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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Consolidation by Game-Playing: a Gamesmanship Inquiry into Forestry Industry

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If one takes a flight in Finland from the country’s capital, Helsinki, for instance, north to Rovaniemi, the ‘Gateway to Lapland’, the scenery below consists typically of lakes, rivers and marshland, but most of all of forests. Wood in all its forms has been for centuries the core of the national character as well as the locomotive of business in Finland. Over the years the Finns have come to understand that the forest sector is perhaps the strongest guarantor of the Finnish economy and identity. The old saying ‘Finland earns its living from its forests’ can even be interpreted to mean ‘what is good for the forest sector is good for Finland’. Lilja, Tainio and Rasanen (1991a) encapsulated the historical essence of the Finnish forest sector by terming it a very special business system. This system was an entity composed of four principal characteristics. Firstly, the national economy was highly dependent on the export revenues from the forest industry. Secondly, there existed a high concentration of forest industry communities where the living standards of the working class were higher than in surrounding communities. Thirdly, there prevailed a symbiosis between bank groups and forest companies. Fourthly, the technological sophistication of the production and distribution networks was outstanding.