Business Trade and Culture

Finland's history: Business trade and culture.

We are Europe's outpost against Nature

Set down amidst the ice

And our bread have we wrested from ice and snow.

-J. L. Runerberg

This poem by a famous Finnish poet introduces the natural setting from which we can paint the picturesque Finnish values that are still reflected in business to this day.

Having not only survived in these unfavorable conditions, the Finns have flourished and prospered.

Starting as early as the 800 AD, early Finnish trade probably started with the arrivals of the Vikings. Seeing as how the coast of Finland was in direct contact with the former raiders, it is only natural that the coastal population started to exchange goods and services with the Vikings. These relationships went as far as joint expeditions with the Northmen ranging from the Baltic and present day Russia, where the Northmen would later rule the city of Novgorod. Early form of monetary exchange was characterized by tribute to the Northern settlers from the primitive Russians at Lake Ladoga.

From which trading was established and ranged from present-day Karelia (region in the southeast of Finland) reaching to Novgorod, where the primitive Finns delivered furs.

As the Varangians, the Slavic term given to the Viking settlers, had established commercial routes all the way to Byzantium, it in turn influenced Karelian motifs on jewelry and craftsmanship.

In terms of business, the Finns would trade their furs, skins and fish while taking payments in form of salt, spices and cloths from the people living in the countryside. As such a large part of the Finnish trade, which the early Finns had to offer was furs, fish and meat, as hunters, fishers and trappers and in turn characterized their culture.

As time progressed a Finnish-Swedish fur trade was established where fur was collectively made in Lappland. Although a Finnish town called Pirkalaiset managed to establish a monopoly on selling Lappish fur, to which the Swedish crown allowed the town to collect taxes and exercise administrative functions in Lapland. As such they collected taxes from the Lappish population and fished abundantly in the Lappish waters. This in turn allowed for the Pirkalaiset to establish them-selves as an important Guild, and was able to defy the Swedish Crown when 3 centuries later the King had revoked the bestowed rights.

Considering that Business and trade are often characterized by cultural differences, this folkloric ballad paints a vivid yet sinister account:

Bishop Henry of Uppsala, a town in Sweden, had joined sides with the Swedish king on his crusade to conquer and convert the Finnish mainland to Christianity in 1155 AD.

The tale explains how Bishop Henry was left to consolidate the gains of the Swedish king and decided to take food from a Finnish farmer named "Lalli". Unfortunately Lalli was absent from his farm at the time, and despite the Bishop leaving monetary compensation for the supplies taken, Lalli found himself offended and infuriated by the strangers act.

Resulting in Lalli chasing the Bishop all the way to the frozen lake of Köyliö in the Kokemäki valley and brutally kill the Bishop.

Admittedly the tale attests to a morbid past, but of more interest I find the early indications of Finnish values of honesty and transparency for any business transactions at any level of society.

Given a depiction of an early trading history, it important to note that one can mostly consider their economic establishment only as late as of the 13th century, anything before is either folklore or legends.

In consideration Finnish history has been strongly influenced by the Swedish culture and way of life, this taking place, as the Finnish lands were a part of the Swedish nation under the rule of the Swedish Crown.

Most of the Finnish trade and economy was centered in the city of Åbo, the Swedish capital in Finland.

Following the Swedish influence and societal structure, in 1362 the Finns organized themselves accordingly as nobles, clergy, burghers and peasants. In exchange Finland was allowed to play it's role in the creation of the Swedish constitution. From there, the business relationship between Finns and Sweds only grew stronger, and was, in nature, rather complementary and not competitive.

As the nobles were generally the owners of the lands cultivated and of forests, they adopted the Swedish language, as it was the accepted business language.

The peasants would instead continue to speak the early Finnish dialects.

This linguistic difference has essentially influenced the Finnish economical world until this day.

Having defined the strong Swedish influence over Finnish culture and economical establishment, I will now briefly define the complex relationship that followed with Russia.

Having Dominated Finnish history for the past two centuries, Finnish trade with Russia has been an important aspect of the economy ever since Russia invaded Finland and established the semi-autonomous state under the Grand-Duchy of Finland.

Russia allowed Finland to retain most of its Swedish heritage in terms of politics and economical structure, these assurances first established the 28 march 1809 by the tsar Alexander in the <Acte d'assurance>, read out loud in French.

The terms of these guarantees allowing for the Swedish constitution to remain in Finland, by which the tsar ruled but did not govern the state.

The liberalization of trade in Finland, by the emperor of Russia tsar Alexander II, was probably the defining moment for a true Finnish business