Corporate Responses to Economic Integration in the Nordic Region, 1957-2007 (NOS-HS Workshop)

Abstract:

In the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2007, three of the world's five most competitive economies are Nordic - Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Denmark (4). In addition, Iceland and Norway score among the top fifteen. It is of international interest to further identify the key success factors behind the Nordic competitiveness in the new global marketplace. Why this is, and how Nordic corporations have responded to economic integration over the past fifty years, will in this project be studied across three main sectors - the financial, manufacturing and service sector. Thirteen scholars representing five Nordic countries, will come together for a cross-Nordic workshop with the aim to further, and deepen, the knowledge of the Nordic success story. The research aim is thus to compare the strategic and structural development of the largest corporations within each sector, and try to unveil possible convergence/divergence patterns in a long term perspective. Building on the pan-Nordic team behind the Nordplus funded "Creating Nordic Capitalism" this workship is a big step towards a common Nordic database for contemporary business history. The leading international publisher, Palgrave MacMillan, has agreed to cooperate with the research team and the outcome will furthermore function as founding material for an upcoming pan-European research project on Corporate Responses, applying for the FP7 grant in 2008