Location: Northern Europe, Scandinavia, bordering Norway 729 km, Sweden 586 km, Russia 1,313 km

Capital: Helsinki

Population: 5,214,512 (July 2004 est.)

Language: Of the two official languages of Finland, Finnish is the first language spoken by 93% of the country's 5 million inhabitants. The other official language, Swedish, is spoken by around 6% of the population, most of whom live in the south west and are also speakers of Finnish.

Lifestyle & Aspirations
Typical interests in Finland are as follows:
? Summer houses: The summer cottage plays a huge role in Finnish lifestyle. One in four people has one and at weekends, everybody leaves the city for their own little patch of wilderness. These cottages often only have rudimentary facilities, although most have a sauna.
? Sauna: The sauna is where Finns relax, chat, bond with friends and business colleagues and generally refresh themselves. Saunas are everywhere and a visit to one (in separate male and female groups) often concludes a meeting. Saunas will be mixed if it's a family event. A spell in the sauna will be followed by a cold shower, a dip in a cold lake, or a roll in the snow. Enthusiasts use birch twigs to stimulate their circulation. After the sauna, men in particular will often indulge in drinking sessions.
? Outdoor activities: In winter, ice skating, ice hockey and cross country skiing are hugely popular. In summer, mountain biking, hiking, camping in the wilderness, hunting and fishing are common pastimes.
? Living off the land: Finns are great foragers and a lot of people make a hobby of picking and preparing wild berries and mushrooms in the summer months.
? Music and dance: Finland has a strong cultural heritage and there are popular and classical music, opera and dance festivals all over the country in the summer months.
? Spectator sports: Formula One (thanks to local heroes Mike Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen), ice hockey, football and winter sports are all popular spectator sports.

The Essentials (10 Key Tips)
1. Finns place a high value on speaking plainly and openly.
2. Don't be uncomfortable with silence; Finns consider long gaps within a conversation to be a positive thing. Showing you are listening closely is important.
3. Finns are very modest and downplay their own achievements.
4. Although Finns are private, almost taciturn people, business conversations are regularly carried out among groups in a casual manner in the sauna.
5. Finns are honest, dependable and highly ethical in business and prefer a win-win outcome to any situation.
6. Finns will take what you say literally; so only say 'Yes' if you really mean it.
7. Finns are creative, insightful, and often highly qualified, so do not underestimate them as negotiators.
8. Finnish workers are independent and self-motivated and perform best when permitted to work in this manner.
9. They do not always require face-face contact for significant decisions. They are very comfortable relying on emails.
10. Be punctual. Arrive on time for both business and social events.

Working with the Finns
The key to working successfully with the Finns is to understand their need of personal space. Supervise only from a distance and never crowd them physically. Finns pride themselves on being honest, dependable and highly ethical and while they may come across as slow and lacking in confidence, they tend to be highly educated, with impressive technical skills. They are comfortable with long periods of silence within a conversation, which can make foreign visitors uncomfortable. The silence is intended as agreement with a point, contemplation or simply a companionable break in the conversation.
Finns enjoy going to the sauna and then for drinks afterwards. This could be an eye-opener for the first-time visitor, who will probably be invited to share a sauna with their Finnish colleagues. This is an honour and an ideal opportunity to get to know your Finnish counterpart better.

Making a Good Impression
Be prepared to make positive but not excessive comments about Finland. Finns always like to know what visitors think of their country and are actually quite insecure, so do not be critical. If you want to talk about sport, ice hockey is a national obsession, as is Formula One.
If you are invited to the sauna, accept, and don't be embarrassed about nudity. As a woman, you will not be invited to do business in the sauna with Finnish men, or vice versa. Only families and close friends take mixed saunas together.
Do not underestimate Finns. They can be lacking in self-confidence as a nation and will put themselves down, but many are highly educated, multilingual and creative. Their self-effacing nature and natural pessimism can disguise this. Finns are also naturally taciturn and conversations will include long silences.
To make a good impression, you should be frank (except when giving negative feedback), open, direct and low-key. Use understatement. Don't be late and don't miss deadlines. Only promise something if you can deliver it. Involve Finns in plans and decision making wherever possible.

Business Etiquette
Business cards
There is no specific ritual regarding the exchange of business cards, although your card is the place to state your honorific title, rather than using it when you introduce yourself. Cards do not need to be printed in Finnish.
Body language
Finns have a great respect for large personal distances when in conversation. Do not stand too close and do not grab someone's arm to make a point.

Communication style
Finnish communication values include silence, listening, modesty and the offering of fact-based, tangible information. Finns appear enigmatic to non-Finns, and often think that foreigners talk too much and too fast. Small talk is avoided and what few words that are spoken are carefully chosen. Long silences are not uncommon and should not be taken as an awkward break in conversation -silence means a Finn is thinking and agreeing with you.
Silence should be taken as positive feedback. Negative feedback will be given indirectly; saving face and allowing others to save it is important to Finns. You should ask for feedback indirectly, too, especially if there is a chance it may be less than enthusiastic. For example, say, "Do you think there is a better way of doing this?" rather than "How am I doing?".

Gift giving
Gifts are normally not exchanged in business meetings, but small gifts may be appropriate at the successful conclusion of negotiations. Give: books, cognac or other alcoholic drinks (highly prized as they're so expensive), tasteful items bearing your corporate logo, or something reflecting your home culture. Do not give glassware - Finnish glass is some of the best in the world.

Business Meeting Culture
Before a meeting
Business meetings are often set up by e-mail, and even by SMS-messages. The aim is to make decisions, not to encourage debate or to brainstorm. Allow a couple of weeks' notice for any meeting - do not expect to turn up on the off chance of seeing somebody. Come to a meeting armed with hard facts and a clear idea of what you want to achieve from it.

During a meeting
Be on time and wear business attire. Meetings tend to be brief and to the point. Coffee, tea, soft drinks and biscuits are usually served. The Finns are a nation of devoted coffee drinkers, consuming 10 kg of ground coffee per person per year, often said to be the highest per capita consumption in the world.
Finns are better at listening than at talking, and interrupting another speaker is considered impolite. A Finn does not grow nervous if there are breaks in the conversation; silence is regarded as a part of communication.
Hierarchies are flat in Finland and everybody will generally be on an equal footing in a meeting unless someone particularly senior is in attendance, in which case the Finnish team will defer to them.

Following a meeting
Remember that your word is your bond in Finland. Do not make promises you won't keep, or agree to deadlines you won't meet. Follow everything up in writing as a courtesy.
It's quite normal - and a sign that things are going well - to be invited to the sauna after a meeting. Mixed bathing is non-existent - men and women bathe separately. It is customary for a business meeting to progress from formal to informal, and a session in the sauna is where this will happen. Sauna bathing is considered to be a way to relax and the sauna is one of the few places where Finns forget about work and talk about something else. It is here - if not before - you get on first name terms with your host. Some Finns feel the need to demonstrate their machismo by sitting in a scalding hot sauna for inordinately long periods, on the highest bench. In such a situation, a wise visitor will quietly slip out to have a drink and enjoy the scenery.
Any questions you might have about the sauna will be well received. You are well advised to comment on the sauna experience to the host. A sauna is a subject that Finns never tire of talking about. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of going into the sauna, say so, although you will win points with your Finnish counterparts if you join them.
The sauna is no place for anyone in a hurry. When the bathing is over, it is customary to continue the evening with conversation, drinks and sometimes a light meal.

Motivating Others
According to a recent survey done on Finns and happiness, the following were the main motivators for workers: home ownership; sunny weather; an honest relationship; individual freedom; a freshly cleaned home; friendship; fidelity and security in a relationship.
These answers do indicate that Finns are motivated by emotional and financial security and personal freedom. In the workplace, they appreciate positive feedback, empowerment, being left alone to get on with a job, flat structures and freedom from bureaucracy. Finns do display commitment to their company and job, but more so if their superior understands these motivators. Managers who are overbearing and controlling will not produce good results from a Finnish team.
Personal standards are high and Finns tend to be very self-motivated when completing a task, often working late to meet a deadline and to deliver on quality at the same time. Money is a motivator but not the only factor; for many Finns, their own home, a summer cabin, a decent car and a selection of gadgets are enough. Salaries tend to be negotiated by unions, something employers are not always happy about.
Titles are only of moderate importance and employees are not normally set up in competition against one another in the workplace to further themselves. Some motivational techniques are used in performance management though, such as bonuses, subsidised gym memberships and incentive travel schemes.
Finnish employees receive comprehensive benefits in addition to their regular salary, including health insurance and pension benefits. The standard of living is very high and nobody lives below the poverty line.

Effective Presentations
Not surprisingly, Finns are fairly uncomfortable giving speeches and presentations. Expect a presentation by a Finn to be high-tech, filled with hard facts and delivered in a minimalist fashion. Humour will not be used and debate will not be encouraged.
When you are presenting, don't fill every minute of the presentation with talk; give the audience time to digest it and appreciate some periods of silence. Do not expect them to interrupt you.
Do not use too much body language - wild gesticulating is simply a non-verbal form of making a noise to a Finn. Stillness has the same positive qualities as silence.
Remember that a flashy presentation will be considered as immodest, and 'sales talk' will be viewed as unnecessary exaggeration. Keep your language simple and don't point out the obvious - Finns prefer new information only. You can use humour, but keep it dry and understated.

Audience expectations
An audience may be uncomfortable with a Q&A session at the end of a presentation. Asking a question may indicate that you haven't understood and will cause a loss of face. Finns may also find it difficult to break the silence and ask the first question. If you want to encourage audience response, have coffee after a presentation and mingle with the audience, talking on a one-to-one basis.

Managing Relationships
The key to successful relationships in the workplace in Finland is to give people space. Autonomy and independence are highly valued and employees like a clear job description, a thorough understanding of what is expected of them, and the freedom to get on with the job.
Team members will work alongside one another, although not necessarily in one another's pockets. They will turn to each other and to their supervisor for help but otherwise prefer generally to work alone.
Feedback is given freely and frequently, although usually in an informal way. Criticism should be delivered with care and in private - Finns have a strong sense of 'face'. Confrontation in the workplace is avoided at all cost and solving minor disputes between employees may be difficult, particularly as Finnish managers are not always equipped with 'people' skills.

Finns are motivated by honest relationships, personal harmony and happiness, security, freedom, and money. They expect (and have) a high standard of living. Most large companies offer an array of perks, although wages are set by collective bargaining with unions.