Finland has been known as a gateway to the East thanks to its long-established roots in trade and commerce with Russia, Baltics and Eastern Europe. These markets became increasingly attractive to Western multinational corporations after the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. It was then that especially Swedish, American and German companies established their regional headquarters (RHQ) in Finland.
In the early 1990s, Finnish regional headquarters were typically responsible for market entry and managing operations in Russia, Baltics or Eastern Europe. This allowed multinational corporations to benefit from Finland’s geographical proximity and business expertise in these newly opened markets, thereby avoiding risks related to economic and political uncertainty.
We have collected data on foreign-owned subsidiaries and their regional headquarters responsibilities for almost 30 years.
Out of the whole population of 1032 foreign-owned subsidiaries in 1993, as many as 375 had regional headquarters responsibilities. So, back then every third foreign-owned subsidiary in Finland had regional headquarters responsibilities, mainly in the Baltics, Russia and in Eastern European markets.
During those 5 years 50 foreign-owned subsidiaries had lost their regional headquarters mandate, primarily in Russia and the Baltics.
While the Eastern European and Russian responsibilities were lost most commonly, a number of regional headquarters was also able to receive new regional responsibilities in the Nordic countries. The data also indicates that a fair amount of regional headquarters was relocated closer to the mandated markets, especially to the Baltics and Poland after these countries joined the European Union in 2004.
We study foreign-owned subsidiaries’ operations and international management responsibilities in Finland. On this page, we briefly explain what data we are collecting and how this data ties into the goals of the research. The Privacy Notice can be found at the end of the page.
The shifting meaning of firm location: From a physical setting to a perceptual sense of place.
A firm’s choice to relocate its headquarters depends on the interplay between physical and social aspects and together these can create a firm’s sense of place.
The multiple meanings of location affect not only the organizational arrangements of international firms, but also the way policymakers treat these firms. This calls for a more nuanced understanding of the meaning of headquarters (HQ) location.