine, engineering and social sciences dominating the majority of PhDs in the country (Koulutus 1999-2004). The government spends an inordinately high level of their budget on education due to Nokia's human resources forecasts indicating that an additional 6,000 workers with advanced degrees are needed to fuel new product development (Doz, & Kosonen, 2008) and that the company must often look to Japan, the U.S. And Germany for engineering talent at the PhD level.

Religious Systems

Overwhelmingly Lutheran (82.5%) Finland was heavily influenced by the Protestant Reformation that spread through Northern Europe and has a dominant role in the society today. Orthodoxy is practiced by 1.1% of Finnish residents, mainly due to the religions' influence from neighboring Russia. Christianity (non-denominational) is represented by 1% of the total population as well. The religious make-up of the country is consistent with the Scandinavian region where Lutheranism is dominant.

National Technology Maturity

The myriad telephone systems and standards that the Finnish government and industries within the nation collaborated on to make it nearly impossible for an invading Russian army to communicate (Doz, & Kosonen, 2008) turned into the catalyst for their state-of-the-art telecommunications systems today (Blau, 2008). As of the last economic census the country relies on telecommunications for 6.9% of GDP and approximately 4,000 firms compete in this industry, yielding a less than 1% unemployment rate for PhDs in the fields of engineering and telecommunications (Koulutus 1999-2004) which is an impressive feat. The National Technology Agency seeks to determine and define standards to dominate global market growth and was instrumental in the development of the 3G standard now in use globally. Finland has been able to transform the exceptionally high levels of complexity in their telecommunications systems and transform them into a catalyst for growth of their economy as a result.