Foreign enterprises seeking to establish a business in Finland may in general adopt one of two basic models. One is to set up a Finnish branch office that belongs to the main company. The other possibility is to establish a legally independent Finnish subsidiary. Both alternatives can be put into practice without undue difficulty.

When joint venture partners or key employees are brought in as minority shareholders into a Finnish subsidiary, it is advisable to discover whether or not such shareholder minority may impair the parent company’s control over the subsidiary’s business policies.

In Finland, the Limited Company (osakeyhtiö, “Oy”) is the only economically relevant form of company. The Oy is the form of choice for big quoted enterprises as well as for small and medium-sized undertakings.