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New report examines growth drivers in Nordic growth companies

Capital, higher education and export are import growth drivers for growth companies in the Nordic Region, but the working environment is also a crucial factor, according to a comprehensive report from the Nordic Council of Ministers, which has mapped the Nordic growth companies and analysed what particularly drives growth in the growth companies.

May 29, 2013
Photographer
Johannes Jansson/norden.org

Growth companies are found in many industries in the Nordic Region. However, companies across industries and countries have difficulty in finding qualified workers who are ready to enter a workplace. It is not new that well-qualified - and highly educated - workers are essential ingredients in the recipe for growth. What is new is that the availability of highly educated workers is much more important for growth companies than for other companies.

"Therefore, other companies should learn from these, while the Nordic governments through education systems, immigration policies and in-service training and further education should ensure a well-qualified and relevant labour force. The Council of Ministers' new venture through the Sustainable Nordic Welfare programme will strengthen several of these areas", says Dagfinn Høybråten, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

At the same time, the analysis surprisingly concludes that the working environment to a greater extent should be seen as a growth driver and not as a growth inhibitor. The companies also want better access to foreign workers and a less burdensome regulation of the labour market.

Based on the analysis, there are three recommendations for the labour market sector and three for the working environment area, among these that the Nordic countries should ease restrictions on international recruitment, provide more training to the labour market and set up national "work environment barometers" to clarify the working environment as a parameter in the competition for talent.

The report, prepared by the research-based consultancy company DAMVAD heading up a Nordic expert group, analyses how the framework conditions can be made more optimal for the Nordic growth companies. The analysis is based on register data from the four largest Nordic countries with over 1.4 observations, a survey of company managers and employees, as well as interviews with company managers, labour market partners and the central administrations in all the Nordic countries.

The Nordic Ministers for Co-operation initiated the Globalisation Initiative Health and Welfare in 2009, which ran from 2010-2012. The report Nordic Growth Sectors – How can working life policies contribute to improving the framework conditions? constitutes the final report for sub-project on economic growth areas.


Contacts

Lars Djernæs
Phone +45 33960360
Email ldj@norden.org

Lars Foldspang, Senior Consultant at DAMVAD lfo@damvad.dk (+45) 23 98 00 13