Focus on the Frencn-Norwegian CCI: business opportunities in Scandinavia

On 2 February 2006, the French-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce (CCFN), in partnership with the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the French Chamber of Commerce in Sweden and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in France, organised a seminar on “Business opportunities for French companies in Norway and Sweden.” More than 100 companies attended the seminar, and about thirty of them then had a personal meeting with the Chamber to develop further contacts and to study their projects in more detail.

After an introduction from Edmond Viviand, Director for international projects and cooperation at the Paris CCI, who chaired the seminar, the President of the CCFN, Éric-Jean Thomas, presented a macro-economic overview of the two countries, whilst setting them in a European context. What are the business opportunities for French companies in the region? Magnus Fjelde, Sales Manager of the Invest in Sweden agency, presented some dynamic sectors in Sweden and explained how his office in Stockholm could help guide French companies with investment projects in Sweden. Anne Aftret, Manager at the CCFN office in Oslo, then set out to identify the sectors and projects that could be of interest in Norway at present.

Cultural differences
Concerning the "cultural" approach to these countries, Claes Rasmusson, founder and joint manager of the direct approach consultancy Expatria, gave some useful advice on how to tackle these new markets. In his view, it is important to know that company organisation is not really the same as in France, with much flatter organisation charts, more delegation and more responsibility given to employees, more networking and completely transparent, consensual decision-making processes. The Scandinavians are generally sticklers for being on time and very direct, although they remain “polite” and are not very expressive during meetings (they do not interrupt and are afraid of conflicts). They are easy to approach and open, but only give you one chance to prove your worth. To conclude the event, several companies presented their practical experiences in these markets.

First-hand experience
Xavier Jombart, Manager for Southern Europe at Appear Networks (www.appearnetworks.com), explained that they had chosen to set up their company in Sweden rather than in France because of Swedish expertise in ICT, and also to be close to a mature market with high potential in their sector. Sébastien Jarrot, Export Manager at Cébé (www.cebe.com), spoke about their approach to the Norwegian market. In his view, Norwegian consumers are sensitive to quality, technology, design and brands, and are prepared to pay high prices if they feel it is justified. The key features of the Norwegian market are highly demanding consumers, strong competition and openness to innovation, but also the very long distances, despite relative concentration in the South of the country. For the sports eyewear market, the majority of products are distributed in small retail outlets, although major chains are now increasing their market share. His advice for success in the Norwegian market is that offers must be adapted to the country and differentiated from existing ones. He also stressed the importance of setting up efficient logistics systems and a customer service department, and of recruiting a suitable sales force.

Companies can approach the market either directly or via an importer, after a detailed study of the advantages and disadvantages of the two alternatives in terms of contacts with the customers, control of the brand and prices, margins, logistics, payment risks, etc. M. Jarrot concluded on a very optimistic note, insisting that Norway is very receptive to French products and savoir-faire, often neglected by French exporters, and can provide excellent results as long the project is well-prepared in advance. Jacques Éloi, Chairman and Managing Director of Altor (www.altor-industrie.com) told us about his very positive experience of taking part in a group trade mission on Sweden and Norway, organized by the CCFN in 2004. The mission helped him establish contacts with potential partners, whilst also taking advantage of the highly rewarding atmosphere created by the group. On the strength of this experience, he recommended that companies thinking about going into the two markets should take advantage of the group trade mission planned for the end of May 2006.