Maria Pirttilahti

Export Barriers to Russia: Finnish Mechanical Forest Industry Sme Perceptions of Export Barriers to Russia Maria Pirttilahti

The mechanical forest industry has played a key role in forming the initial base for Finland's economic rise. Recently, however, the industry has been faced with a multitude of challenges emerging not only from individual organizational resources, but also from the domestic operating environment as well as global market trends. Due to the obvious size constraint of the domestic markets however, growth for the industry has to be sought elsewhere. It is clear that Russia?s WTO membership presents new opportunities for Finnish wood exports. Nevertheless, producers in Finland currently face multifaceted challenges, which are not affected. On this background, this study attempts to examine the most prominent aspects of the environment in which the Finnish mechanical forest industry SMEs operate.