We look at some of the fallacies surrounding that rich and mature market.
There are two issues here. The first, is that people outside of Scandinavia (the group of Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland) – often think that this market is one-size-fits-all. It isn’t, and it doesn’t. And second, even those within that group – whilst accepting that sure, there are “regional variations etc” – basically – we all think the same, huh! Actually they don’t.
it is easy to see why these misnomers exist, and probably the biggest is the Oresund bridge – where every morning, hundreds of Swedes living in Malmo, park their car at Hyllie train station, and – go to work across the water in Copenhagen. You earn more money in Copenhagen. which means you can then afford your summer house back in Skane, where you actually live.
I get that – but one swallow does not make a summer.
The real picture is when you attend any of the many Trade Conferences in Oslo – and Goteborg, West Sweden.
The Swedish mentality is one of open-ness, with a desire to reach out to possible business partners. The Norwegian view is – well we are here, but you do it our way. There are as many failures of Swedish companies trying to develop subsidiaries in Norway – as there are those trying to do the same in the UK for example.
To understand why – you need to look at the self sufficient attitude of Norway itself. Once they worked out that natural gas was not going to last forever – they started to develop Fish Farms , to the point where fish is now the currency of choice. Norwegian fish farms are exporting globally, and not just the fish – but also the technology and expertise.
The same goes for IT projects. It is far easier doing business with Swedish or Finnish based companies, than those where the HQ is in Oslo. This is not to say that these companies do not want to to business – but they need to see a relevance to them. All too often – what works in other parts of Scandi – just does not offer anything that Norwegian business actually needs, or thinks they need.
What to do?
The answer is simply to be aware of the differences. You will save time and money, by modifying your approach – or simply not going.
