Survey on Internationalisation and Trade Barriers 2013

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs carried out a survey on internationalisation and barriers to trade in the autumn of 2012 to chart internationalisation among enterprises and the barriers to trade and investments encountered by them. Results of the survey were published on 28th May 2013. The survey on internationalisation and trade barriers is the first of its kind. Formerly the experiences of Finnish enterprises have been surveyed only as regards barriers to trade, most recently in 2009.

About 600 enterprises, covering most of Finland's foreign trade, responded to the questionnaire on internationalisation and trade barriers. More than 90 per cent of respondents were small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to the survey the number of trade barriers has increased in recent years. Most of the barriers reported by Finnish enterprises were encountered in the export and import trade of goods. As for internationalisation, the main interest of enterprises focuses on the export markets that are already significant.

The survey reveals that enterprises consider the publicly available internationalisation services to be important. Among other things, export promotion trips led by ministers are generally thought to be useful.

Internationalisation and barriers to trade 2013 (Opens New Window) (PDF, 2028 KB)

Survey on Internationalisation and Trade Barriers 2013 (Opens New Window); Summary  (PDF, 664 KB)

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