Let's cooperate to seize global opportunities

I was lucky to meet a Japanese business professor some time ago on an airport. We chatted about business life in his country and mine (Finland). One of the most interesting issues raised during our 30 minute discussion was the attitude that businesses have towards cooperation.

My Japanese colleague assumed Finnish companies cooperate a lot as they readily have a global orientation. Finland obviously relies on exports! In Japan, he said, things are different as the domestic market to huge. Companies are too often focused on racing in Japan and neglecting global opportunities – even in car industry.

I was surprised. I assumed that Japanese companies do cooperate a lot and have a global mind-set – at least as compared to many of their Finnish counterparts. I mean which one of us does not think of the word Keiretsu when thinking about Japanese industry.  

It is sad that our assumptions do not hold when we analyze the way firms operate in our countries. I totally agree that Finnish companies and other actors should cooperate to gain global success. There is no use in competing for scarce resources back home. We should cooperate to gain both efficiency and effectance.

 

For some reason it seems that Finnish companies are still not seizing opportunities of our era. Finland is facing some serious difficulties right now and, thereby, I hope to see some change on this front. The time to cooperate is right now!