Nordic Organisations in Contemporary Business World

Course Objectives
The aim of the course is to provide a general overview of factors influencing business operations in Nordic countries (history, political, geography, legal and economic systems, culture), in particular, the operations of companies. The focus of the course is on welfare state institutions, European Union legislation and regulations, and Nordic culture(s).

Learning Goal
You are familiar with Nordic business culture and society including the leadership and negotiation styles, political and socio-economic contexts

After completing the course, you will be able to:

• Critically examine the Nordic business environment and the society it is embedded in
• Apply the above theoretical knowledge and understanding to practical case/report
• Learn about new sources of financing and other societal and business issues by Nordic practitioners.

Course Description
Lectures, field trip, individual reflection essays, group presentations, group case report and class participation. Students not registered present during either of the first two lectures will be dropped from the course.

Examination Information

• Exam (30%)
• Attendance and participation (10%)
• Group presentation on a Nordic business (30%)
• Individual reflection paper based on all the required readings and
• Field trip (10-15 pages) (30%)

Required Material
Cleland Silva, T. (2018). Transnational management and globalised workers: nurses beyond human resources. New York: Routledge. Chapters 6 and 7.
Iversen, M., & Thue, L. (2008). Creating Nordic capitalism: The business history of a competitive periphery. In S. Fellman, M. J. Iversen, H. Sjögren, & L. Thue (Eds.), Creating Nordic capitalism: The business history of a competitive periphery (pp. 1-19). Palgrave Macmillan. 
Guðmundsdóttir, S. (2015). Nordic expatriates in the US: The relationship between cultural intelligence and adjustment. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 47, 175-186.
Lamsa, T. (2010). Leadership styles and decision-making in Finnish and Swedish organizations. Review of International Comparative Management, 11(8): 139-149.
Lewis, R. (2011). When Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures, 3 ed. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Preface; Chapters 1-3; 101-125; 330-350.
Partanen, A. (2016). The Nordic theory of everything: In search of a better life. New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers. Chapters 1-4, and 9.
Pyykkönen, M. & Stavrum, H. (2018). Enterprising Culture: Discourses on Entrepreneurship in Nordic Cultural Policy. The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 48(2), 108-121.
Seeck, H., & Kuokkanen, A. (2010). Management paradigms in Finnish journals and literature between 1921 and 2006. Business History, 52(2): 306-336.
Sigurjonsson, T. O., Arnardottir, A. A., Vaiman, V., & Rikhardsson, P. (2015). Managers’ views on ethics education in business schools: An empirical study. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(1), 1-13.