Rise and Fall of Nokia : Impact on the Finnish Economy

Abstract

Nokia and Finland have had a special relationship. Nokia’s rise has influenced Finland in such a way as no other company did. With the company’s downfall, a part of the country was lost as well. This work aimed to examine Nokia’s influence on the Finnish economy over the last three decades. In doing so, several factors were considered. The history of the company and the country was depicted to better understand Nokia’s impact on Finland’s economy. This thesis tried to verify the following hypothesis: Nokia’s rise and downfall strongly influenced the Finnish economy. In order to demonstrate whether the hypothesis is true or not, literature was reviewed, and several statistics were taken into account. The hy-pothesis was testified as partly true. Whereas Nokia’s rise had a great impact on the Finnish economy, its downfall influenced Finland’s economy less strongly due to interventions by the country’s government and Nokia’s attempts to support dismissed employees concerning their job hunting. Though the company’s in-fluence on the Finnish economy shrank, it is still one of the most important firms in Finland. Further re-search could be done regarding the impact of Nokia’s downfall on the Finnish startup scene or about the extent to which the ICT sector in Finland is still shaped by Nokia's influence.