Entering the Finnish Furniture Market: Market Analysis
Haile, Behailu (2017)
Haile, Behailu
Yrkeshögskolan Arcada
2017
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201703103125
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201703103125
Tiivistelmä
Internationalisation is a multi-task process which requires time, resources and full commitment. Hence, prior to deploying resources and starting the actual entry process, internationalisation demands a careful inward and outward assessment, and serious of market research. The main purpose of the study was to analyse the potential of the Finnish furniture industry and to find the best entry mode strategy suitable for Askala, considering the market situation. The theoretical part discusses the internationalisation process, external factors influencing entry mode choices and the different entry modes. The empirical part focuses on the Finnish furniture industry’s market trend; production and consumption, competitors’ market share and the intensity of competition, and all other external factors which determine entry mode selection. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are applied in this thesis, the qualitative approach is used to see the current state of Finnish furniture manufacturing companies and the type of distribution channels they use to reach their end-users, whereas the quantitative approach is used to see the market trend in the Finnish furniture industry. The research result reveals that despite some improvements in the economy and following an increase in consumers’ confidence, in general the Finnish furniture market is small and grows at a decreasing order with intense competition and highly dominated by big furniture manufacturing companies. Therefore, under such market conditions, entering a new market using big resources is not recommended, but rather entry mode strategies which require less resources and management commitment and have less risk such as direct export, cooperative export and online marketing are better options to build long-term relations and to increase market share through time.