Services in International Competition

At the same time as the importance of services in developed economies has grown, service companies and service operations have increasingly become exposed to international competition. Although some service functions still require a local presence, some services can be produced in a different place than they are consumed. The key enabler has been the development of digital technology.

Current knowledge of the scope and development of the internationalization of Finnish services and operations is insufficient. Often the findings are based on individual companies or industries. The aim of this research project is to produce an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of the internationalization of services and operations and their development.

This research project aims to answer following research questions:

• How has international trade in services, i.e. import and export, developed in Finland?
• How has Finland’s trade in services developed compared to other countries?
• To what extent have services functions used in Finland been carried out abroad?
• How common is it to outsource or transfer service functions within the group from Finland abroad?
• Which company attributes are related to the fact that a service company becomes the target of a foreign transaction?
• How have service companies transferred to foreign ownership developed after the transaction?