Prima Magazine

Prima is an economy magazine published eight times a year by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), with a circulation of approximately 30,000. Prima is a magazine for top managers, dealing with subjects related to economy, the business environment and other matters of great interest related to industry and commerce. According to a reader survey, corporate executives find Prima to be a high-quality, expert and important magazine. Prima is mailed to the top management of EK's member companies, important decision-makers in the Finnish society, interest groups, and the media.
 

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Prima 3/2012 briefly:

• Jyrki Katainen, Prime Minister of Finland: NEW INCENTIVES FOR GROWTH COMPANIES

Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen is positive that the decisions by the Government and the labour market organisations strengthen the confidence of citizens, companies and investors in Finland.

In the latest issue of EK Prima, Katainen says that the appeal of Finland as an investment environment is based on whether the public finance of Finland is credible.

"Adjustment is a key factor for stability, and stability is essential for investments," says Katainen.

Katainen says that the credibility of Finland is also increased by the Government's investments in growth.

"Investments in traffic projects serve all industries, which also applies to R&D tax incentives. We had already previously reduced corporation tax and improved the energy tax cutter."

"The goal is to increase risk taking by increasing the assumed procurement cost of investments in SMEs to 50% for a fixed term. The Government is also preparing a patent portfolio tax incentive."

Katainen says that the Government has far-reaching goals and intends to primarily encourage all research-based innovativeness to be translated into growth companies.

"The outlines of the financial and industrial policies must be such that new ideas and entrepreneurs, first and foremost, who develop them into successful innovations are rewarded. New service innovations will certainly develop around the old industrial core. It is important to promote extensively the development of services. In this way, we can make the structure more diverse," says Katainen.

"Although demand continues to limit financial activity, we are close to a situation where the only way to strengthen growth is to increase the supply and productivity of labour," says Katainen.


• Mikko Pukkinen, Director General of the Confederation of Finnish Industries: NEW GROWTH THROUGH COURAGEOUS ACTION

In the most recent edition of Prima, Mikko Pukkinen, Director General of the Confederation of Finnish Industries, says that concrete structural action should be taken quickly now that the Government has outlined its decisions and different proposals have been submitted to decision-makers. Pukkinen says that just referring to "structural reforms" does not address the big picture of what Finland needs.

The municipal reform must be launched without delay and a cost-effective and healthy municipal structure must be the goal. Operating methods must be updated extensively. Municipalities must actively join in with this.

Being a high-quality IT country, Finland has an opportunity to utilise the benefits of going digital at many levels. Pukkinen points out that the public sector has unbelievably poor skills in introducing modern digital service products.

Work must also continue to increase the retirement age," says Pukkinen.


• A BOLD APPROACH TO EXPORT TO RUSSIA

YIT's Managing Director Juhani Pitkäkoski, Aspo's Managing Director Aki Ojanen, EK's Chair Ole Johansson and Chair of the Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce Ilpo Kokkila say that Finns should be bolder in doing business in Russia.

The Russian economy is growing at a rate of more than 3%, and private consumption by as much as 7%. New apartments are being built and there are also new business opportunities beyond St. Petersburg and Moscow. The value of Finland's exports to Russia in 2011 totalled €5.3 billion, a 13% increase from 2010.

Being the most significant foreign builder in Russia, YIT's apartment sales for Q4 in 2011 in Russia were the company's highest in its history. YIT now intends to expand. Since Russia is only developing a mortgage system, YIT has co-operated with Russian banks to arrange inexpensive credit.

The turnover of the conglomerate Aspo has multiplied by ten-fold in five years in Russia.

"The main thing is that Aspo's subsidiaries in Russia indicate the actual profit made there. We invest the obtained roubles in growth in Russia," says Managing Director Aki Ojanen.

Ole Johansson says that, when compared to the risks, Finns are too cautious when doing business in Russia. The key to success is the capacity to co-operate at the highest political level and the corporate level. Since relations are not established overnight, companies must be present in advance in some sectors and geographical regions," says Johansson.

SVKK's Ilpo Kokkila points out that Russia is perhaps the only export destination for Finland where it is certain Finnish brands are the most distinguished. Kokkila says that Finns and Russians should together investigate the Russian consumer goods market and start providing it with suitable commodities.

• INFRASTRUCTRAL DEVELOPMENT REQUIRES A MINDSET THAT GOES BEYOND ELECTORAL PERIODS

Lauri Virkkunen, Chair of the Board of Energiateollisuus ry, says in the new EK Prima that the share of energy investments in the €5.7 billion of industrial investments was as high as €2 billion.

"That will also happen this year,” says Virkkunen.

"The fact that the level of investments remains high is not something that can be taken for granted. It requires an operating environment that encourages carrying out investments, where society's control, such as regulation or taxation is predictable, long-term and consistent," he says.

The predictability of the operating environment and long-term political decision-making are also emphasised in logistics and the utilisation of natural resources.

"The conception of natural resources-based growth being outdated has been frequently discussed. The discussion has returned to its roots and it is once again understood that natural resources are needed. In practice, this deals with the significance of industry," says EK Director Tellervo Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala.

Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala says that upon the previous Government's energy decisions, people once again started to see how significant energy is for Finland. Now Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala is hoping for a similar wake-up with regard to logistics.

”The share of logistics in competitiveness in the commercial sector is one-third and in industry it is one-fifth," says Jyrki Paavola, board member of the Hacklin forwarding company.

In an extensive infrastructure package in Prima, he predicts that uninterrupted supply chains will become selling points in the future.