Socio-cultural contexts affecting the export of education: the case of Finnish primary schools and the United Arab Emirates

The Finnish education system is known as one of the best performing systems in the world. This has raised a significant international interest, making the export of the Finnish know-how in education a good business opportunity. This thesis considers the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a target market for the export of Finnish primary education and analyzes the business environment particularly from socio-cultural aspects to shed more light on what to consider ahead before venturing in that area of the world. For this purpose, the thesis studies the specificities of the business environment in the UAE, investigates the socio-cultural factors that Finns should consider while planning the export of Finnish education to the UAE and proposes potential directions to overcome these barriers for a successful export of Finnish primary education in UAE. Being familiar with both UAE’s and Finnish cultures is a great asset for studying and understanding the socio-cultural factors affecting the export of the Finnish primary education to the UAE. The findings presented in this thesis are results of literature research, market trend investigations, personal analysis and thinking, and interviews with professionals with high experience in doing business in UAE. The research results illustrated important features of the UAE culture and society as well as a general image of the business environment which provided valuable information on the way to approach the education market notably the export of Finnish education to the UAE