Boosting SME competitiveness – Help from where?

Finnish competitiveness is grounded in effective, profitable and job-creating employers. In addition to the government programme and core policy, the Työelämä 2020 (Working life 2020) project challenges employers to raise their game by developing their activity and processes. The goal of the project is to make Finnish working life the best in Europe. Economic success and business competitiveness are vitally important for both the company and its employees. Safe and healthy working places alongside employee wellbeing and performance are central drivers of productivity. Developing company profitability or productivity needs to happen hand in hand with development in worker safety and wellbeing. The brand working group of the Working life 2020 project has prepared a report on the Finnish working life brand and how it might be strengthened. In this context brand can be defined as a positive image surrounding working life in Finland – it is also a possible source of competitive advantage.

The European Occupational Safety and Health Agency (EU-OSHA) emphasises partnerships and collaboration in its activity. Since 2010 EU-OSHA has worked with Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) to firm improve competitiveness by adding occupational health and safety issues to developing productivity, innovation and quality in working life. In Finland the EEN network is coordinated by Finpro, while EU-OSHA are directed from the occupational health and safety section of the ministry of social affairs and health.

The goals of this seminar include:

• Explore connections between company and country brands in the private sector and SME context.
• Evaluate development models and values in Finnish working life, and their ability to improve competitiveness, productivity and staff welfare.
• To highlight the impact of the three main themes of working life brands – knowledge, cooperation and safety – as positive forces improving SME competitiveness
• To study concrete cooperation, partnership possibilities (a customer platform?) and goals on a national, European and global level to contribute to competitiveness through the three themes of our Working life brand.

Welcome!

Markus Ranne, EEN team leader, Finpro

Liisa Hakala, Director, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health

Event info translated by SWiPE-en