Expert on Russia returns to Finland
The Russia Programme of SITRA, headed by Maaret Heiskari, takes subcontracting ideology to the East
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By Hanna Miettinen
It is difficult to imagine that someone would be more knowledgeable about Russia than Maaret Heiskari, 38.
Heiskari has recently begun work as the Programme Director of the Russia Programme of the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development (SITRA). She has just moved back to Finland after spending eleven years in Russia.
Heiskari’s integration eastwards began when she was a teenager.
"My home was in Imatra, 800 metres from the border. It was easier to work in Svetogorsk during the summers than in downtown Imatra, which was five kilometres away."
Finns had begun numerous construction projects in Svetogorsk back in the 1970s, but there was still plenty of work in café and garden projects for a teenager from Imatra in the early 1980s.
The summers in Svetogorsk also lit a spark that led Heiskari to later study Russian and English at the University of Joensuu. During her studies, she went to Russia to work, and from there her story took the common course.
"I went for a year, but wound up staying. I kept getting new job offers."
Her work consisted of managerial positions in construction-sector firms, and for the past five years, Heiskari headed the Moscow offices of the Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce.
SITRA’s Russia Programme, which was launched in January, brought Heiskari back to Finland.
74 corporations have been selected for the Russia Programme. Their only common denominator is the desire to expand operations in Russia.
SITRA provides the companies with help from consultants, and aids them with networking. The budget of the three-year programme is a good one million euros. The programme also includes creating a broad economic Russia-strategy with the help of Finnish experts, as well as a joint Finnish-Russian discussion forum that will be held in the autumn.
Due to issues of corporate secrecy, SITRA does not reveal which companies are participating in the programme, and the names of the Finnish experts who are drafting the Russia-strategy – who, according to Heiskari, are top-notch - will not be made public either.
The majority of the companies represent small and medium-sized enterprises, but the group also includes large corporations. Some have operated in Russia in one form or another for 15 years, some are entering the market for the first time.
Heiskari emphasises that SITRA’s aim is not to seem clandestine.
She hopes that the participating companies will share their experiences in Russia themselves, once they begin to accumulate. This is one area where Finnish companies have not yet been active, even though the sharing of experiences could benefit everyone.
"We hope that this programme will create success stories. Relating them would probably encourage others, and others could learn from them", Heiskari envisions.
She believes that success stories can be expected, but quick profits cannot.
"For example, if production is started in Russia during this process, it will not necessarily be profitable by the end of the programme", Heiskari points out.
With eleven years of experience in doing business in Russia, Heiskari knows what it takes to succeed in the country.
First of all, one must carefully analyse what is the best place for doing business, both logistically and considering personnel resources. Moscow is clearly the centre of trade. St. Petersburg is naturally very important as well, but it is also worth considering other industrialised cities with millions of inhabitants, such as Yekaterinburg, Samara, and Kazan.
In addition, a risk analysis must be performed. Heiskari observes that in Russia, companies may face political and economic risks, as well as unfair competition. Estimates on the size of the market must also be made, and companies must consider that there are differences in taste between Finland and Russia.
"Finns have been quite trusting regarding trademark protection for example. They have entered the market without securing their rights beforehand. There have been quite a number of trademark violations concerning intellectual property in Russia", Heiskari says.
The companies in SITRA’s programme should be able to avoid wrong assessments in these issues, which have been among the basic problems of Finns – this is the goal of employing consultants and other experts.
Heiskari believes that the companies in SITRA’s Russia Programme will play a role in transforming the production structure of the Russian industrial sector.
According to the Programme Director, Russian production facilities are traditionally of the type where raw materials go in through one door and a finished product such as a helicopter or rocket comes out another. Efficiency gains through subcontracting have not been valued.
"They do not want to divide production into smaller, more profitable parts. The ideology in production is sure to change. Large industrial facilities will break up into smaller pieces, and this will create small and medium-sized entrepreneurship."
However, Heiskari warns that the ability of Finns to take advantage of Russia’s potential faces a serious challenge. Russian expertise is disappearing year by year. The average age of the experts is rising, and the younger generations are not interested in Russia, or studying the language.
"At the moment, there is no generation that we could transfer current knowledge to!"
Heiskari knows of incidents where managers have been sought for Finnish companies starting business in Russia, but they have been hard to come by.
Personally, Heiskari is still experiencing the cultural shock caused by the move to Finland, and would not be at all surprised if she wound up in Russia again one day.
"I will probably never get rid of Russia", she smiles – and it seems that she has no desire to either.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 20.2.2005
HANNA MIETTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
hanna.miettinen@hs.fi
