Good practice:

Rural SME internationalisation model

Small rural companies may have excellent products and strong know-how in their own specialty field, but limited contacts to international markets and low know-how in reaching them. Model presented is a good example of how other firms and public institutions can act as alongside the walker during this marathon from rural start-up to a growing international company.

How objectives are reached:
Rural SME export promotion model aims to lower thresholds to internationalisation by peer network and shared marketing. The facilitator acts as an intermediary and builds a neutral platform for companies to explore joint opportunities and prepare cooperation without preliminary commitments. Facilitation of low-threshold cooperation platform relies on serving company-specific needs, finding opportunities to shared value creation, and building trust. This decreases risks and enables to increase level of commitment carefully.

Supporting collaboration compensates distance to international markets, but also enables forming competitive exportable product families. Alongside-the-walker perspective allows to notify the stage of maturity level and support to apply national development instruments, e.g. Business Finland and Team Finland, in right stage. Companies with increasing maturity level will then succeed and start to pull other companies to international markets in the slipstream.

Main stakeholders:
Municipalities of Nivala, Haapajärvi, Pyhäjärvi, Kärsämäki, Reisjärvi, companies

Most important is committed personnel with the right kind of attitude and understanding.
Total budget between 1.9.2009 – 31.12.2022 was 3.4M€ in five projects.

- Over half of the region's companies having exports and international operations have participated in export promotion projects (total number of 304 participated companies by November 2017).
- The number of participants in each project has exceeded the estimated/budgeted number being 179 % in relation to the target.
- Companies see programs beneficial to their development as over half of the participated companies have participated also to new rounds of following programs.

Supporting internationalisation of company may take a really long-term process. As its best from one year to as long as five or more year, depending on the maturity level of the company.

In acting with rural SMEs it is essential to recognise the needs of companies, build trust with them and to unearth and reveal the hidden potential. Role of the facilitator is to act as an intermediary and to build neutral platform for companies to explore joint opportunities and prepare cooperation without preliminary commitments. Building trustful peer networks will ease the mental thresholds to internationalisation when steps can be taken together. Other firms and public institutions can act as alongside the walker during the marathon from a rural start-up to the growing international company.