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Steelcase, winner of this year’s Amchampion Awards’ Rookie of the Year award, has entered the Finnish market swinging. Congratulations!

Over the course of several years, they’ve built their brand and influenced the way work environments are thought of in Finland. We sat down with Sales Lead for the Nordics and Baltics Christelle Röckert, based out of Stockholm, to discuss how Steelcase is strategically using Amcham membership to reach their goals in the Finnish market.

Steelcase is a U.S.-based company with 11,000 employees worldwide, though without an office in Finland. They’ve built their global reach through three pillars: working with local partners, meeting clients face-to-face, and having contact with influencers, such as architects and the C-level and management of companies.

Amcham Finland is also classified as an influencer for Steelcase, and they are deftly using the business network to shape their image, gain visibility and access those who oversee making sure employees are engaged, productive and happy.

“We choose our activities and events carefully, check the participants list to determine whom we want to talk to, and through Amcham Finland we are able to open a dialogue with them. This strategy is based on the fact that we firmly believe that our innovative, research-based products will help companies’ bottom line. Business productivity is all about engagement, as our research has shown, and office environment plays a huge role in that,” says Christelle.

The research Christelle refers to is the ‘Engagement and the Global Workplace’ study conducted in partnership with Ipsos across 17 countries, which measures relevant dimensions of employee engagement and workplace satisfaction, which are both powerful indicators of worker wellbeing and organizational performance.

Work has changed due to many factors, but especially technology. These changes affect everything from our postures (think iPads and mobile phones) to how we want to engage with others and have quiet time for reflection or concentrated work. Steelcase has a research team of 45 members studying these changes in real work environments. They base all their products as a solution to a concrete problem that has come up through this research.

“Amcham Finland is doing for us precisely what we had planned it would: as a global company without much presence in the market, we use it as an entry point to access the market, to get to know the right people. For big, established companies, Amcham is a way to stay active locally, listen and do good. For growth companies, it’s a great way to interact with bigger organizations. We should be listening to each other intently,” emphasizes Christelle.

To get the most out of your Amcham Finland membership, set up a meeting with Director of Member Services Jenni Isola (jenni.isola@amcham.fi) to discuss your strategy. And remember the Finnish saying, hyvin suunniteltu on puoleksi tehty (well-planned is half done)!