Valmistavan teollisuuden investoinnit Suomessa 2005-2015: analyysi suomalaisen uutisaineiston pohjalta

This study is done as a part of the Reshoring of Manufacturing (ROaMING) project. The project focuses on the trends of moving manufacturing to overseas and returning it back, and the role of disruptive technologies and manufacturing investments in Nordic countries as potential sources of industrial renewal. This study focuses on manufacturing investments made in Finland during the period 2005-2015. In more detail, the goals are to figure out the extent and trends of investments, the drivers and potential benefits to be gained through investments and the effects of investments to industrial competitiveness. This study is conducted by analyzing the investment news published in the media, and materials have been collected using Talentum news archive. The selected sampling encompasses the 100 largest manufacturing companies in Finland. The data is analyzed both numerically in order to find out the extent and the trends of investments and the types of investments, and through case studies of four companies from different industrial branches, with different approaches to manufacturing investments. Several important implications were found out by the results of the study. Firstly, the impact of economic crisis to the extent of investments is obvious. After the year 2008 the number of investments has decreased radically. However, the trend is again slightly upwards. The most common investment type was development investment. Investments for process development were widely made in order to minimize the production costs and enhance performance. The results of the case studies supported this finding. Investments for product and process development in order to strengthen the competitiveness of manufacturing companies seemed to be the common characteristics in the case companies. Expansion investments were made as a reaction for increased demand, and competitive advantage was achieved through product differentiation and new product innovations