Finnish Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in China: Market Entry and Position in the Value Chain

Abstract

The internationalization of companies offering knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) plays an important role in the general process of globalization. As the largest emerging market, China is attractive for Western KIBS. This article presents a case study on Finnish KIBS in China. Three companies in "clean tech" engineering, eco-cities design, and 3D media solutions describe the challenges and promoting factors in entering the Chinese markets. The study also examines the various ways of positioning the firm in the value chain through the roles of an integrator, a concept developer, and a multi-stage actor. Our findings illustrate the new business opportunities provided by China in advanced service sectors focusing on sustainability issues and creative content.