What the Shared Industry and Country of Origin Bring: Analogous Sequences in the Internationalization of Finnish Paper MNCs

Previous research has been relatively insensitive to the potential combined effects that the shared industry background and country of origin might play in the development of MNCs. This is although there are various external constituents that pose distinctive demands especially on such groups of MNCs. The 15-year period of internationalization of three major Finnish paper companies examined in this study represents MNC development as a collective endeavor in which individual companies are especially influenced both by each other and by their joint external constituents. These influences materialize in analogous timing and patterns of internationalization across individual companies. In its entirety, the study thus suggests that the development of MNCs which operate in the same line of industry and originate from the same country can be considered an outcome of a mutual process that involves interaction both with each other and their shared external constituents. This also means that MNCs then are not only competitors, but simultaneously also a source of mutual support in their ever-continuing evolution.