Exploration into Strategic Groups

The Finnish pharmaceutical industry has experienced a remarkable awakening along with the biotechnological evolution, which has reshaped the entire pharmaceutical industry since the beginning of the 80s. In the beginning of the 90s, there were only four pharmaceutical companies operating in Finland (not including sales departments of MNEs) and only one of them was Finnish owned. Today, only a decade later, there are over 50 companies in Finland involved in developing, producing, and marketing pharmaceuticals1. According to the industry association, the Finnish Bioindustries, there are all together over 120 biotechnological companies, but this figure includes companies involved in agriculture, functional foods and diagnostics. Though these figures may sound impressive, the Finnish pharmaceutical industry is young and inexperienced when compared on an international basis.