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 Marko Torkkeli (Editor)

REGIONAL REVIVAL: PERSPECTIVES ON INDUSTRIAL

AND CORPORATE CHANGE

LAPPEENRANNAN TEKNILLINEN YLIOPISTO TUTKIMUSRAPORTTI 178

TUOTANTOTALOUDEN OSASTO RESEARCH REPORT

LAPPEENRANTA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

1
 TUTKIMUSRAPORTTI – RESEARCH REPORT 178

Marko Torkkeli (Editor)

Regional revival: Perspectives on industrial and corporate

change

Tuotantotalouden osasto
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management

Lappeenrannan teknillinen yliopisto

Lappeenranta University of Technology

FI-53851 Lappeenranta, Box 20, Finland

ISBN 952-214-316-2 (paperback)

ISBN 952-214-317-0 (PDF)
ISSN 1459-3173

Lappeenranta 2006

2
Foreword Marko Torkkeli
Economic development of less favorable regions is one major challenge n the European
Union. Competition among corporations and globalization gives us many benefits, but
also some drawbacks. Such as the overnight damage to balanced, peaceful development
in a region by a decision to shut an industrial plant down. From a company perspective
those decisions may be rational and imperative, but at the regional level and from an
individual perspective they may be very scary - sometimes painful. How should regions
react to such a decisions? Are there ways to foresee them and even become proactive?

Emerging industrial changes signal their arrival long before they evolve into full-scale
success or failure, depending on which side you are looking at. However, the signal-to-
noise ratio is initially so low that one has to work hard to appreciate the early indicators.

This research report is edited from presentations of the Regional Revival seminar held
in Kuusankoski, Finland, some nine months after a global pulp and paper corporation
introduced a sudden shutdown of a paper mill named Voikkaa in the Kouvola region.
The reasons for industrial and corporate change in the pulp and paper industry is
obviously based on global demand and supply of paper products. The Kouvola region is
not alone in facing such a situation where coping with change is challenging.

The Regional Revival seminar had both theoretical and practical presentations from
academia, business and government sectors, including national and international
aspects. Cases from other regions, those who have survived industrial shutdowns, were
presented as well as theoretical formulae and policy guides. The research report
includes papers written for the seminar and presentations edited by the editor as a
synopsis.

As a final conclusion upon the seminar we may say that immediate actions and co-
operation with all parties are needed in order to avoid stagnation. Regions don't need the
latest buzz words from wise men and managerial fads. They need a fundamental means
of survival and success for modern day regions. If the region doesn't survive today,
there will be no long term. Change is not optional.

In Kouvola, Finland November 2006

Marko Torkkeli

1
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword Marko Torkkeli 1

From backyard - to leading growth region: The example Karlskrona, Sweden Tage Dolk
3
Building up a European Region – Good practice experiences from CENTROPE –
Central European Region: From the Far Eastern Outpost to a Thriving Region in the
Heart of Europe Bruno Woeran 8
The Vakka-Suomi Region – A Survivor Development plan for an area facing sudden
structural change 2004-2007 Helena Vartiainen 14
Industrial Crisis and Reconversion: History of an Industrial Policy of the Basque
country Ramón Peñagaricano 19
Urban Fallowing in Regional Development – Case Tampere Ari Hynynen 23
Legitimacy in global restructuring: Reflections on shutdowns Eero Vaara 30
The Inevitability of Globalization and Its Costs: The Voikkaa Paper Mill Shutdown and
Forest Industry Restructuring in the Newspapers Pasi Ahonen 34
On Strengthening the Knowledge Base in Less-favored Regions in Finland Kati-Jasmin
Kosonen 48
Reaction to structural change in Finland Anssi Paasivirta 62
Crisis and growth - old and new ideas in regional development Janne Antikainen 67
Appendix: Seminar programme

2
 From backyard - to leading growth region: The example Karlskrona,
Sweden
Tage Dolk
Cluster Architect, www.addendi.se
Former Project Manager, TelecomCity and
Development Manager, Municipality of Karlskrona 1987 – 2001, Sweden

Karlskrona
King Karl XI founded the town of Karlskrona in 1680 to strengthen control over the
Baltic. The town is situated on 33 islands. During the reign of King Gustav III, ships
were built under the supervision of the Master Shipwright Fredrik Henrik af Chapman.
Karlskrona, which has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage list since 1998, is a living
history book with well preserved locations from the town’s naval history.

In the first half of the 20th century defense and naval industry was a dominant branch in
Karlskrona. Onwards, in the 1970’s there was a period of expanding manufacturing
industry but already in the mid 1980s the city´s economy was in crisis and a succession
of businesses closed. The military was in decline and the shipyard was also in crisis. In
1990 Karlskrona was called a Crisis City in Sweden.

The turning point came in the late 1980s when the municipality focused on knowledge-
based companies, including Europolitan/Vodafone and Ericsson Software Technology.
In year 2001 Karlskrona won the award as the growth region in Sweden. New
technology has enabled the industry to strengthen the strong position and at the same
time modernize. The number of small enterprises is growing fast. The geographical
position of Karlskrona is favorable, and several of the town’s industrial companies
operate globally.

The vision of Karlskrona is to become an internationally leading development

environment, focusing on telecommunications where people and companies grow. The
strategy to attain the goal includes the three following fields of action:
• Identify Growth Areas

3
 • Recruit & Develop Enterprises and People
• Marketing the Region

In addition, the city abides successfully to the following Triple Helix Interplay model:
• Business/Market - Increased profitability
• University/Academic – Knowledge. Increased competitiveness
• Municipality/Politics - A good society. Increased base for income
www.karlskrona.se

TelecomCity
Sweden, as well as the whole world needs regions of world class, that are a base for the
knowledge companies of the new times. This requires specialized regions, where
business and knowledge environments together create the grounds for globally
competitive new business ideas. Environments that attract and keep the best competence
in the world and where the ability to cooperate is well developed. Karlskrona has
experienced the strongest growth in IT in Sweden. TelecomCity is a unique growth
project which changed the structure of the entire region. TelecomCity is a world-class
development environment for the telecom business, particularly mobile telecoms. The
network here encourages collaboration between several world-leading companies and
the local university and community.

The Karlskrona region has succeeded in attracting and bringing together IT and
telecoms experts focusing on all areas, from applied research to service development.
The TelecomCity network allows some 50 companies to collaborate extensively with
the Blekinge Institute of Technology and the Municipality of Karlskrona. Collaboration
is based on a shared vision of growth, as well as on openness and undertakings by all
concerned to generate mutual joint benefits. The collaborating parties have a number of
shared goals: growth, profitability, and excellent standards of education, research and
development

The project budget is used for a variety of purposes. One is to increase the visibility of
results; another involves a variety of joint initiatives, as well as joint development
analyses. This generates the right conditions for higher profitability and healthy

4
corporate growth, as well as high standards of education and research at university
level. It also encourages the development of the local community, thus benefiting both
companies and inhabitants. Within the network, we also work on enabling the region to
attract even more expertise and competence.

In the development process of TelecomCity can be identified four phases of

development: Search, Find, Growth and Change:
• Search: The search for a branch/line of business that has a
foreseeable growth potential. The search for future branches which
can advance centralizing the competence to a certain region.
• Find: Finding the right person and enterprises to promote the
development process.
• Growth: Growth and change requires resources which usually
necessitates political decisions. Thus, there is a need for visions,
will and capability.
• Change: As products and services become more mature, the
production methods become more effective which often depresses
the development of new work places. There is a need to foresee
the factors which are going to promote the expansion of work
place in the next stage of development.

In five years the Karlskrona region has brought out more than 3000 new IT jobs. Close
to 20% of the workforce is employed in the IT and telecommunications industry, that is
as many as in Stockholm. With close to 8 new students, per thousand inhabitants, in IT
and telecommunications programs at university level (2002) - the education capacity is
one of a kind. That equals twice as many students being admitted each year than any
other Swedish labor market region. And 15 times as many as for instance the Stockholm
region

The network covers just over 4,000 employees and there are some 100 people directly
involved in TelecomCity. These people participate in a variety of working groups,
project groups or other meetings. TelecomCity is run in the form of a project whose
principal is the Municipality of Karlskrona.

5
The TelecomCity members share the mutual vision of making TelecomCity and the
region an internationally leading development environment for infocom business, with a
focus on telecommunications. The mutual subjects to develop, analyze and to work for
are the following:
• Profitability and growth in the companies
• Successful education and research at the university
• A rich living environment
• Attraction of further competence to the network and to the region
www.telecomcity.org

Blekinge Institute of Technology

The regional university, founded in 1989, was also given an IT profile. The university
has established a close co-operation with trade and industry and many of the students
are working in projects in local companies. At Blekinge Institute of Technology (BIT)
education and research are of a very high international standard and learning is the focal
point for student, teacher and researcher alike. BIT is the most distinctly profiled
university in Sweden, with a clear focus on Applied IT and Sustainable Development of
Industry and Society.

The following critical issues were considered in the creation process of the university:
• Finance: Requirements for the starting, freedom, quickness and
risk-taking
• Personnel: Research and education requires the elite personnel
with the best competences.
• Profile: Needed to be able to compete. Few but strong research
groups, applied IT and development of business life and society.

BIT carries on research – often frontline research – in all its programme areas, securing
the vital link between education and research. As the youngest university in Sweden,
BIT was granted university rights in engineering. The strong research environment is
also noticeable in the broad international element. The teaching and research groups

6
represent fifteen nationalities and through the students fifteen more cultures are added to
further enrich the activities.
www.bth.se

7
 Building up a European Region – Good practice experiences from
CENTROPE – Central European Region: From the Far Eastern
Outpost to a Thriving Region in the Heart of Europe
Bruno Woeran
DANUBE European Training, Research and Technology, Austria

Characteristics for European Regions

Characteristics for European Regions are twofold. They can be derived from a top-
down/political approach as well as from a bottom-up/evolving approach. “Economic
and Living Areas which are ideal for an in depth cross regional integration“ reflect the
top-down approach aimed for by political stakeholders for reasons of harmonizing,
cooperating and creating an impact. “Areas across country borders, in which
developments of settlements and economic cooperation challenge joint measures“
certainly define the bottom-up approach towards cross-border cooperation of
individuals.

Both characteristics can be considered essential when addressing often opposite topics
for opportunities and threats that arise from cross-border cooperation.

Opportunities and threats

Complexity issues touch on several aspects in the Region as a whole as well as in each
single part, i.e. different languages, cultures, and potential. Acceptance and balance is
of utmost importance and a very time intensive measure when integrating different
levels, i.e. politics, administration, experts, inhabitants. Sustained targets vs. short time
results, so called quick fixes have to be leveraged against each other. Politics are
certainly more interested in marketable results quickly, whereas a sustained success
needs a long-term strategy. A fitting layout in respect to objectives, activities and
organizational structure builds the base for future cooperation. Done properly, it can be
the guaranteeing factor for success in the Region. Consciousness has to be seen as a
long-term process in order to be an opportunity. As such it can be achieved through
branding, marketing and various public relations activities. Autonomous dynamics are
the involvement of persons and institutions with a drive and vision. Without these, this

8
topic is bound to be the biggest threat for the success and take-off for a Region.
Ultimately, the process from pure competition between different parts of regions vs.
added values through cooperation within the Region and beyond will demonstrate the
sustainability of such a European Region.

Centrope’s goal can be described as: “… through the cooperation of regions, to grow
stronger and to be able to make better use of potentials and to solve pending problems.”

Objectives and outcomes/goals

The objectives and outcomes of the Region are the following:
• Economic growth through an increase and synergetic use of a variety of location
factors and knowledge
• Removal of barriers in all areas of the economy and living
• Preventive measures & results for common problems (environment, labour
market, traffic, infrastructure, mobility)
• Joint location marketing
• Joint Lobbying both nationally and EU-wide
• Increase of quality of living

Cornerstones for the CENTROPE Region

In order to create an innovative, dynamic Region in respect to economy, knowledge,
learning and living it is necessary to analyze future fields of competencies and to take
sustainable measures and impulses (cooperation business meets innovation).
Furthermore, a strong network between science and industry will guarantee mutual
benefits for research and development valorization (Centrope University).
Strengthening the strategic fine-tuning in areas of infrastructure, environment, labor
market, etc. creates common targets. Competing for investors and consumers within and
outside of CENTROPE can be realized through concrete public relation / Lobbying.

Project Data and Structure:

ƒ 4 Countries & Languages, 8 Regions, 2 Capital Cities
ƒ 1,4 – 6 % Growth
ƒ More than 6 Mio. Consumers
ƒ 25 Universities, ¼ Mio. Students

9
 ƒ Highly qualified work force (qualification standards, monitoring and analysis)
ƒ Logistical transport node in Central Europe (3 airports, TENs, Danube)
ƒ R&D Competencies
ƒ Cultural centre & recreational areas = high quality of living
ƒ Bodies:
- Multilateral advisory board CENTROPE = Deciding body of political
representatives/administration of all Partner regions
- CENTROPE Platform = Information- and PR- Platform for interested Stake-
Holders
-Project- Secretariat = information, organization and administration backbone

Phases of CENTROPE towards a Vision 2015

2002-2003: Preparatory Phase
„ Platform European Region – Multilateral Round Tables

2003-2006: CENTROPE I
„ Interreg III A Project BAER – Building a European Region
– co financed by the Provinces Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland
„ Setting up of the Agenda
„ Political Commitments (memoranda, declaration)
„ Public Awareness (PR-events and lobbying, concerts)
„ Marketing (brochures, folder and website)
„ Future Agenda 2015 (First impulses are set, i.e. Image, branding and
Networking

2006-2007: CENTROPE II – Transition period; complementary projects

• Interreg III A project CENTROPE 2006 plus (Vienna, NÖE, Bgld.)
• Complementary leading projects in SK, CZ and HU (Start-Up of Cooperation
Management – preparation for 2008+)
• Structural preparation in neighboring regions (Cooperation management on four
agenda levels and in four different economic areas
• Public relation/Lobbying (2007 Bratislava Conference)

10
Table 1. Interregional Cooperation Management in all four regions

2003 - 2005 2006

CZ SK CZ SK

A H A H

2007 2 0 0 8 ff
CZ SK CZ SK

A H A H

2007-2013/15: CENTROPE III – joint projects

• The regional development authorities in CENTROPE will elaborate a common
guideline document to formulate targets and agenda points for the years to come.
Joint Objective 3- Projects (“European Territorial Cooperation”, i.e. Biosphere
Growth Region & Learning Region) in the framework of a four-country-
cooperation management are planned along 6 sectorial development action lines:
• Industry & Innovation; Employment & Labor Market; Education, Science &
Research; Transport, Infrastructure, Environment & Regional Development;
Culture & Tourism and Communication & Cooperation.

In order for a Vision CENTROPE 2015 to really take off, certain goals and measures
need to be addressed on a long-term basis. One is a common understanding on the
political level. Furthermore, the people in the four regions have to be informed through
publications and marketing. All this based on CENTROPE’s regional and sectorial
development perspectives, further analysis & multilateral consultation.

Reflecting on the interaction of opportunities and threats mentioned in the beginning,

and in order for a Central European Region to succeed in the long run there is a constant
need for continuous engagement for the idea and enthusiasm, a sensuous treatment of
different expectations and cultural frameworks and firm creation of trust on a personal
level. Concluding, in a nutshell:

11
„ CENTROPE is (will be)
a leading political pilot idea, target for identification and a Trademark
a strategic instrument for joint developments
a booster and broker for advantages to be reached jointly
a dynamic, multilateral network management support
a vital lobbying and marketing agency
„ CENTROPE in not
a new political and/or administrative institutional level
a replacement or competitor of existing initiatives or activities
an omnipotent set-up and limiting holding structure

Internal autonomous dynamics - the human capital - will be the key for success; Secured
through the involvement of persons and institutions with a drive and a vision.

12
13
The Vakka-Suomi Region – A Survivor Development plan for an area
facing sudden structural change 2004-2007
Helena Vartiainen
Vice-Chairman of the Board of Vakka-Suomi Region, Chairman of the Council of the
City of Uusikaupunki, Finland

The perspective of the presentation was on how things are, in stead of why, in a Vakka-
Suomi. The Vakka-Suomi region is located in South-West of Finland. The region
contains the following six municipalities: Kustavi, Laitila, Pyhäranta, Taivassalo,
Uusikaupunki, and Vehmaa (appears green on figure1).

Figure 1. The Vakka-Suomi

14
The Vakka-Suomi has organized its governance as the following structure on figure 2.

Figure 2. The structure of organization.

The region has around 32000 inhabitants where almost half of them live in
Uusikaupunki. Population development is somewhat slowly going down, with a small
hiccup in 1995 (figure 3).
40 000

35 000

30 000
Vakka-Suomi
Uusikaupunki
25 000

20 000

15 000
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Figure 3. Population development

Job markets in the region hit on the bottom in 1993, when whole Finland was suffering
on one of the largest economic depression of its history (figure 4). Major reason of the
Vakka-Suomi was industrial slowdown of a car manufacturer. It cut down about half of

15
its jobs, because quick change in demand for manufacturing and assembly services
(figure 5.).

Jobs 1990-2004
18 000

16 000

14 000

12 000 VAKKA-SUOMI

10 000
UUSIKAUPUNKI

8 000

6 000

4 000
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Figure 4. Job market development

2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1995/12
1996/12
1997/12
1998/12
1999/12
2000/12
2001/06
2001/12
2002/06
2002/12
2003/06
2003/12
2004/06
2004/12
2005/06
2005/12
2006/06

Figure 5. Employment development at the car factory

Definition and plan for area facing sudden structural change were made in the region.
Decision by the Council of State was made on January 15, 2004, to do proposal for
actions. The proposal was then prepared by the regional municipality functions: group's
board of directors, provincial government, and key regional government authorities.
Some available financing tools were the Goal 2 programme, the Alma programme, the

16
Goal 3 programme, the Interreg programmes, Saaristo and Baltia, and regional centre
programme, among others.

The following results were achieved through structural change planning at the region.
Employment at the car factory is not included in the goals nor in the results

Table 1. Results of change plan

Goal 04-07 Result 04-05
Jobs 1500 850
- permanent 689
- project work 161

The impact of the structural change plan was the following. For enterprise projects in
Uusikaupunki about 0.6 million euros were issued in 2003. About 2 million euros of
national financial resources was allocated directly to enterprise support in 2004. In year
2005 national support area 2 increased the enterprise investment support from
approximately 15% to 24% compared to estimations. Finally, in 2006, financing for the
water maintenance solution for Uusikaupunki and Laitila was added to the state's
supplementary budget.

Experiences about the structural change are such that you must do as your own
initiatives, because nobody else will do them. All actors must act in uniformity in the
region. Also concrete, credible projects form the basis of the plan. The exercise plan of
1993 in Vakka-Suomi helped in regional revival. It is like fire fighting, you must
exercise thighs before they actually take place. The strong commitment of the provincial
union and regional government towards the development plan is needed. Apply for
finance only from places that are likely to give it (and don’t be greed, don’t ask for
impossible). Continuous, close contact between the regional municipality, regional
government, and central administration is needed, on weekly basis. Finally, seek
publicity only when results can be shown and thanks are due.

Operations in the coming programme season will be the following. The Elli programme,
promoting competitive ability and employment, includes a 5% financing reserve for
areas subjected to sudden structural change. In order to receive financing, the situation

17
and need must be demonstrated, a development project must be prepared, and a
financing application must be made according to EU procedures.

The regional municipality has always received regional support when needed. Not all
we asked came, but central lines have been accepted and approved. With the help of the
support, the regional municipality has helped in creation of new jobs and enterprises.

18
 Industrial Crisis and Reconversion: History of an Industrial Policy of
the Basque country
Ramón Peñagaricano
Manager, International Observatory for Strategic Innovation, Bilbao, The Basque
country

The Basque country is located in South-West of Europe with area of 7,234 km2 and
population of 2,048,700. The Basque has faced major economical development
challenge since 70’s. It has been in various situations with its neighbors, and was ruled
from Madrid at the time. Industry had majority in iron and steel, metal, chemical and
naval at the 70’s. Through the following three milestones, industries at the 2000’s have
appeared as car industry, aeronautics, energy, and bioscience. Proposed three milestones
were oil crisis in 1973, joining to the EEC in 1986 and the gulf war in 1991. Following
table gives vivid picture of economical facts of the Basque.

19
Evolution of the GDP in 1981-2004 is presented in the following figure with major
events taken place at the EU and beyond.

Aeronautics makes nowadays 30 per cent of the regions production, while we should
remember that 20 years ago it doesn’t exist. Industries originally consumed a lot of
resources, especially energy. After the energy crisis the region changed its way of
producing and utilizing energy. Gas, wind and solar, all renewable energy sources, are
produced today in the region. In a way the region is independent because it can create
enough energy with the new technologies.

Three phases can de distinguished in the modernization process of the Basque: 1981-
1984; 1985-1988 and 1988-1992; and 1992-1993. In 1981 the region created the SPRI
to promote industrial activity supporting. It focused on business development,
technological development and innovation, and internationalization of the companies.

• 1981: Creation of the SPRI to promote industrial activity supporting:

o ... Business development
o ... Technological development and innovation

20
 o ... Internationalisation of the companies

ƒ 1986: Entry into the European Union:

o Reassessing the size and relative weight of industry
o Change in its composition: apparition of new sectors.
o Adapt the productive to the quality demands

ƒ 1991: Gulf War:

o Creation of the Competitiveness Programme to improve the
competitiveness of the companies
o Creation of the Clusters: Aeronautics, Automotive components, Energy,
Machine tool, Household appliances, …
o Creation of Business and Innovation Centres
o Promotion of Quality in the Industrial Sector: process coordinated by
Euskalit.
o Facilitate the companies’ access to founding: emergence of Mutual
Guaranty Societies, credit companies, seed capital, ….
o Development of industrial infraestructures: industrial parks

Internationalisation Programme to promote activities of companies abroad was

established. It has affected as 37% increase in export during the period of 1998-2004.
Technological development in the Basque country is important. There are two types of
actions taken place: support to technological investment and innovation and
technological fostering. As a part of technological development technology parks were
created, in 1985 Bizkaia, in 1992 Araba, and in 1994 Gipuzkoa. The objective was to
attract technologically advanced companies. The established companies belong to the
following sectors: software, electronics, telecommunications, aeronautic and bioscience.
Finally, launching of science and technology plans were done in technological
development plan.

The two new strategic areas are aeronautics and biosciences “Biobask Strategy 2010”
that Basque will focus on. In the field of information society the Basque has done a lot
of activities from early 80’s. Rather many programs are ongoing and new ones are
under planning, that leads to the ultimate objective: digital revolution. Future is on

21
innovation and in trained people. Euskadi 2015 plan for competitiveness is part of the
future.

22
 Urban Fallowing in Regional Development – Case Tampere
Ari Hynynen
Dr.Tech, Research Director
Tampere University of Technology, Finland

Introduction
In the paper, the phases of the pioneer of industry in Tampere, Finlayson’s cotton mill is
gone through from its establishment in 1820 to the present day. One important chapter
is between the shutdown of the factory and the new era of the region from 1990 to 2000.
The phase could be called urban fallowing, because, like agricultural fallowing, urban
space that has been left to rest can be very fertile if handled properly. In EDGE Urban
Research Laboratory, this intermediate phase has been developed within ‘Creative
Tampere’ –business program to a specific method that can be applied to any Urban
Region for mapping and developing underutilized urban spaces. Circumstances are not
always as favorable as they were in Finlayson’s case. Methodologies are needed that the
whole potential of a fallow can be exploited.

Industrial town Tampere

Tampere was built in 1779 to the town of trade and industry. Tammerkoski village,
sited on the place earlier, was a popular market place because of its inherent, excellent
water and road connections. The town was located on an isthmus between two lakes and
the difference in altitude of the water-levels was 18 meters. Foaming rapids that flows
through the isthmus was thought to be the energy source of the town’s water mills, but it
took 40 years before the excellent attainability, energy resources and labor resources
were found.

The rise of Finlayson in 1820…

In 1820, Scottish engineer James Finlayson that worked in St. Petersburg established a
machine shop on the edge of Tammerkoski. However, there were not enough markets to
the machines, so the machine shop was changed to a cotton spinning mill in 1828. In
1836, the mill got new owners from St. Petersburg, from which Wilhelm Nottbeck
settled to Tampere. The mill started to grow and develop fast.

23
In 1850’s, internal market grew bigger than Russian’s export. At the same time, the
amount of employees raised to the second thousand. In 1860’s, half of the population of
Tampere worked in Finlayson. In 1870’s, 40 percent of the working population of
Finland working in factories lived in Tampere and 25 percent worked in Finlayson. In
the beginning of the 1900’s, there were over 3000 employees in the mill and it was the
largest industrial enterprise of the Nordic countries.

Many technological and social innovations stamp the history of Finlayson. In 1937,
progressive six-storied mill building with no separating walls was completed. Large
united spaces enabled modern weaving machines. The machines got their energy from
the rapids, which flow was directed throughout a tunnel under the building and from
there with water wheel and belts to the machines in the different floors of the building.
The mill building is still in the area and it is now restored for new users.

In the mill, the first electric lights in Scandinavia were switched on in 1882. In 1920’s,
electric motors were mobilized in the mill. In addition, starting from the days of James
and Margaret Finlayson, the mill sought to improve the conditions of its workers and
also to create social benefits. Worker housing was built and a school was founded in
conjunction with the cotton mill in 1839, sickness fund in 1846, a hospital in 1848 and a
church in 1879. Finlayson's cotton mill opened the first savings bank in Tampere in
1838 and a cooperative in 1900. A library and numerous amateur clubs catered for the
spiritual needs of the workers. Finlayson was like a working scale model of the wider
community that Nottbeck’s owner family held sway over.

...and fall in 1990

Since 1960’s more and more textiles were imports to Finland. The industrial weaving
started to wither in Finland while global competition tightened in 1970’s and 80’s.
While Russian trade died down in 1990, weaving ended at Tampere. In 1985, Finlayson
became a part of Asko Oy, which established Kiinteistö Invest Oy for developing the
area of Finlayson to reuse in 1987. Nowadays the owner of Kiinteistö Invest is Varma-
Sampo and the company is responsible for the development of the area, building
development, housing, property management, acquisition of energy, rental and parking
business.

24
After the fall, before new rise
The mill site was closed from townspeople until the end of 1980’s. The reorganization
of the area started in 1996. What happened in the area after the gates were opened
before the arrival of building companies?

Cheap rents and wide, rough spaces persuaded artists, craftspeople, workshops, novice
architect studios and car repair shops to the area. The large area that had been private
for a long time and 100 000 floor square meters old space just in the center of the city
were exciting and stimulating entity. The area started to get new life and its significance
and potential were understood soon. Now, also Tampere had a chance to get its own
“old town”.

Kiinteistö Invest Oy started to marketing the area and search new and bigger companies
to utilize it. For marketing the area, a story of it had to be developed, which was not
hard in the case of Finlayson. Apart from the shutdown of the mill everything related to
the history of the mill was positive: technical and social innovations, interesting
architecture of good quality, all kind of progression, the creation of economic wellbeing
– Finlayson made the city of Tampere.

Finlayson today – “The old town” of Tampere

Today, Finlayson is a district in the core of Tampere. The area of Tampella, that has
gone through a similar evolution, in the other side of the rapids complements the area.
In the near future, these two areas will be connected with a light traffic bridge that goes
over the rapids.

Many users of the intermediate phase had to leave from the area when spaces were
repaired and large IT companies, a big newspaper, schools, restaurants, cafeterias,
museums, studios, architectural offices and advertising agencies, gyms, movie theaters,
housing and so on come to the place. Now, there are a lot of people in the area and the
center of Tampere has clearly moved partly in the mill site. Apart from new residential
blocks the area is pretty ready. There are 3000 people living, studying and working on
the area, which is the same amount of people than at the top period of textile industry.

25
Urban fallowing as a method
In the case of Finlayson, the structural and urban transformation was easy. The location
in the core of urban region with over 300 000 people guaranteed that natural pressure
for development existed. In some point, the demolition of the old buildings was slated,
but Tampere learned from the old mistakes and organized an architectural competition
for the planning of the area. The new town plan saved 70-80 % of the old buildings.

The utilization of the area in the intermediate phase, that could be called urban
fallowing, can not to be underestimated. Small actors showed that the area is culturally
interesting and usable. In the fallowing phase, the brand was formed to the area and it
was also actively created.

But circumstances are not always so favorable. Urban fallows might emerge in small
towns or on the outer rings of urban regions as well. Areas and spaces, that are empty or
underutilized for a long period, are an economic burden to their owner and the whole
community, because they slow the development of urban structure. At that time, it could
be wise to take care of the fallow that it would start to yield again.

The methods are needed for that the action would not be occasional and the wrong
things would not be done in the wrong time. We have to be able to find, recognize and
map urban fallows that we could truly access to them. In ‘Creative Tampere’ – program
Urban Fallows – project consists of three parts that are gone through side-by-side:
mapping, creating stories and vision, and development.

The mapping of fallows

• Defining fallow criteria based on GIS-data
• Mapping potential fallows
• Founding the fallow bank
• Analyzing the fallow stock

In the mapping, almost everywhere available geographic information technology (GIS)

is utilized. After defining the criteria, a map will show the potential fallows of the urban

26
space, which could be observed closely. The fallow bank that emerges by mapping is
already useful to city planners and architects, and property developers as such.

Fallow stories and visions

• Closer studies of chosen fallows
• Making interviews of stakeholders, historical studies of places, discovering local
meanings
• Writing the story of the place + producing architectonic visions, developing brands
• Recognizing the phase of fallowing
• Stimulating and promoting provisional users and events

Fallow development
• Place marketing
• Generating development processes
• Matching and coordinating local actor-networks
• Preparing the fallow for more stable development, the creation of ‘leitbild’

Different phases of fallowing

In the closer observation the phase of fallowing is ascertained. Not every fallows are
mature for heavy actions and final utilization.

Signing of the place

At lightest, urban fallowing could mean the reservations of a space or a site that is
waiting for future utilization, to some urban activity so that the building actions are very
small and temporary by their nature. The natural actors of this level are communities
and actives at grass roots. Activities emerged in the place is a signal for the vitality of
the area and an opportunity to rise to a significant place in urban structure.

Temporary constructions
More established and more demanding activities (for example weather-wise) might
demand walls and roofs – or partitions and sheds. Different temporary constructions and
space elements enable small-scale exhibitions, commercial actions, even living. This
kind of fallowing is suitable in situations where it is not possible to do or better not to

27
do any financing or building decisions for the more permanent utilization of a site or a
space, for instance if it is impossible to estimate the land use of the immediate
surroundings. Successful fallowing might advance the decision making and at its best,
function as a catalyst to the rise of the whole immediate surroundings.

Re-use of old buildings

If buildings that have been left empty or underutilization are strong, they offer basis for
new actors as such. The actors of creative economics and culture find their ways to
stimulus surroundings that are stamped by historical and cultural layers in buildings and
constructions. Fallowing includes the interpretation and development of those layers
with skilful architectural design.

New building
The fallow is ready to mature yield in the final stage of its cycle. The place has been
raised so meaningful and gained such position in the urban structure that it is
worthwhile to establish new building. It belongs to fallowing that a building and an
activity that is placed there produce added value to the city, for example qualitatively
and quantitatively new business, culture or thrive.

Fallowing process organization

In ’Creative Tampere’ – program, EDGE operates as a fallowing coordinator (figure 1).
It does the fallow mapping and founds the fallow bank. In addition, it generates and
coordinates development processes. Because the method is still in development phase
and more information from processes is needed for developing the viable process
model, the approach to the work is action research. We try to connect the supply and
demand of spaces and exploit especially our architectural skills. Also building
developers and administrations have to be collected to the actor-network for that the
fallow would truly start to develop.

At the moment, the process in Tampere is in full swing and the actor-network is
growing. At the same time, the fallow criteria have been specified and mapping method
is developing. On the next year, the method should be ready and a couple fallows
strongly in implementation phase. The project is meant to continue to 2010.

28
 CITY OFFICES
- property
- business
- culture
PROPERTY - planning
DEVELOPMENT
- firms
- research
?
EDGE Action research
- generating development
processes, coordinating actor-
networks
BUILDERS
- creating stories, visions and - construction
brands
firms

STAKEHOLDERS - architects
- land-owners FIRMS
- tenants - small & middle-
sized firms
- users
- cultural sector
entrepreneurs

Figure 1. Fallowing process organization

Benefits of the fallowing method

The fallow method offers many benefits. The list below introduces the most important
ones:

• It speeds up the development of underutilized urban spaces

• It improves the integrity of urban structure
• It facilitates the updating of outdated town plans
• It enriches the quality of urban environment (in comparison to straightforward profit-
driven property development)
• It brings out unconventional ways of using urban spaces
• It opens up possibilities for new business ideas and creative enterprises and clusters
• It highlights places in areas with no obvious business interest, like outer rings of urban
regions and small cities and towns

29
 Legitimacy in global restructuring: Reflections on shutdowns
Eero Vaara
Professor
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland

This short paper summarizes key points in my presentation in the seminar on regional
revival in Kuusankoski. It is to a large extent based on the preliminary research findings
of on ongoing research project on global industrial restructuring and its controversial
effects (see Vaara and Erkama, 2005). The perspective is that of an organizational
scholar, or more broadly social scientist, who examine events such as industrial
shutdowns from a critical perspective. What I am sketching here are preliminary ideas
about how such controversial events can be studied from a discursive perspective, rather
than a summary of clear-cut findings.

We are living a period of global industrial restructuring. This restructuring is

symbolized by growth projects such as mergers and acquisitions but it has also a darker
side shown in rationalizations, costs cuts and shutdown decisions (e.g. Hirsch and
DeSoucey, 2006). What is alarming is that shutdown decisions have become
increasingly common. The Voikkaa case is an unfortunate example of such decisions.
Moreover, shutdowns seem to involve not only companies and units that have serious
financial problems or outdated technology, but also cases that appear economically and
strategically viable. These controversial shutdowns decisions have, however, received
relatively little attention by organization and management scholars. We seem to know
especially little of how they are justified and legitimated in different social arenas.

This means that we need analyses focusing on the various kinds of social, political and
discursive processes seriously. Discourse is here a central concept that refers to
linguistically mediated representations of the world (e.g., Fairclough, 2003). What I
specifically want to pay attention to are the discursive aspects of legitimation, that is,
the various rhetorical and other ways in which create sense of positive, beneficial,
ethical, understandable, necessary or otherwise acceptable action in a specific setting
(Vaara et al., 2006). These discursive aspects are central when examining the political
argumentation among and between specific actors but also help us to understand such

30
ideological elements that characterize this era of globalization. In brief, such perspective
thus opens up an opportunity to examine the fundamental discursive struggles involved
in shutdown cases such as Voikkaa.

Such discursive processes involve various kinds of ideologies, that is, worldviews that
provide inherently different bases for making sense of industrial restructuring in general
or shutdowns in particular. In simple terms, proponents of globalization tend to draw
from neo-liberal or global capitalist ideology. Here, economic factors are seen as the
driving forces in social and political change, and human concerns are often
instrumentalized. While there are deviant views as to what globalization as discourse
consists of, the following seem to be essential characteristics: First, globalization is
often seen as a ‘necessity’. However, from a critical perspective, such necessity is
frequently based on particular value-laden future projections. Second, a general belief in
the inevitability of globalization has great performative power. It seems to be the case
that the continuous discussions around globalization are means to ‘talk globalization
into being’. Third, there is no one form of globalization discourse, but established ideas
about globalization tend to be translated or recontextualized in specific ways in
particular contexts. Fourth, and most importantly for our purposes, multinational
corporations are often seen as primary agents of globalization. This means that their
actions, especially controversial ones, are often linked with specific discussions around
globalization.

The point is thus to pay attention to the various ways in which pro-globalization
discourses structure sensemaking around these controversial decisions. However, there
are also significant and powerful counter-discourses to neo-liberal globalization which
can be used to resist such events. For example, Marxist ideas have been employed to
resist the neoliberal world order. Nationalism has received little attention so far, even
though in many contexts it clearly provides a most natural counter-force to
globalization. And there are of course many kinds of local societal discourses that focus
attention on the local concerns. These all provide different and often competing ways of
making sense of globalization-driven social and societal change. Thus, in addition to
pro-globalization discourse, we must also pay attention to the various ways in which
such controversial events are resisted.

31
Our research project on industrial shutdowns provides some ideas of the discursive
strategies, that is, the ways in which such discourses are mobilized in discussions
around shutdowns (Vaara and Erkama, 2005). We have examined five recent shutdown
cases in Finland: the decision of Volvo Buses to liquidate its newly acquired bus body
builder Carrus in Helsinki (1998), the decision of Wärtsilä to terminate its diesel engine
manufacturing in Turku (2004), the decision of Flextronics to shut down its newly
acquired electronics manufacturing services plant in Oulu (2004), the decision of Perlos
to close down it Ylöjärvi unit (2005), and the decision of Leaf to terminate the
production in its Turku plant (2005). In our analysis, we have concentrated on the news
press coverage around these shutdown decisions. By analyzing the extensive media text
material, we have focused on the micro-level discursive processes, functions and
strategies.

These discursive strategies include naturalization of globalization (making globalization

appear a natural and inevitable phenomenon), authorization (using status as a means to
add legitimacy to the claims), exemplification (using other cases as justifications),
ambiguous financial argumentation (using financial information selectively to justify or
resist the decision), strategic rationalization (providing instrumental rationalizations for
the decision or its resistance), moralization (using various kinds of moral grounds to
resist or justify the shutdown), processual fairness (paying specific attention to the
fairness of the decision-making process), shifting responsibility (focusing attention to
others than the central decision-makers), and narrative accounts (creating various kinds
of narratives to frame the shutdown in a particular kind of way). While there may also
be other strategies that could be used in such contexts, these seem to be typical, and
therefore merit specific attention.

So what does this imply for the Voikkaa case? In brief, the point is that this shutdown
represents a social and discursive struggle that should be taken seriously. Academically,
a closer study of the Voikkaa case would probably reveal discourses and discursive
strategies such as those mentioned above. However, due to the historical nature of this
case, most interesting would be to examine the particular ways in which central actors
have used various discursive strategies to justify as well as to resist the shutdown. In
practical terms, then, we want to emphasize that such legitimacy struggles should not be
taken lightly. They are the very means through societies and communities define the

32
social responsibility of multinational corporations and other social actors. Most
importantly, I want to promote the view that regardless of the final outcome – or
especially in the case of massive layoffs – people should be encouraged and allowed to
voice their concerns, even deviant ones. This is the way towards a more critical and
constructive social dialogue, but also necessary for the socio-psychological recovery of
those people most seriously hurt by the shutdown.

References:

Fairclough, N. 2003. Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research.

London: Longman.

Fairclough, N., & Thomas, P. 2004. The discourse of globalization and the
globalization of discourse. In D. Grant, C. Hardy, C. Oswick & L. Putnam (Eds.),
The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse: 379-396. London: Sage
Publications.

Hirsch, P. & De Soucey, M. 2006. Organizational restructuring and its consequences:

Rhetorical and structural. Annual Review of Sociology, 32: 171-189.

Vaara, E. & Erkama, N. 2005. On the darker side of industrial restructuring: A

critical media analysis of shutdown decisions. Paper presented at the annual meeting
of European Group of Organizational Studies, Berlin, Germany.

Vaara, E., Tienari, J., & Laurila, J. 2006. Pulp and paper fiction: On the discursive
legitimation of global industrial restructuring. Organization Studies, 27: 789-810.

33
 The Inevitability of Globalization and Its Costs: The Voikkaa Paper
Mill Shutdown and Forest Industry Restructuring in the Newspapers
Pasi Ahonen
Researcher
Lappeenranta of Technology, Finland

On March 8, 2006 UPM plc, a multinational forest industry conglomerate head

quartered in Finland, announced drastic measures to improve its profitability. The
company cut some 3000 jobs in Finland, including shutting down its mill in Voikkaa in
the City of Kuusankoski. The stock markets rewarded the company with an immediate
increase in the company’s share price. In Kuusankoski the news was received with
shock and horror; some 1100 people would lose their jobs, including 670 at the Voikkaa
mill. For a city of 20,247 inhabitants (2005), located in the middle of the Kouvola
Region of about 100,00 inhabitants, such job losses posed a serious challenge to the
economy, the community and, in particular, the families and individuals affected by the
cuts.

This paper is a study of how the news of the UPM shutdown and the public discourse
that ensued from the announcement took shape. My aim is to map out the various
strands of discussion and debate that took place in the newspapers over eight months
from the day of the announcement on March 8 until the middle of November in 2006.
The main purpose of my study is to gain some insight into the ways in which
newspapers represented the reality of the shutdown, what aspects of the shutdown and
its effects were emphasized and what kind of views and perspectives were made public
in the eight months following the shutdown decision. Since this study is very much a
work-in-progress and a part of a larger project analyzing the regional response to the
shutdown, I will not be making any definite conclusions. In lieu of them I offer some
preliminary observations on the handling of the shutdown process and the positions and
perspectives that took form over the month that followed the initial announcement.

The newspapers that I have included in this study are Kuusankosken Seutu, PK,
Kaupunkilehti Seiska, Kouvolan Sanomat, Etelä Saimaa, Helsingin Sanomat,
Kauppalehti and Taloussanomat. The first three are small free delivery papers, with

34
Kuusankosken Seutu being a weekly local paper and the other two regional weeklies.
Kouvolan Sanomat, published in Kouvola, is the leading daily paper in the Kouvola
Region, whereas Etelä Saimaa, published in Lappeenranta, is the leading daily in the
neighbouring region of South Karelia (also a forest industry region). Helsingin
Sanomat, Kauppalehti and Taloussanomat are all national newspapers, with Helsingin
Sanomat being the leading national daily newspaper. Kauppalehti and Taloussanomat
are both national dailies concentrating on financial and business news.

The newspapers published some 530 articles in the eight months under review (see fig.
1). In March there were 145 articles published, in April 120, in May 75, in June 60 in
July 10, in August 40, in September and October 35 and by mid-November some 10.
Half of the 145 articles published in March were published during the first week
following the announcement of the UPM cuts. The umbrella term ‘articles’, in this
study, refers to news articles, editorials, feature articles and columns by journalists and
guest writers of various kinds as well as letters to the editor by the public. The spectrum
of the articles included in the study is wide to enable capturing the public discourse on
the topic as thoroughly as possible. At this point of the analysis, I have not yet made a
careful separation between the approaches taken and perspectives offered in the
different types of articles nor have I had the chance to analyse in detail the differences
in the ways in which the local, regional and national papers handled the story. For the
purposes of this study I have decided to treat the articles as one large body of source
material. Closer analysis in the future will doubtlessly provide insights that I am not
able to address at this point of the work.

35
 160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Fig. 1. Number of articles published.

I have chosen to use the concept of trope in my analysis. Trope is a term common in
literary criticism where the concept is used to refer to a repeated theme or motif. Tropes
are closely linked to genres. In a given genre, tropes appear as familiar key characters,
settings, events or plot lines. In this study, my aim is to identify the tropes that appear in
the public discourse on the shutdown decision and its consequences in the print media.
The public discourse should not be treated as one story. Rather, it is a collection of news
stories, reports, carefully considered opinions, “gut reactions” and other texts that
together form a contradictory, conflicting and contested public discourse on the mill
shutdown and its various effects, justifications and interpretations.

I have identified seven main tropes in the public discourse on the UPM cuts (see fig. 2):
- Global inevitability
- Doom
- “Schadenfreude”
- Unity
- Measured concern
- Hope and new opportunities
- New era

The first five tropes appear almost simultaneously and immediately following the
announcement of the UPM cuts. Over the following months, some tropes dissipate
while new ones appear. Two of the five tropes that appear immediately prove

36
sustainable, the trope of “Global inevitability” and that of “Unity”. The former trope is
one through which the position and the role of UPM was consistently represented and
the latter characterizes the representation of the response and resistance to the cuts.
There are, however, complex linkages and gradual shifting and merging between the
tropes. In the following, I will characterize the various tropes, map out their evolution
and discuss their role and uses in the public discourse.

Global inevitability

Doom

”Schadenfreude”

Unity

Measured concern

Hope

New era

MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT

Fig 2. Timeline of the tropes

The Trope of Global Inevitability

In this trope, economic realities force the closure of the Voikkaa mill and the other job
cuts in Kuusankoski and elsewhere. The Voikkaa mill has the misfortune of specializing
in the type of product (lwc paper) where there is significant overcapacity in Europe. In
addition, the mill has not been able to meet its productivity targets. Hence, the shutdown
is a wholly justified and rational measure to improve the profitability of the company.
The decision is unsentimental and realistic, a result of objective decision-making that
takes the good of the company as a whole into consideration. The company together
with industry representatives argue that the operating environment has irredeemably
changed; the global pressures leave few options but to take harsh measures to adjust to

37
the new situation. This trope also puts heavy emphasis on quantitative measures and
emphasizes the importance of return on investment. Costs must have clear justification
that contribute towards the specific goals of the company. In short, globalization has
created new rules for the industry in which ac/countability is the reality against which
rational choices are made.

The main uses of this trope are in constructing an apparently logical cause-and-effect
between ‘facts’ and acts, in foregrounding ‘globalization’ as an explanation and
legitimation for the measures taken. It also emphasizes the importance of (quantifiable
and ac/countable) efficiency in key management decisions and human resource policy.
The main figures of this trope are the representatives of the UPM top management and
other industry spokespersons. The trope is the first one to appear in the public discourse;
it is in fact the position that UPM and the industry is allocated in the public discourse
that ensues. The trope is also very durable and lasts throughout the eight months under
review. In the autumn of 2006 the trope begins to be discursively linked to the trope of
“New era” (see below).

The Trope of Doom

This trope is the immediate local response to the news on the shutdown of the Voikkaa
mill and the other cuts. The trope focuses specifically on the shutdown in Voikkaa and
overshadows the cost saving measures announced. The shutdown is seen as a total
catastrophe; the town of Voikkaa is going to be decimated and the city of Kuusankoski
on the whole is facing a slow and lingering death as it is transformed into a post-
industrial wasteland. In this trope the shutdown is also a complete surprise for which no
one could have prepared. The mill is represented as the source of economic prosperity
and communal good. The mill is the centre of life: the mill, the community and the mill
workers are inseparable and the fate of the mill and its workers is everyone’s fate. This
trope promises a bleak future; the mill workers are not re-employable and the
community will collapse both socially and economically. It is apparent that the industry
no longer has the local interests at heart—the days of the paternalistic economy and
culture where the good of the mill was the good of the community and vice versa are
over.

38
The main uses of this trope are intriguing. Despite the deep pessimism of the trope, its
uses seem to be, in some sense, constructive. First, the trope is used as a means to
express worry and concern at the appropriate level. The apocalyptic vision of the future
prevalent in the trope is deemed to be the proper way to express empathy and concern.
The bleak vision of the future functions also as motivation for swift counter measures
demanded by and from local and national politicians. The trope functions also as fuel
for raising the fighting spirit around May Day and the many speeches held by politicians
and labour unionists. Perhaps as a sign of the strength of the old mill town culture, the
trope also functions as a vehicle for nostalgia about the way things were. While
functioning as motivation for counter measures, it nevertheless emphasizes the limits of
any such measures. The forces of globalization are such that one small town or the
workers of one relatively small mill or the people of one small nation such as Finland
cannot do much to resist them. Globalization is a force of nature in this trope and there
is little one can do to resist it. In this sense, the trope of “Doom” represents a rather
similar understanding of globalization as does the trope of “Global inevitability”. In
both of them, the world has changed.

As the immediate reaction to the news about the UPM cuts, the trope appears alongside
the trope of “Global inevitability”. However, although strong at first, it dissipates in a
few weeks. It does, however, reappear intermittently until late June after which is
disappears from the public discourse. The main figures of the trope, local and national
level politicians and (mainly) local labour union representatives slowly begin to appear
in other tropes, such as the trope of “Measured concern”. They, together with others,
however appear from the beginning also in the trope of “Unity”.

The Trope of Unity

This trope is a close companion of the above trope of “Doom”. The two appear together,
although once the “doom” dissipates, the trope of “Unity” continues. It is, in some
sense, the motif of most participants in the public discourse. The trope also forms a
counter-trope to the trope of “Global inevitability”—the two appear as oppositional
tropes between which there is little common ground. In the trope of “Unity” the
Voikkaa shutdown happened to everyone. Hence, solutions to the situation must also be
sought together. Labour union solidarity and the recognition of common local and
regional interests in addressing the situation are prevalent in this trope. In this trope

39
demands for corporate social responsibility (CSR) are central; the company must meet
its responsibilities to the workers and the community. The trope is a counter-trope to
“Global inevitability” in that it does not accept the harshness of the UPM cuts and
provides a number of alternatives to the approach adopted by the company. After all, the
company is wealthy and the adjustment measures could be made over time and by softer
means. The values of the company are strongly questioned by this trope, but the account
of the economic realities the company is facing in the global markets is not challenged.
The resistance in the trope is limited to the ways and means adopted by the company
and it does not challenge the apparent global realities.

The trope emerges as an immediate reaction to the news of the cuts, closely linked with
the trope of “Doom”, but unlike its more pessimistic companion, the trope of “Unity”
proves sustainable and carries throughout the eight months under review. The main
figures in this trope are many, from labour unionists to local and national politicians,
ministers included, as well as numerous members of the public. Also many journalists,
particularly those writing human interest articles take part in the trope. UPM and the
industry representatives are notably excluded as figures in the trope. They appear rather
as the antagonists.

The uses of the trope of “Unity and common interest” are many. It reaffirms the values
of the mill town community as well as those of the Finnish nation, proud of its social
safety nets and shared responsibility. It also functions as motivation for seeking
solutions together with a wide range of actors and attempts to alleviate some of the
tensions in regional politics by providing a common challenge to meet. Values are
important in the trope and the role and meaning of CSR are foregrounded in the public
discourse. The trope, though, also affirms the apparent facts of global economy and
emphasizes globalization as an irresistible force. The trope also attempts to counteract
criticisms that suggest that unity and common interests are not shared by everyone after
all.

The Trope of “Schadenfreude”

In this trope, the mill workers, “papermen”, got what they deserved. The Paperiliitto
(Paper Workers’ Union) has long been a strong union that has been able to look after the
interests of its members with relative success. Workers at paper mills earn some of the

40
highest salaries in the industrial sector. The workers’ salaries, as the newspapers
reported, can be as high as three times the salaries paid to nurses, for example.
Knowledge of the economic comfort and security the workers and their families enjoyed
(in some cases for four generations, according to the papers), generated schadenfreude
in some elements of the local community and elsewhere in Finland as the news of the
shutdown was made public. In this trope the economic realities finally caught up with
the pampered upper echelons of the working classes.

As the tropes above, “Schadenfreude” was an immediate reaction to the news of the
UPM cuts. The trope represents vox populi; it appears (almost exclusively) in letters to
the editor written under pseudonyms and in the “snappy” messages the Kouvolan
Sanomat publishes (these consist of short comments sent in by the public on issues that
concern them as text messages which the paper publishes selectively).

This trope forms a counter-trope to the trope of “Unity” and although largely dismissed
as the idle talk of the envious, it nevertheless brings out some deep-seated divisions in
the mill town community. Also, another counter-trope aspect is the fact that
“Schadenfreude”, however crude in its sentiments, expresses concern for the
community without equating it with the mill and/or its workers. In this trope the mill is
not the heart of the community. Perhaps due to it rather venomous rhetoric and
apparently unconstructive position the trope of “Schadenfreude” largely disappears
from the printed media quite quickly, but its sentiments linger through the eight months
under review.

The Trope of Measured Concern

This trope, the last one of the five emerging immediately with the news of the UPM
cuts, appears in two versions, one emerging as the news broke and the other three
months after the initial appearance. In its first form the trope shares the features of some
of the other tropes in emphasizing the need for swift action and counter measures. It
provides, however, a decidedly different vision of the urgency of the situation than the
trope of “Doom” in particular. In the trope of “Measured concern” caution is
emphasized; the situation may not be as catastrophic as it might seem. There is no need
for immediate alarm. The situation is unfortunate, but the economic effects of the saving

41
measures will appear gradually and over time and therefore they can be at least
alleviated with counter-measures.

The first phase of the trope came to a quick end. Such a cool and factually based attempt
to calm the situation was met with vehement opposition. For example, some
Kuusankoski city councillors criticized those expressing views in line with this trope as
failing to show proper worry and concern over the tragic situation the community
seemingly found itself in. In its first phase the trope also recognizes that the UPM’s
corporate social responsibility cannot be wholly directed to addressing the needs of the
local community in Kuusankoski but the total economic environment of the company
needs to be considered. The long-term viability of the company is also important.

As time passed, the trope became more acceptable. From June onwards, many local and
national politicians and regional decision-makers and operators slowly began to
subscribe to the trope. In its second phase, after the initial shock of the shutdown had
dissipated, the trope of “Measured concern” and the trope of “Unity” seem to merge to
some extent, something that was quite impossible as long as the trope of “Doom” was
prevalent. In its second phase the trope of “Measured concern” becomes a vehicle for
alleviating the concerns of the community in Kuusankoski and the Kouvola Region in
general. The situation is no longer a great crisis, but a challenge that demands careful
management and the deployment of all possible support actions.

The main figures in this trope are, in the first phase, some Kuusankoski city officials,
the Prime Minister, officials of some ministries and some industry representatives. In
the second phase local and national policians and local decision-makers subscribe to the
trope. By September the trope slowly disappears.

The Trope of Hope

According to this trope, all is not lost. The forest industry is still strong in the region and
even new investments, totalling 325 million euro, have been made. In addition, the
various counter measures that have been and are being launched promise to have a
positive impact. Moreover, the crisis provides opportunities for new beginnings for the
people in the region.

42
The trope emerges quite soon after the news of the UPM cuts, first in the form of
resilience of the people and the community caught up in the events, later, from late
April onwards, as expressions of hope and positive future expectations. As the news of
re-employed mill workers abound, the trope gathers even more force until it merges
with the trope of “New era” in July. In a sense, the trope of “Hope” is a more human
version of the trope of “Measured concern”. As such, it is also an effective counter-
trope to the “Doom” and slowly gains ground as a vehicle of transition from vision with
no future to a vision of hopeful future—the people and the community will survive with
and without the mill. The trope is also an effective vehicle for emphasizing the
importance of political actions taken at local and national levels to alleviate the difficult
situation. Again, the absence of UPM is notable, despite the fact that in mid-May the
company announces a package of measures with a large budget to alleviate the effects
of the mill shutdown in Voikkaa and the other cuts in the region.

The main figures in this trope are the soon-to-be unemployed workers both as subjects
of human interest articles as well as authors of letters to the editor. Also local and
national politicians, local and regional decision-makers and the various regional
development operators partake in the trope.

The Trope of New Era

The trope begins to take shape slowly over the summer, drawing on many of the tropes
described above (see fig. 2). The trope has two identifiable sub-tropes, one emphasizing
the new opportunities for the people and the community in Kuusankoski and the
Kouvola Region, the other emphasizing paths to the future of the paper industry. The
sentiment of the first sub-trope could be described as “new job, (almost) the same life”.
In this trope it is now apparent that there is life after the mill and that new jobs provide,
almost, the same kind of life as the mill did before. In this form the trope seems to
suggest that the new life ahead is not something to be afraid of—or in fact that much
different from the old life. The newspaper stories in this trope introduce the possibilities
available for the ex-mill workers, the most important ones being (a) same old job in new
overalls (as a result of outsourcing), (b) a new job in a new industry and (c) a new life as
an entrepreneur, usually in some completely different setting. Also, stories emphasize
the fact that there is life at the (other) mills in the region providing stability and
prosperity to the community also in the future.

43
The “human” sub-trope of the “New era” trope reaffirms the community’s values and its
identity as one that makes its living from heavy industry. At the same time, it
encourages people to seek new opportunities by suggesting that new is remarkably
similar to the old and in any case, people manage and even succeed through resilience
and ingenuity.

The other sub-trope of the trope of “New era”, emphasizing the new opportunities for
the paper industry, builds the vision of future success on the notion of innovation.
According to this trope, old measures are not enough. There is a dire need to invest in
education, research and development since the key to the future lies in the ability to
create something truly new in the paper industry, such as hi-tech applications,
bioproducts and bioenergy. The trope suggests that technology investments guarantee
the longevity and sustainability of the industry in Finland. Moreover, high-level
research is required. In a twist of industrial logic, the trope emphasizes the need to
concentrate resources in higher education and research requiring adjustments in the
Finnish university network. In this trope, research and industrial production follow the
same logic: economies of scale produce better results.

The “innovation” sub-trope of the trope of “New era” ties the future of the paper
industry in with research and innovation. The trope also alleviates, perhaps even erases,
concerns about the flight of the paper industry from the region and from Finland in
general. Most importantly, it reaffirms the trust in the industry as a means to a
sustainable future. Rather disturbingly, it also ties the future of Finnish research and
university infrastructure in with the future of paper industry and proposes that science
and research must follow industrial logic and its notion of economies of scale to be
successful thus ensuring the future success of the paper industry. Implicit in this vision
is also the unfounded idea that high-level research and innovation capability is a means
to counter the trend in globalization that drives companies to invest in the large
emerging markets (ie, “the East”) rather than in mature ones (ie, “the West”).

The trope of “New era” begins to emerge in June, but from August onwards it gathers
strength and becomes the dominant trope by mid-November, the end of the period under
review. What is striking in the trope is the coupling of positive future-orientedness with

44
a rather conservative view of what the future holds. The future vision of the trope does
not challenge anyone. In its “human” version, life continues largely as it has done
before. Some of its aspects may change, such as the name of the employer, but the
framework of life remains largely unchanged. The same is true in the “innovation”
version; the framework of industrial production, the industrial logic and its belief in the
economies of scale remains unchanged. But, since the future of the industry is more
dependent on the results of research and innovation, those activities must now be
subjected to the industrial logic of the general framework of industrial production and
its economies of scale.

Some Additional Observations

Together the tropes form the “arch” of the public discourse as it was presented in the
newspapers. The tropes are conflicting, contradictory and incoherent. There are many
slippages between and across them, and they serve various discursive roles and
purposes. One also has to keep in mind that what appears in the papers is not the same
as the way the actual events unfolded, or even a history of those events. Newspapers
follow their own particular logic, reporting on issues that they consider topical at the
time when they are reported.

In the case of the public discourse on the UPM cuts, the progression of events was
reported at an exhausting pace and in great detail and from a number of perspectives.
There where, perhaps typically in the Finnish media, few analyses or attempts to expand
the discussion. Rather, the papers preferred to preserve their “objective” stance as
observers. Apart from a few rather mild editorials and comments, journalists occupied
the role of a reporter of events, views and human fates, but little else. Few if any papers
even have sections for commentary or columns by journalists themselves. Thus, even if
the journalists were inclined to provide commentary, there is no space in the format of
most Finnish papers. The papers tend to “outsource” the provision of opinions and
analyses by inviting external experts to write them, thus providing more in-depth
observations but also ensuring that the integrity and “objectivity” of the paper remains
intact. The “voice of the public” in the public discourse comes through the letters to the
editor and, in a mediated form, through the human interest stories. Also many of the
columns, particularly in the local papers, provide space for vox populi. In most cases
they blend in with the other articles forming the different tropes. The only exception is

45
the trope of “Schadenfreude” which emanates from the views of the public alone. The
refusal or failure to discuss the merits of the trope makes it much easier for the trope of
“New era” to emerge dominant; many of the complexities of the situation have been
erased.

The exclusions of some tropes and inclusion of others in the public discourse is
particularly interesting and warrants further study. Why, for example, does the trope of
“Doom” play the role of expressing appropriate concern in the early stages of the public
discourse? And, why is there no trope of resistance or even a revolution? Similar
decisions have been made in France in recent months, for example, and resistance to the
decisions has been immanent with demonstrations and civil disobedience. Or, why does
the trope of “Global inevitability” more or less succeed in naturalizing the logic of the
harsh measures that would be unthinkable for the company itself for example in Japan?
Also, one might well ask why the news of the UPM cuts became such a big story. It is
true that the cuts are the largest ever made by a single company in Finland, but they pale
in comparison to the “adjustments” made one decade ago in the Finnish banking
industry, or the cuts that are currently being carried out by the Government itself in its
own work force.

It would seem that there is something particular about the paper industry in Finland and
its socio-cultural, in addition to its economic, role in the Finnish society. It is also
noteworthy that the public discourse, despite all the contradictions and challenges
provided by the different tropes and the widely different agendas of the different interest
groups taking part in the public discourse, seems to confirm the role of globalization as
an unstoppable force (there are numerous other options), validates the framework of
industrial logic by largely accepting quantifiable efficiency (ac/countability) as the basis
for management decisions, and reaffirms the central role of technology by fusing the
futures of the paper industry and research under the rather amorphous notion of
“innovation”.

Bibliography
Kuusankosken Seutu, 2006.
Kouvolan Sanomat, 2006.
PK, 2006.

46
Kaupunkilehti Seiska, 2006
Etelä-Saimaa, 2006.
Helsingin Sanomat, 2006.
Kauppalehti, 2006.
Taloussanomat, 2006

47
 On Strengthening the Knowledge Base in Less-favored Regions in
Finland
Kati-Jasmin Kosonen
Researcher
University of Tampere, Finland

Introduction
In the era of knowledge-based economy, the regional knowledge environment and
innovation environments for specific business areas have become more important and
the base of knowledge constantly evolves institutionally (see Cooke and Leydesdorff,
2006). Changes in the world economy have had major implications for economic
development strategies and territorial governance in securing or boosting regional
economic success in the twin processes of globalization and localization. New
institutions are taking part in the local innovation networks, shaping the technological
change and transformation in the region for the benefits of all parties, local businesses,
universities or other higher education institutions and local/ national development
authorities. It is announced widely that innovation is an interactive process between
firms and research institutions, between the different functions in the firm, between
producers and users at the inter-firm level and between firms and the wider institutional
milieu. In the institutional approach1 the argumentation goes even further by stating that
public organizations and institutions can have a significant role in promoting
innovations. If the institutional base is ‘thin’ in the specific region, firms in the
emerging sector do not get the appropriate assistance in their growth and
internationalization processes and actors widely find it more difficult to transform
information (resources) into new knowledge and innovations. These kinds of regions are
called here “less-favoured regions”.

This chapter describes the development actions in the local innovation environments in
the light of institutional capacity building which create shared knowledge arenas and

1
The study strongly relies on the empirical findings from Pori and Seinäjoki, but also slightly follows the
themes highlighted in the “innovation systems” and “institutional thickness” approaches in the regional
science and economic geographic literature.

48
especially link the local actors to global pipelines through dynamic innovation
networks. Therefore, the following research questions have been asked in the study:

• What kind of challenges Pori town region as an industrial type of less-

favored regions face when strengthening innovation environment for
knowledge-intensive industries?
• What actual efforts have been taken in the region in order to strengthen
the institutional capacity, and more precisely, what efforts have been
taken as forming ‘shared arenas’ at the region?

In this chapter, Seinäjoki and Pori town regions are examples of the less-favoured
regions in Finland that are building an institutional base for university-based knowledge
transfer systems to promote locally innovations and business development. The study is
based on written materials, statistics, reviews and reports gathered from these town
regions, and it also relies heavily on around 70 thematic interviews conducted in two
research projects2. In the following sections, the ideas presented here are described in
more detail and examined against the actions taken in Pori and Seinäjoki town regions.

Challenges for high-tech located in Finnish LFRs

In Finland (around 5.3 million inhabitants) there are 20 campus universities in 11 cities,
6 university filial centres in 6 other cities and several other university branch units
mainly in peripheral areas. In addition, there are 29 polytechnics located in 80
municipalities. The total annual investments in R&D in Finland cover around EUR 5
billion, with the share of GDP around 3.5 per cent (Ministry of Education 2006, OECD
2005 and 2006). Generally a large share of the Finnish national R&D investment of
GDP is made mainly by the private sector and the ICT and electronics sectors. Those

2
The Local Innovation Systems Project (LIS, 2002-2005) investigated cases of actual and attempted
industrial transformation in about 23 locales in the United States, Finland, Japan, the United Kingdom,
and Norway. Additional research has been carried out in Ireland, India, Taiwan and Israel. The LIS
Project aimed at developing new insights into how regional capabilities can spur innovation and
economic growth and how to develop new models of innovation-led industrial development. The research
partners of the Project consisted of the following research groups and institutions: MIT Industrial
Performance Center (USA), Sente, Research Unit for Urban and Regional Development Studies,
University of Tampere, (Finland), Helsinki University of Technology, (Finland), Center for Business
Research, University of Cambridge, (UK), Rogaland Research Institute, (Norway). The study of Pori and
Seinäjoki regions are two of the total 23 case studies. The second Study, The Innovation Capabilities of
Innovation Developers in Finland [InnoKom, 2005-2006] focuses mainly on the requirements for
innovation capabilities of the innovation developers in regional development agencies and other
intermediaries in knowledge society. The aim of the project is a) to study what type of innovation
capabilities are needed among the local authorities, intermediaries and innovation networks that aim to
enhance the innovation and knowledge society at the local, regional and national level, and b) to produce
a certain map of the needed competencies of regional innovation policy as a learning tool for local and
regional developers.

49
industries then are located to main 5–6 city-regions. The volume of publicly funded
basic research has remained relatively stable in recent years (Rantanen, 2004: 36),
although the Finnish higher education system has been diversified and widely spread.
(See e.g. Goddard et al., 2003; Ministry of Education, 2001 and 2006, Ministry of
Interior 2004). Still, there are tendencies of strong centralization; of all above-
mentioned 49 higher educational institutions, 18 are located in the greater capital city
area, Greater Helsinki Region3.

The main university cities (Helsinki region, Tampere region, and Oulu and Turku
regions) cover over 80% of the country’s research and development activity (Ministry
of Education, 2006). Growing and innovative city regions are typically large-scale
business and industrial centres with strong campus universities and research institutes
and with a population of over 200,000 inhabitants. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area (24
municipalities) alone covers around 1.2 million inhabitants, which amounts to 29% of
the entire workforce in Finland and to over 40% of investment in research and product
development by Finnish corporations4 (see Figure 1).

3
Greater Helsinki Region locates eight campus-universities, several polytechnics, six technology parks,
and the largest technology campus in the Nordic countries (Ministry of Education, 2006, Helsinki Region
Marketing Ltd 2006).
4
Source: wwww.helsinkiregion.com, accessed 28 May 2006.

50
FIGURE 1. The share of Finnish regions in TEKES funding for companies in 2003
(left) and the total R&D share of respective regions in 2003 (right). (Sources: Statistics
Finland and TEKES 2005). *Figures for South Ostrobothnia and Satakunta Regions in
italics.

Institutional capacity as a building block for supporting innovations in less-

favoured regions (LFRs)
Recently it has been stated that institutional capacity focuses on the webs of relations
involved in regional development policies, which in turn interlink public development
agencies, firms, and educational and research institutes in collective action (Healey et
al. 1999 and 2006). In general, researchers working on questions dealing with research
and technology policy, regional economic development and competence-building have
stressed institutional elements which are meaningful in the economic development,
especially in less-favoured regions. (Cooke & Morgan 1998, Morgan 1997, Lundvall
1992, 2002; Kosonen, 2004, 2005, 2006a and 2006b, Sotarauta & Kosonen 2003 and
2004, Sotarauta et al. 2003, Virkkala 2003.) Institutional capacity is understood in this
chapter as a combination of the local needs for knowledge resources and the
partnerships (coalitions and networks) made by individual actors (e.g. entrepreneurs,
development agencies, university units, municipalities, technology centres) in certain
institutional settings and certain spaces, in which development processes take place
simultaneously.

51
In the work of Storper and Venables (2002; Grabher 2002, see also Bathelt et al., 2004;
Sotarauta et al, 2003) about the importance of a set of activities called the ‘noise’ or
‘local buzz’5. The idea of noise, buzz, or perhaps the ‘cafeteria effects’, lies basically on
the simple notion that a certain milieu or agglomeration with closely working actors and
individuals can be vibrant and culturally lively with social contacts and interaction in
the sense that there are a lot of useful, informal and unplanned contacts going on
simultaneously and continuously. Local buzz makes it easier to share information,
interpretations, inspiration and motivation among the networks of communication (e.g.
knowledge networks) and information linkages internal and external to that milieu
(Moulaert and Sekia, 2003, Bathelt et al., 2004, Maskell et al 2005, Lambooy 2004). As
Bathelt et al. (2004, 39) state, “shared experience in the same technologies and ongoing
attempts to solve the same sort of problems…, support the development of mutual
engagement, joint enterprise, shared repertoire and negotiation of meaning”. The
elements of the institutional capacity are seen in this study as a set of elements
intertwined with each other, as presented in Table 1.

TABLE 1. The elements of the institutional capacity in the less-favoured regions as Pori
and Seinäjoki.

Elements of
institutional Institutions Resources Networks Shared arenas
capacity
Technological Visible, Local and global Public forums,
Structures infrastructure exchangeable innovation places to interact
resource base networks
Communication R&D Knowledge- Nodes and key Knowledge
channels organizations related resources individuals communities
(HEIs)
Social aspects, Non-org. Competencies Interaction Local buzz
‘culture’ institutions

Summarizing the idea, the key elements of institutional capacity are institutions
(technological infrastructure), knowledge resources, networks, and finally, the existence
or creation of “public spaces as shared arenas”. Local knowledge communities are
supposed to be open for transregional influence and interaction, or as in the LFRs, their
main purpose may be to link local actors to global knowledge networks.

52
Strengthening the elements of institutional capacity in Pori and Seinäjoki
There are a variety of development-oriented models which are merely based on the local
strengths, capabilities and awareness to stimulate the local economic change and
strengthen the local innovation environment. The challenges that SMEs face in the
global markets mixed with the somewhat weak research and development infrastructure
of their location forces them to renew their networks and technology transfer
‘pipelines’. If the members of innovation networks are mainly SMEs, as typically in
LFR agglomerations might be the case, the linkages may be too difficult to create and to
intensify only by corporations; other local and national players are then welcomed.
Maskell and Kebir (2005) state that the main emphasis in strengthening innovation
environments and agglomeration instruments (clustering) should lie in widening the
communication horizon from a prior local or regional to transregional and global
knowledge sources, whether in the form of permanent knowledge nodes and hubs
(Maskell and Kebir 2005), or temporary gatherings we may call as ‘satellite clusters’6
(Maskell et al. 2005). Therefore, the shared arenas or public spaces are of importance in
creating a local innovative milieu where local buzz is nurtured and evolved together
with, and because of, the communication nodes accessed and knowledge gathered from
global pipelines.

What actions were then taken in Pori and Seinäjoki town regions to create and
strengthen the innovation environment in emerging industries? The turning point for
this type of development activities was in the late 1990s, when the local leaders and
managers (e.g. of companies, polytechnics, university units, regional development
agencies and the chamber of commerce) realized the challenging situation and started to
strengthen the local innovation environment: “Something has to be done….”.
Altogether the main strategy was to bring knowledge into the town region by a)
inducing universities (and polytechnics) to found new units and creating university filial
centres and by b) creating shared arenas (public spaces). In Seinäjoki, the EPANET
has been able to transcend disciplinary borders by creating a research community of
researchers from different disciplines and universities. In Pori, the initiative came from
the automation agglomeration; soon after higher education and university institutions

6
A ‘satellite cluster’ is a form of temporary cluster defined by Maskell et al. (2005), very often organized
in the form of trade fairs, conventions, professional gatherings, etc.

53
responded rapidly and municipalities started to assist in financing the institute. From
this perspective, change in innovation culture meant change in the ‘local way of doing’
between ‘global’ knowledge actors and local organizations from a static institutional
view to a process- and partnership-oriented view, in which all parties are seen to have
influence to each others in the local development path.

Strengthening the institutional capacity via inducing universities to establish university

filial centres and creating shared knowledge arenas
From the national point of view, serving the needs of less developed communities (in
order to strengthen the country’s overall competitiveness) from the early 2000s was the
turning point in strengthening the knowledge infrastructure in the less-favoured regions.
The third strand tasks made it possible for the universities to “review” and to start
expanding their institutional structures not only internally, but also spatially, namely
with other regional and local partners in the surrounding or neighbouring communities.
As an outcome of this many universities launched university filial consortia in 2001–
2004 with less-favoured town regions7. Together these regions equal approximately
20% of the nation’s population, but before the launch of the university filial consortia,
these regions hosted only a few separate institutes, departments or educational offices.
From the beginning of 2004, these umbrella organizations were systemically organized
into a local and national network and called “university filial centres” (Kinnunen et al
2004, Kosonen 2004, 2006a, Poranen, 2006)8. By the end of the year 2004, the
university filial centre network was ‘frozen’ to the level of these six towns and their
filial centres at least for a while to see the impact of these centres on the respective
regions, universities and the national higher education system. The university filial
centre cities and towns are presented in Figure 2, showing the linkages from university
filial centres to their relative campus universities.

7
Namely Kajaani, Kokkola, Lahti, Mikkeli, Pori and Seinäjoki.
8
The Finnish way to express the organizational mode is to call it the ‘university consortium, UC’. The
term ‘university filial centre’ itself stands for a local structure (a building or some other concentration of
academic institutions), where several campus universities have established branch units in the same town
or the same town area, in close proximity to science parks, technology centres, polytechnic facilities, for
example. The annual budget of all the six filial centres amounts to over EUR 70 million (EUR 72.4
million in 2005) and equals 3.7% of the total funding of Finnish universities (EUR 1,956 million in 2005)
(Poranen 2006, Ministry of Education 2006.)

54
FIGURE 2. The university filial centre locations.

Under the University Filial Centre Network there are approximately one thousand
employees, mainly researchers and project workers (among whom around 75
professors), almost 4,000 degree students and 27,000 students in total (short courses
included). Compared to the total number of degree students at all Finnish universities in
the year 2005 (approx. 170,000 students), a relatively small number of university
degrees are produced within the network, but when compared to the smallest Finnish
campus universities, the number of degrees produced is bigger. (Poranen 2006, Ministry
of Education 2006.)

PORI TOWN REGION

Strategically leaders in Pori put emphasis on the wider higher education network – they
created and strengthened the Pori University Filial Centre. In their visions, research was
seen as a “logical outcome” from the investments in university units and Pori University
Campus. The first university unit was established in the town region already in 1983.
After many years of heavy investments in the higher education infrastructures and
especially in the university centre, the messages from the local industry and business
life have stressed the need for increased co-operation between Pori Polytechnic, Pori
university units and PrizzTech Ltd (see e.g. Ahmaniemi et al., 2001, Poijärvi-
Miikkulainen 2004, Satakunta Vision 2010). In principle, the Pori University Filial

55
Centre (Pori University Consortium) is the unit for basic research and higher technical
education in specific fields, while the polytechnic is a local educational unit with more
applied R&D functions.

The Pori University Filial Centre is involved in the field of automation only indirectly.
It has some collaborative projects, but its contribution is not very strong. Adult and
extension studies in different fields have been offered since 1987, but in the recent five
years, the university units in Pori (Pori University Filial Centre) started to offer an entire
degree programme in Pori for high school graduates. The fields of education and
expertise (of the centre) do not meet the needs of the local automation industry very
clearly and the university units may have some tendencies to regard the agglomeration
as not challenging or big enough to be highly interesting for academic purposes. The
starting point for realizing the importance of the automation industry development was
perhaps in the informal discussion sessions9 for local automation company leaders,
which Satakunta Polytechnic organized for some years. It was also understood in many
reports written in the Pori town region (especially in Satakunta Vision for 2010 and
Satakunta Region Technology Strategy) that the automation industry with related
businesses was in need of extended R&D activities in order for it to increase its
competitiveness. Therefore, the industry established together with Satakunta
Polytechnic and the local municipalities the Institute of Automation and Information
Technologies. However, it is stated in the strategy papers, reports and interviews that
the university filial centre has such a generic technical and business administration
experience that it could be useful for the polytechnic and the local automation
companies.

THE SEINÄJOKI TOWN REGION and the EPANET RESEARCH COMMUNITY

The Seinäjoki University Filial Centre is among the latest “university filial centres”, as
it was officially formed at the end of 2003 and opened as a “centre” from the beginning
of 2004 (Kinnunen et al., 2004). The centre was formed from already existing units and
university functions running in the Seinäjoki town region. The first unit was launched in
1981. The Seinäjoki town region is making a new effort to create a higher educational
and research network. Leaders in development agencies and the municipalities in the

9
The sessions called “Morning Coffee for Automation Industry” (“Automaation Aamukahvit”), were
organized every one or two months for some years.

56
Seinäjoki town region put emphasis on applied research, as the ‘research path’ was seen
as a “faster way” to fill major gaps in the region’s knowledge infrastructure. The
network called the South Ostrobothnian University Network (EPANET) is a co-
operation network of the six Finnish universities in the Seinäjoki town region. The core
of the network is a loosely organized group of fixed-term research professors who
gather around themselves a group of researchers in turn, but who all have their ‘home
base10’ in South Ostrobothnia and most of them in Seinäjoki. By the end of the year
2005, there were around 16 full-time professors (research chairs), around 40 other
researchers and around 50 PhD students and 38 undergraduates in the EPANET
network. The EPANET research programmes contribute mostly to applied research in
the following fields: information technology applications, economics and business
administration, food technology, regions and welfare and more industry-specific topics.

The EPANET research network has formed a new kind of creative community working
especially on themes found in the local business environment. The network is therefore
largely accepted and directly invested in by local companies, as the network focuses on
applied research. The idea is to get a broad understanding of the characteristics and
problems of regionally based industry by combining tacit knowledge with theory and by
combining the approaches of different disciplines. The idea is not to function as a direct
problem-solving and research transfer institution for companies, but to merely search
and find new research questions arising from traditional industries and local knowledge-
sharing culture in agriculture, foodstuff, forestry, machinery, furniture, carpets,
therefore functioning as a source of ‘local buzz’. The EPANET network strengthens the
institutional academic infrastructure in South Ostrobothnia by allocating new
knowledge and relational resources and forming a new type of research community. The
aim of the centre is to co-ordinate the classical university tasks mentioned (research,
education and the ‘third strand’ activities). More concretely, the centre’s task is to
strengthen collaboration between university units and between Seinäjoki units and other
universities and research institutions in Finland.

10
When the nominations of professorships are confirmed, the home base will be mentioned and entered.

57
Final Remarks
This chapter highlighted what actual efforts were made in these regions to strengthen
the institutional capacity, and more precisely, what efforts were taken to ‘bring new
knowledge into’ the town region. The process of building up an innovation environment
in less-favoured regions calls for new organizational modes, new technology and
innovation culture as well as actual access to new technology and knowledge, as has
been done in the Pori and Seinäjoki town regions. Figure 3 presents the combination of
the main elements of institutional capacity and the level of social interaction, be it about
strengthening the structural level, stabilizing the communication channels or
strengthening the R&D culture and all social aspects included: enabling the creativity in
the local communities, adapting new information and ideas, unlocking past habits,
combining knowledge from various sources and fields, attracting skilled developers,
researchers, teachers, consultants, industrialists, public administrators, business angels,
etc., enhancing communication and interaction between all players11. As these aspects
are actualized in the context of less-favoured town regions, the ability of linking local
players to the global knowledge channels and networks is crucial.

Networks - leadership

Development path
ion

Processes
sat

Lo
c al
ili
ob

bu

Public spaces
M

zz

and shared
arenas

The range of institutions

Resources - Institutions -
competencies structures

FIGURE 3. The dynamic and interlinking elements of institutional capacity.

11
Adapted from the results gained in the Local Innovation Systems Project (see e.g. Lester, R.K., 2005.
LIS Project - Phase I Findings: Overview and Discussion. MIT IPC LIS Working Paper 05-004 and
Kosonen, K-J., 2005. MIT IPC Local Innovation Systems Working Paper 05-003).

58
From the perspective of these two less-favoured Finnish town regions, it can be
concluded that although the thinness in the scientific infrastructure makes the
development efforts challenging for the local development and innovation networks, it
can be an encouraging feature for knowledge entrepreneurship otherwise so weakly
manifested in the town region. In addition, if the national and regional players
recognized the so far unrecognized possibilities of these R&D communities – even if
their location is not in the major university cities (therefore outside the imaginative map
of national competitiveness of the leading policy-makers as well as business life
associations) – the overall quality and level of the research in these certain field in
Finland might rise.

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 Reaction to structural change in Finland
Anssi Paasivirta
Secretary of State
Ministry of Trade and Industry, Finland

Lessons learned of the great depression of the 90’s in Finland

The Republic of Finland faced the fiercest economical depression and unemployment
crisis in the history of the western countries in the beginning of the 1990’s. The crisis
concerned the whole society, not just individual communities. The crisis brought down
three Finnish banks, which effected to a large amount of bankrupted companies. At he
same time unemployment rate increased fivefold. The government took many actions at
the time. It made extremely large contribution in research and development for
competitiveness that should be based on rapid growth. Special focus on investments was
knowledge and know-how. Banks were in serious troubles, so government made
massive support and warranties to banks. Money for active labor policy was tripled,
which had influence on availability of two main aspects: education for individuals, and
salary based employment subsidy for companies.

Employment policy related investment funding for was increased substantially as well
as funding for new investments and important infrastructure projects. Employment
policy related project funding saved a few regions with biased industry structure for
survival through worst phases of the crisis (before the EU-membership it was possible).

The question we may raise here is that what was learned concerning the future. The
social security network has to be in order and place so that individuals and families will
not fall in to a state of emergency, and on the individual level government actions
should not lead in to passivity (especially unemployment benefit).

The government must mobilize and start actions and offer partial funding with active
participation from the region. The existing structures should be supported only if one
may see very strong future after the crisis, in the long-run. Solutions that generate new

62
structures have to be emphasized strongly (e.g. strong growth based on know-how in
Finland in the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s).

Case UPM on year 2006

After massive industrial co-operation procedure of the case Voikkaa, a new process
concerning all the areas of structural change in the country was started. The new proves
concerned especially the wood processing and electronic industries. The public sector
started preparing for actions immediately. The government appointed workgroup for a
Reaction to Structural Change. At the same time regional measures were started under
the Employment and Economic Development Center. The labor force bureau formed a
service unit at the Voikkaa plant, among other places

Workgroup for Reaction to the Structural Change

The group was compounded of state secretaries. The function of the group was to co-
ordinate actions for management of the sudden structural changes. The workgroup made
sure that the capabilities of starting regional reactions were in order in the whole
country. It also made a brief clearance for the government pointing out the instruments
in use, and their sizing and sufficiency of the finance.

The group listed actions needed immediately and the measures creating new structures.
They have followed the implementation of the measures in different places of the
country. At the moment the group is preparing the proceedings for the localities of the
structural change. Government has issued some special grant at the beginning of the
year 2007.

The need of special measures has to be proportioned in the situation of every regions
structural change. For example, in Helsinki, Oulu and Tampere, the regions have faced
massive lay outs, but still the dynamics of the labor markets has absorbed all free labor.
Special measures are needed only if the size of the changes is too massive in relation to
regional structure.

Regional measures and actions

Apparently the contribution of the Employment and Economic Development Center is
vital for the region. It ensures the rapid start and co-ordination of the measures. In the

63
very beginning of regional actions, the emphasis is on the measures of employment
administration. Functionality of the regional industrial politics has to be ensured. The
measures of a single municipality are not adequate, so co-operation between
municipalities is needed in many levels. All regional agents must be motivated to take
actions.

Measures at local and company level

We may say that the primary responsibility is on the company downsizing its
production. But then the input of the labor force bureau is vital for recreation of jobs.
The first priority is anyhow on the individual level that must be secured by the
government in the first place. Procedure for change security has been agreed by three
major actors (employers, employees, state) and adequate financing is allocated for the
procedure in the state budget.
The procedure for change security has proven to be functional and extensive for:
• Industrial co-operation negotiations act as a starting point
• New jobs can be searched during working hours
• Education
• Individual plans for survival, additional unemployment benefit

Special measures on case Voikkaa

Several special measures were taken by different actors in case Voikkaa. The following
actions were mainly done by the company itself.
• Finance for re-employment education
• Start-up money and entrepreneurship education for new business creation (the
company grants a maximum of 10000 euros per company)
• Enhanced responsibility for re-hiring, 24 months instead of the usual nine
months
• Occupational health care for 1 year in the case of firing
• Expenses of moving will be compensated
• Money for placing oneself/new residence (1 months salary plus 700 euros from
the state)
• Encouragement for quick new employment, salary will be paid until the end of
the term of notice

64
 • Co-operation with potential new employers
• Special project that helps finding employment in regional businesses, since there
are 5000 companies in the region; use of the Employment and Economic
Development Center experiences, co-operation undertaking
• Large scale investment plan in Kuusankoski

General evaluation of the company’s initiatives is that it has performed extremely well
what comes to management of such a bad situation in regional level. Many positive
things are done and the company has been active. If we check the numbers of this
situation afterwards, we may evaluate how successful the actions were. The following
have taken place:

• 678 persons were fired, 372 of them were found a solution within five months
• About 300, mainly paper workers, are still waiting for a solution
• A national actor has formed a venture that specializes in maintenance repairs
• There is a demand for the vacating premises
• There is a demand for metal industry workers in the other regions of Finland, but
there is no desire to move after jobs
• As the economy of Finland is very strong at the moment, the management of
structural change can be successful
• 100 000/80 000 work net, new jobs 1,5-2 x net
• Will the paper workers be jammed in unemployment? New careers in new fields
/ services

Building up a new structure

Critical elements for the organization of business actors are manifolds. There are walls
and roofs in place, but we also need real projects to employ skilled, knowledge and
suitable labor. Industry and commerce have to be involved, especially regional business
development agencies. There must be great effort to activate “working bodies” of the
public sector. Some what quartet co-operation is needed among the following actors:
Employment and Economic Development Center, Finnish Agency for Innovation and
Technology Development, Finnvera, Finpro, and TESI. Also, everyone carries the
responsibility in such a situation, rapidly. Maximal pro-activity is necessary when

65
building up a new structure. Last, but not least, we must maintain the same expectations
for new plans.

New long term direction for the region

Openings for new branches of industry are needed. For example, the Kouvola region
may focus on logistics centers, China connections and expertise center of languages.
Periodic support for regional policy and development gives some space for new
initiatives. Investments on new innovative growth companies with adequate venture
capital, investment on research and development, and investment on business know-
how are the way for better future in long term. General estimate at the moment is that
there is still much to do in developing a new structure. Investments and co-operation of
regional public administration, re-organizing companies, and other companies is needed
as well as the central administration can support and activate the actions.

66
 Crisis and growth - old and new ideas in regional development
Janne Antikainen
Ministry of the Interior, Finland

Each and every urban region has a long tradition – a genotype – of their development.
Urban regions have born, grown and layered during various phases of growth of trade,
industry, public and finally private sector services. One can not have an influence on
tradition but one can set conditions for future development. In addition to endogenous
factors key features for urban regions are now ability to be part of networks and
regenerativeness. Locking into one structure has turned out to be destructive. Networks
provide nowadays a possibility to deepen specialization and division of labor between
urban regions. Structural changes will inevitably come - the challenge is to prepare
actors in urban regions to be able to adapt to the changes and to find their locus in
globalization (ie. international competition), not to maintain current fixed structures.

The different generations of regional policy can be summarized as follows:

I Industrialization of the Least Developed Areas

1. 1966 – 1969
2. 1970 – 1975 KERA (State owned funding corporation 1971)

Target: Industrialized community

Main idea: Economic growth, Industrialization of the least developed areas
Main actors: Delegation of Development Area, Ministry of Trade and Industry
Normative base: Legislation
Main measures: Tax reliefs, Loans, Interest subsidies, Transport aid
Planning parameters: Aid percentages
Role of the regions: Support Areas

II Regional Policy Planning

3. 1975 - 1981
4. 1982 – 1988
Target: Welfare Society

67
Main Idea: To develop living conditions and services planning system:
coordinative multi-level planning system
Central Level: Ministries
Regional level: Provinces and other State Authorities
Normative Base: Expertise
Main Measures: Coordination of the Actions of Different Sectors
Planning Parameters: - Population and Job Targets (Plans)
- State Budget
Role of the Regions: - Objects of the Planning
- Special Project-Regions

Programme-based Regional Development Policy

5. 1989 - 1993
6. 1994 –
Target: Knowledge based Society
Main Idea: Innovative Regions, Independent Development, Activities of the
Regions
Planning System: - Regional Programmes
- Thematic and/or Problem -oriented Programmes
Actors: State and Municipal Authorities, EU, Business Sector
Organizations, Universities, Polytechnics, Research Units etc.
Normative Base: Partnership, Support from the Regional and Local Actors
Planning Parameters: - Programmes
- Evaluation
Role of the Regions: Subjects in the Planning and implementation Process

IV New Regional Development Policy

2001 -
• Polycentric Development Policy
– Functional Urban Areas, Regional Centre Programme
– Rural Areas in interaction with urban regions
• National and Regional Innovation Policy
– Regional Development Strategy for R&D-funding
– R&D- inputs to Service Sector

68
 – Centre of Expertise Programme
– Regional development Strategy for Universities and Polytechnics
• Balanced Location of Government Actions/Functions
• Regional Development Strategies for Ministries/Sectors

The role of national players have changed during past years: they are now more and
more a part of the bottom in the bottom-up development process – instead of being mere
top-down dictator or part of the up in the bottom-up process. In other words, instead of
hollowing out of nation state (as the situation was characterized in 1990s, see e.g.
Jessop 1994), it currently can be generalized that national players are major strategic
role by facilitating networks.

Uprising challenge is to institutionalize networks, which links to challenge of

coordination and providing a framework for joint development work in all levels. The
main criticism concerns the effectiveness of decision-making and co-operation
procedures between administrative sectors attempting to support an integrated, overall
view of regional development. In particular, the various development projects of various
different administrative sectors, implemented at the level of urban regions, need to be
coordinated at an adequately high political and civil servant level.

Layered urban system

The structure of the Finnish urban system is a result of different historical layers and
phases of urbanization. In the industrialization period from the late 19th century to the
1960s the main location factors were related to natural resources and the logistics of the
forest sector in particular (cf. Kortelainen, 2002). This resource-based development
partly declined in ‘the Great Move' from rural to urban areas between the 1960s and
early 1970s (Oksa, 1985). The Finnish urban system that emerged since the mid-
seventies is characterized by the growth of cities of different sizes and
"suburbanization" of urban regions. This phenomenon has, in terms of the Finnish
discussion, been labeled regionalization (Antikainen and Vartiainen, 2002a). The
strongest areas in this evolving system were the rather extensive urbanized triangle
around Helsinki, Tampere and Turku in the south, and some island-like regional centers,
such as Oulu, Jyväskylä, Vaasa, Kuopio and Joensuu.

69
Christallerian tradition stranded to Finnish tradition of urban and regional planning in
1960s and hierarchical models were eagerly drawn until 1980s. This led to paradoxical
development features where more attention was paid to mechanical service structure
instead of genuine functional economic basis of urban regions (Ministry of the Interior
2006). The relatively balanced nature of regional development was based predominantly
upon the foundation of a strong national welfare state. The evolving welfare state
institutions supported the growth of regional and local centers in the less-favored
regions. Smaller centers were strengthened by welfare reforms such as those regarding
the municipal elementary school and health care centre systems, whereas medium-sized
regional centers were strengthened by new universities and by the building of a modern
regional administration system. Moreover, a new regional industrial policy supported
investment in less-favored regions.

Following the deep recession and recovery from it (for more see Sengenberger, 2002) in
the beginning of the 1990s the new growth in the mid-1990s based mainly on the
success of ICT-sector (especially Nokia) and their subcontractors. The new growth
concentrated in five large urban regions (Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Jyväskylä and
Turku) and in one Nokia-driven industrial place (Salo) The poorest development in
urban areas was identified, firstly, in one-sided and often small-sized industrialized
urban regions, and, secondly, in regional centers based on public sector services, as this
sector particularly suffered from serious cutbacks in the 1990s. (see for example,
Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities 1999, Huovari et al. 2001,
Antikainen and Vartiainen 2002b). In the latter half of the 1990s and early years of
2000s domestic migration flows climbed up to the level of the early-1970s. During the
1990s social and spatial issues in Finland became increasingly characterized by urban-
centered problems and challenges but also by stressing the role of cities in generating
growth.

The issue of unbalanced regional development has traditionally been considered from
the perspective of rural and peripheral areas. Consequently, there is strong ideological
and political support for balanced development among the regions in Finland.
Therefore, urban policy is still deeply related to both the notion of a balanced urban

70
system and the role of regional centers in reinforcing the development of surrounding
rural areas.

In the mid-1990s, Finland started a new regional development strategy, in which

maintenance of a polycentric urban structure was elaborated as the backbone for
balanced territorial development. As the regional development act states: “The aim…is
to further the strengths and specializations of regional centers and cooperation between
them so as to reinforce the network covering all the regions.” (Ministry of the Interior
2002, section 15). In the new Finnish urban policy doctrine, cities act as nodal points for
the creation of new jobs, economic growth and welfare. In that way, urban policy is one
form of a wider R&D-driven economic policy in Finland. Knowledge and innovation
are the engines which generate new business enterprises and maintain the success of
existing companies. Instead of a classical welfare (or in EU terms, cohesion) policy,
characterized by redistribution, the recent polycentric urban policy is strongly
opportunity oriented, with emphasis on growth through existing strengths and
possibilities.

The core of Finnish urban policy is to promote local economic competitiveness. A key
issue is to support the specialization of urban regions. An aim is to strengthen the
competence basis of urban regions and to integrate them into the national innovation
system and link them to global information hubs. Key actors in this respect are the
information-intensive institutions, universities and other research and development units
and higher education institutions. Their role has become very explicit: for example,
universities and polytechnics must have strategies for their role as an actor in regional
development. (Antikainen & Vartiainen 2005)

While the concept of polycentricity was originally merely a structural concept

describing the Finnish urban system, it is now evolving to become a strategic policy
concept. (Antikainen & Vartiainen 2005). In that way, recent Finnish urban policy is
characterized by the “growth centre” approach – an approach, which was already being
heavily discussed in Finland in the 1970s. At that time it was officially rejected, because
the pronounced target of regional policy then was to have a uniform territorial structure
along the urban-rural axis instead of an explicitly differentiated policy for centers of
different sizes.

71
Growth oriented urban policies
In general, growth oriented urban policies in Finland have taken the form of three main
programmes: the Centre of Expertise Programme (1994), the Urban Programme (1997)
and the Regional Centre Programme (2001). The flagship of regional innovation policy
is the Centre of Expertise Programme. The Ministry of the Interior launched a new
Urban Programme policy in 1997, which gave urban policy in general a boost. The
programmes clearly had a catalytic effect on strategic thinking in the urban regions
concerned (Karppi, 2000). The emphasis was on the vitality of urban regions, in
addition to competitiveness. This reflects a “softer” attitude in urban policy, where
criteria for successfulness are considered to be more multi-dimensional in the sense that
socio-cultural elements have a more direct and pronounced impact on the location
preferences of population and economy. In 2001, the Government launched a new
programme to be coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior and called it the Regional
Centre Programme. The aim is to develop cities of different sizes into strong regional or
local centers. The Regional Centre Programme also stresses the effects of its measures
on the surrounding regions.

Both Centres of Expertise and Regional Centre Programmes are renewing in 2007. The
new concept of the Centres of Expertise Programme is based on areas of expertise in
selected national clusters. In 2007 – 2013 CoE Programme focuses on 1)
Internationality in R&D and business activities 2) Boosting the growth of knowledge-
intensive companies, 3) Linking the CoE Programme closer to National Innovation
policies. At least two urban regions must share the same interest, thus networking
between urban regions is a definitive criterion. The role of Regional Centre Programme
is to build wider basis for knowledge and competence based development, to rise the
attractiveness of urban regions and to strengthen organizing capacity in urban regions.
Also this programme will have a strong national networking function.

The changes in regional development trends after mid-1990s can be considered

alarming in terms of achieving the aim of a nationally balanced and country-wide
settlement structure. Simultaneously, urban regions are becoming more globalized,
which means that the national buffer between global economic fluctuations and regional
development will become even thinner. The ability of regional development policies to

72
solve the employment problems of industrialized and public sector-oriented regions, as
well as serious structural unemployment in many growth regions, is therefore much
more limited than in the 1970s and 1980s. (Antikainen & Vartiainen 2005)

Conclusions – wider understanding of competence and growth

Throughout history success in Finnish regions has strongly been linked to a certain
growth industry and to a certain corporation or corporations in the same economic field
in time. Until 1970s these were forest, paper and steel industry based regions and in
1970-1980s and in 1990s ICT-industry-regions. While these problems of one-sided
industrial regions are familiar all over Europe, Finland also needs to address the
problems of cities that are dependent on a wide and redundant public service sector.
These problems are relatively new and as a consequence, insufficient attention has so
far been paid to them.

On the other hand, it is expected that not even all current growth centers will
automatically prosper in the future. Dependency on a one-sided regional economy based
on ICT is also dangerous. It is evident that knowledge and competence have now
become the most relevant factors of production across all industries. The criteria for
future success seem to be multi-dimensional, and socio-cultural factors will become
more directly connected to conditions for the locational decision-making processes
undertaken by the general population and business. One of Finland’s strengths for the
future is the innovation systems that have developed. Also, it is often argued that the
strengths of Finnish information society are based on the equality of basic social
structures – and in that way on a relatively balanced urban system (cf. Castells and
Himanen, 2001). (Antikainen & Vartiainen 2005)

References:
Antikainen, J. and Vartiainen, P. (2002a) Finnish districts and regional differentiation. Fennia, 180 (1-2),
pp.183-190.

Antikainen, J. and Vartiainen, P. (2002b) Socio-Economic Development in Finnish Urban Regions, in

Koistinen, P. and Sengenberger, W. (eds.) Labour Flexibility. A Factor of the Economic and Social
Performance of Finland in the 1990s. Tampere: Tampere University Press, pp. 63 – 84.

73
Antikainen, J. and Vartiainen, P (2005) Polycentricity in Finland: From Structure to Strategy, Built
Environment 31:2.

Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (1999) Menestys kasaantuu – alueet erilaistuvat.
Selvitys aluekehityksen suunnasta 1990-luvulla. Helsinki: Association of Finnish Local and Regional
Authorities.

Castells, M. and Himanen, P. (2001) The Finnish model of the information society. Sitra Reports series
17, Helsinki.

Huovari, J. and Kangasharju, A. and Alanen, A. (2001) Alueiden kilpailukyky. Raportteja 176. Pellervon
taloudellinen tutkimuslaitos, Helsinki.

Jessop, B. (1994). Post-Fordism and the State. Teoksessa A. Amin (toim.): Post-Fordism: A Reader, pp.
57-84. Blackwell.

Karppi, I. (ed.) (2000) Kaupunkiohjelmat kaupunkipolitiikan toteuttajina. Kaupunkiohjelmamenettelyn

arviointi 1999. Sisäasiainministeriön Aluekehitysosaston julkaisuja 5/2000.

Kortelainen, J. (2002) Forest industry on the map of Finland, Fennia 180(1-2), pp. 227-235.

Ministry of the Interior (2002) Regional Development Act (602/2002) Unofficial translation.
http://www.finlex.fi/pdf/saadkaan/E0020602.PDF

Ministry of the Interior (2006) Kaupunkiverkko ja kaupunkiseudut 2006. Sisäasiainministeriön

julkaisusarja 10/2006. Helsinki: Ministry of the Interior.

Oksa, J. (ed) (1985) Papers on social change in North Karelia. Working Paper 12. University of Joensuu:
Karelian Institute.

Sengenberger, W. (2002) Employment, development and economic performance of Finland, in

Koistinen, P. and Sengenberger, W. (eds.) Labour Flexibility. A Factor of the Economic and Social
Performance of Finland in the 1990s. Tampere: Tampere University Press, pp.15-45.

74
Appendix 1: Regional Revival seminar program in Kuusankoski, Finland, on 24th of
November, 2006

8.45 Registration

9.15 Opening of the Seminar

Mr Harri Helminen, Chairman of the Board, Regional Council of Kymenlaakso

9.30 From Backyard to Being the Leading Growth Region - City of Karlskrona, Sweden

Director Tage Dolk, Addendi AB, former Development Manager of the City of
Karlskrona

CENTROPE - From the Far Eastern Outpost to a Thriving Region in the Heart of
10.15
Europe

Managing Director Bruno Woeran, DANUBE European Training, Research and

Technology

11.00 Coffee Break

11.30 Parallel Sessions - alternative

EXPERIENCES OF REGIONAL REVIVAL Voikkaa Hall

Revival of a Small Urban Region - Case Uusikaupunki, Finland

Mrs Helena Vartiainen, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Vakka-Suomi Region, Chairman

of the Council of the City of Uusikaupunki

Mrs Eeva Rintama, Regional Centre Programme Coordinator, Development Manager,

Vakka-Suomi Development Centre

Industrial Crisis and Reconversion - Case Basque Country, Spain

Mr Ramón Peñagaricano, Director General, International Observatory for Strategic

Innovation, Bilbao

Urban Fallowing in Regional Development - Case Tampere, Finland

D.Tech. Ari Hynynen, Research Director, Tampere University of Technology, EDGE

Urban Research Laboratory

TRANSFORMATION FROM THE ACADEMIC POINT OF VIEW Seminar Room Hirvelä

Multinational Corporations and the Legitimacy of Radical Transformation

D.Sc. Eero Vaara, Professor, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

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 The Inevitability of Globalization and Its Cost: The Voikkaa Paper Mill Shutdown
and Forest Industry Restructuring in the Newspapers

Lic.Phil. Pasi Ahonen, Researcher, Lappeenranta University of Technology

Linking Less-favoured Finnish Regions to the Knowledge Economy through

University Filial Centres

M.Soc.Sc Kati-Jasmin Kosonen, Researcher, University of Tampere, Research Unit for

Urban and Regional Development Studies

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Responding to Structural Changes in Finland

Mr Anssi Paasivirta, Secretary of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry

14.30 Crises and Growth - Old and New Prospects of Regional Development

Mr Janne Antikainen, Senior Researcher, Ministry of Interior

15.00 Coffee Break

15.30 Panel Discussion

Moderator Mr Pasi Ahonen, Lappeenranta University of Technology

Mr Pertti Eskelinen, Business Development Director, Kouvola Region
Panelist
Federation of Municipalities
Mr Jarmo Pirhonen, Director, Employment and Economic Development
Centre of Southeastern Finland
Mr Aimo Ahti, City Mayor, City of Kouvola
Professor Eero Vaara, Swedish School of Economics and Business
Administration

16.15 End of Seminar

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