Prof Ajeet Mathur, like me and a few others, is a Cathedralite (72er) and a Stephanian (75er). Also, like me, he normally lives in Finland, in the industrial town of Tampere. There the similarity ends, as he is brilliant professor while I am one of the most run-of-the mill individuals that you are likely to meet.
However, Annikki and I are greatly honoured that Ajeet treats us like his elder sister and brother, sharing all his joys and sorrows with us.
Ajeet is related to Cathedralites 68er Kapil and 70er Shivi Mathur.
A few years ago, Ajeet had published an interesting and completely original study about trade between Finland and India.
He just informed me that he has updated that study.
The following Abstract can be found on the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad site, and there is a link to the complete study in pdf form. You can download and read this updated report.
Title : Finland-India Business Prospects 2007-2017
Author : Mathur Ajeet N.
Working Paper No. : 2007-03-01
Abstract
Finland-India Economic Relations were researched for the first time in a study that analysed mutual trade and investment potential through the lens of revealed comparative advantage and identified profitably tradable goods at 4-digit and 8-digit disaggregated levels in the standard international trade classification (Mathur, 1998). This study was made freely available on the world wide web for five years through http:// www.uta.fi/kati as part of longitudinal action research to study how small and large players would take advantage of this freebie. This paper provides initial results of a sequel study initiated in 2005 to understand what happened thereafter, whether trade grew, and to analyse how trade could diversify from identification of new opportunities for product-services linkages after the expiry of the transitional period that brought GATS into effect in 2005. Finland's share in Indian imports and exports has grown rapidly and exponentially and the prospects are vast but the potential realised by 2007 remains considerably untapped and far below comparable figures for other EU countries. This study emphasises the need for policy research on institutional barriers to design new gateways beyond an increased frequency of contact between people from the two countries. The conclusion that robust bridges could be built through tripartite fora comprising business, government and academia points to the need for new institutionalities and deepening research studies, some of which initiated as part of the Finland-India Economic Relations project, are at various stages of progress and expected to be completed during 2007-2010.
In business circles in Finland, India is the BUZZ word. If you are interested in jumping onto what appears to be a fast moving train - may I suggest that you read Ajeet's updated paper.
Finland is virgin territory for Indians. Already a couple of companies are successfully operating here. The early bird catches the tastiest worms. If you are peckish, there are two of us here, Ajeet and myself, who can help you catch not only the tastiest but probably the juiciest worms!
