The Challengers: Kymmene, United Paper Mills, and Metsäliitto

Firms attempt to adapt themselves through their business strategies to the present and forthcoming (institutional and technical) environments. Whether these strategy choices are planned or implemented is the classic question in business history and strategic management. It is generally agreed that the basic aims of a firm is to be profitable (at least over the long term) and to survive. These basic assumptions seems to fit most of the current, publicly owned companies, but when we are dealing with e.g. governmental owned or cooperatives, this seemingly clear picture becomes fuzzy. This article aims to analyse three major Finnish forestry industry companies, namely Kymmene, United Paper Mills, and Metsaliitto (M-Real). The focus is on the strategies they adapted during the 20 century and the performance they produced. We argue that though the companies were seemingly different (e.g. due to different kinds of ownership structures), neither the strategies nor the performance differed significantly. This, we propose, can be explained by the similar kind of competitive and institutional environment the companies were engaged in. Our aim is besides to give a general overview of the “paths” of these companies, also to analyse specific strategy processes to understand the antecedents of strategic decisions.