[fsloth]

I'm a bit familiar with finnish industrial history. Finland has a history of massively innovative companies that were decades ahead of their competition in several sectors. The thing that they did not have, was capital funding, so they could not grow, and experience of global markets to have the know how to grow. So they remained small shops, with one or two big industrial clients who did not care to help them grow, and the world caught up with them.

The ones that managed to grow, are exceptions. Nokia and Kone are probably the more familiar ones (look at the next elevator you ride, there's a 50/50 chance it's made by Kone).

Finland is a capital poor country but rich in ideas.

[ChuckNorris89]

>Finland is a capital poor country but rich in ideas

You can replace Finland with pretty much any non US country on Earth. I've met brilliant hard working people all over the world. The only thing they lacked to make it big was capital.

[fsloth]

Well, depends what you compare with. Most european countries have a rich history of industrialization and colonization and hence quite a lot of private capital. Unlike Finland. Of course, there are lots of other dirt poor areas, but if you compare Finland to the segment where it's usually included, i.e. non-iron-curtain-enclosed European states, then in that category it stands out.

[alopex_plenus]

well, you could see Finland as halfway between the iron curtain and not-iron-curtain states. They split off the Russian empire just after WWI and barely avoided being taken back in the winter war. The Baltic states were less fortunate