As a growing market, Russia holds great economic interest and potential opportunities for international companies, especially Finnish SMEs. Due to their geographic proximity, Russia and Finland have a long history of established business and trade relations. Finland’s major economic institutions were formed during the period when the country was under Russian rule. Also, the two countries had bilateral trade relations for approximately forty years. Nowadays, Russia is acknowledged as one of Finland’s biggest trading partners and the most important direction for internationalisation of small and medium-sized Finnish companies. Finland has a strategic geopolitical position as a gateway between East and West; hence, there is great potential for the growth of trade, investment, technology transfer and other cooperation between Russian and Finnish businesses.
The present book is a result of a long collaborative research project between the Hanken School of Economics, Finland, and St. Petersburg State University, R